What locks do YOU have on your house?

[misterj]

Given that everyone here is probably at least somewhat knowledgeable about locks, I have to wonder--how good are the locks protecting our own homes? Obviously, it's more than just the lock...but are the majority of us just using $7 Kwiksets, or do we have something better?

For myself, I have Schlage B500 deadbolts and Schlage "A" Knobs on all the exterior doors, all keyed alike to a 6-Pin Everest C145. Certainly not the greatest by any means, but I live in a very rural area where break-ins are basically unheard of. My theory is I'd rather have them do damage to break in (through a window or kicking in a door or something), than to bump/pick a cheap Kwikset and leave no trace. I'm pretty sure most thieves aren't going to have as much luck with an Everest, unless they really know what they're doing.

[misterj]

Oh, other than the exterior doors, all the padlocks I have securing sheds and whatnot are either Americans or Bests with SFICs in the "D" keyway, all keyed alike, but not mastered.

I also have a Yale classroom function lock on my office with a Best "L" keyway core in it, and a cabinet lock on my desk also with an "L" core.

I was going to put SFICs on the exterior doors, but I was curious about what the unrestricted Everests looked like, so I went with those instead. Also, locksmiths don't believe I have Best cores of my own, so I have a hard enough time getting them to copy the keys sometimes. Usually, I just take a core with me and they do it, but they almost never will if I just bring the key.

[hydruh]

I asked this a looong time ago and got some great replies.

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=31611

In fact, that's why I have a BiLock on my front door.

S

[unbreakable]

Schlage all around and some cheapo 40mm on the shed. Not really my house though so there ya go.

If I had my way, it'd be abloy locks and solid steel doors and steel jambs that you'd need a semi truck to break down.

[globallockytoo]

I really dont care what lock you have on your front door. It is often the most secure door in the house. But usually the other doors are significantly weaker.

I use Bilock too (obviously) but also Strikemaster II.

The Bilock cylinders are installed in Carbine deadbolts.

[nostromo]

I teach keyless entry to cops and always start each class (24 officers each) what the most sophisticated entry method they have encountered on patrol, during an investigation, or even heard about. So far it's feet or shoulders on a door, followed by breaking a window and climbing in. After that, the criminals get someone to open the front door and bully their way in. Rarely, very rarely, are tools even as used unless it is something already right there, like a screwdriver.

So I'm OK with a kwikset KIK and deadbolt on all the doors, which are all steel and heavy glass set in steel frames in a brick structure. As are the windows, even the second floor. The three entrances to the house all have small foyers with lockable doors just like the exterior doors and frames.

There are also wireless and plain-wired telephone handsets in every room and a few 911-only cell phones scattered here and there. And did I mention the alarm system?

[Rickthepick]

why fit anything overly exotic?
When you lose your keys are you going to pick your abloy to get in?... i doubt it
criminals will use a crowbar or housebrick

[Legion303]

We have Chinese Kwikset knockoffs on our doors.

-steve

[misterj]

why fit anything overly exotic?
When you lose your keys are you going to pick your abloy to get in?... i doubt it
criminals will use a crowbar or housebrick

I've never managed to lose my keys...I keep all of the ones I use on a large ring on a carabiner. The only time they're not clipped to my belt loop is when I'm unlocking a door. I used to just keep them on a ring in my pocket, but I have about 20 that I need to carry with me, so they get annoying .

[Phatphish]

I've never managed to lose my keys...I keep all of the ones I use on a large ring on a carabiner.

[Humour]

viewtopic.php?p=366410#p366410

[/Humour]

[nostromo]

You DO realize, misterj, that the car key gnomes are quite peaceful until challenged. Never lost your keys, you say? They will lie awake many nights plotting aginst your large key ring on a carabiner.

[misterj]

Very true, if I did lose them, I'd lose them all! I can replace most of them really easily, I've got access to more copies of them...especially the library ones...there's at least five to ten of everything in the key box!

Looking at them now, there's only one that I know I can't replace...it's to a Best core I have on a padlock here. Most of the cores I've got are just something A-M, but this is a "WA". The key's about twice as thick as any other Best key, and has a more squared off shape. Someone gave me the core, so I just had to use it. It's a really funky keyway...curves way out and back again before it gets to the pins. I haven't tried to get a duplicate of the operating key yet, because I imagine I'll have a heck of a time. It's not patented anymore, but I doubt the locksmiths here stock it. I've never seen one of these on a building around here, either. Mostly, they look like As, the old AT&T nuclear bunker is either an F or an H, and there's a J/K/L/M-looking one here and there. They probably wouldn't stock it because there's no demand.

...anyway, went off on a tangent there. I'll admit, once and a while I'll set my keys down somewhere, but I notice within a minute that I don't have them with me. A few weeks ago, I was basically panicking because I couldn't find them for a few hours. Turns out I had clipped them to the gutter of the house when I went up on the roof. I have absolutely no idea why.

I'm bound to lose them for longer than that eventually, but I'm just hoping I stay lucky!

[Evan]

why fit anything overly exotic?
When you lose your keys are you going to pick your abloy to get in?... i doubt it
criminals will use a crowbar or housebrick

I've never managed to lose my keys...I keep all of the ones I use on a large ring on a carabiner. The only time they're not clipped to my belt loop is when I'm unlocking a door. I used to just keep them on a ring in my pocket, but I have about 20 that I need to carry with me, so they get annoying .

Only 20 keys ? Home/Car/Work ?

The keyset I used to carry around for work had 54 keys on it and had total unrestricted access to 6 properties... I loved those lockable key rings we used there, they ensured that only two people in the facilities office could reconfigure keysets by adding/removing keys from them...

I had to watch myself when I was getting in a vehicle though, being careful to remove the keyset from my belt to prevent poking a hole in either the seat or my leg (which did randomly happen one day before I started being careful)...

I know that it is not the best place to hang something but I always slipped the keyset over the transmission shifter on the steering column so I would remember to take it with me when I was getting out of the vehicle... Given the size and weight of typical facilities/security keysets, vehicles were issued their own smaller keyset so as not to have all the weight of the keys hanging off the ignition cylinder...

No one ever took keysets home, they were returned to the key room along with the portable radios that critical staff carried with them at the security control room of the main complex before employees who possessed master keys clocked out in the hallway just outside the security control room...

~~ Evan

[misterj]

Yikes! 54?

20 gets me into anywhere I need to get into. I could probably actually get away with carrying, let's see, 7, because the rest of them are smaller keys to padlocks and filing cabinets that are all hanging on the wall in the key box. I carry everything that I typically use all the time, though. It's much easier to just have the key I need than to have to go dig one up.

Granted, there's a bunch I don't carry: core keys, keys to doors/cabinets that never get locked, and there's a couple buildings that I go into only about once a year, so I just grab the key to them if I need it. No sense carrying around a bunch of keys that I never use.

Truck key's on a separate ring, by the way. I hear the weight is bad for the ignition, plus it's huge and gets in the way of the others on my main set.

[HeadHunterCEO]

Stanley SFIC all around. One key to rule them all