Residential & Commercial Security - Locks, Keys & Dead Bolts - So I need to replace my door locks

I just recently bought a house that I recieved no front or rear door key and about 2 dozen keys for the side door.

Front Door - it is a solid wood door with a nice old door knob and no keyslot but that has a little slide bar latch and a chain type lock and also a rim lock that is falling off the wall since there is on screw left in it. I believe it is a horizontal rim lock but the bar that goes across to the catch is a wedge shape rather than a solid rectangular peice of metal

Rear door -Also of solid wood and has a procelain doorknob on the inside and outside and has a sliding bar and a vertical rim lock on the interior

Side door - this is a plain metal clad door (not sure if there is a wood core or if it is solid. This has a lock that is built into the doorknob. It is ust a simple door knob set with lock.

That's it!! that is teh extent of my home security. We do not even bother to lock our doors cause with 2 doors that really dont lock and 1 door with tons of keys, why bother?

I would like to change these locks out next month.

I would like to replace my front and rear doors with vertical rim locks and get rid of teh chains and slide bar since they are garbage and just is a useless extra step to get the door open. I do not want to do major drilling into the doors cause I would like to keep it as untouched as possible. They are a bit over 100 years old with all the original hinges and doorknobs and backplates. Since there are already work done to put in the current locks in, I would like to just reuse that space and cover up what I can.

so what should I do as far as brads of surface mounted locks out there. I am not too terribly concerned with security but I have to put up a little bit of a fight. Also I would like my front and rear and side doors to all be keyed the same. I am also thinking that in the future I am going to replace my side door (the metal one) with a wood door also, since I have a few spare interior doors in the basement, I might recycle the wood into a new exterior door

any suggestions or ideas? am I crazy or what. Any good sites to buy some of these locks. and the older looking the lock, the better, but I am not opposed to new looking either

Thanks

Hi DimBulb,

Not stupid at all. My recommendation is to visit your local locksmith and see what is available. One such brand that is reliable is Baldwin, however, they are pricy. Not outrageous, just higher than alot of what is available today. They are well made, and can probably be retrofitted with what ever setup you have.

They can also be keyed to match your side door, or your side door can be rekeyed to match your front and rear doors. Either way, this can be done. There are actually many different brands that will work.

As far as an online site, I am not able to answer that.There is a no advertisement policy on this board. Sorry.

I hope this helps get you started. Drop back and let us know how it goes.

cuedude

By your description, on your front door you have whats called a "nightlatch" operated by a rim cylinder.
And it sounds like a surface mounted deadbolt on the rear door, again operated by a rim cylinder.
I'd suggest getting rid of those along with the chainlock.

When I owned an old Victorian house 127 years old with very old door hardware, I was in the same position as you.
I really liked the look of the old decorative hardware because it suited the house but was'nt very secure.
I bought high security deadbolts in solid brass and stripped the finish off them. Then I took the old hardware off the doors and polished them to a new like shine. I then used the same buffing rag to polish the new stripped down deadbolts.
Then I cleaned them all with methol hydrate to remove any remaining polish and gave them all a spray with a few coats of clear laquer.
After reinstalling the old hardware and installing the new deadbolts by enlarging the original rim lock holes and adding extended strike plates to cover any old frame cutouts, it was hard to tell what was new and what was old.
I had an original antique look with modern security.
It's a lot of work, but it's worth it if you want to keep it looking original.

You might well find antique hardware on old doors in demolition resale yards.

Whatever you do, just be sure that all lock hardware is of the same manufacturer. Then having them all keyed alike won't be a problem.

Hope that helps
Regards

and this is why the 2 of you are moderators! I reread my original post and thought "what in the world did I just say?" I did not think it was going to be understood. I was preparing to take digital pics (still might)

cuedude - I looked at the baldwin stuff and you are right it is a bit pricey, but it is some beautiful stuff. I think if I can figure out how to make it fit, I will do it.

and making it fit brings me to my next point.

WGW - I have looked for days to find out what type of lock I had. I have seen it called a surface mount rimlock, horizontal rimlock, a deadlock, but never a nightlatch. I googled a nightlatch for a picture and got this
http://www.commco.co.za/nightlatch.jpg
which is exactly what is on my front door. and the rear is the same but it has a vertical bar to secure it rather than the horizontal wedge of the nightlatch. I like the work you did to make this fit the period of your home (I have a 101 year old victorian myself) so if I could pick your brain a bit more. you said you bought high security deadbolts, are there any particular brands that are considered higher security than others (I already know and am looking at Baldwin) gut not really sure what makes one deadbolt more secure than the next.
the other thing is if I remove this nightlatch, I will have a hole that goes straight through the face of the door, but because the latch is on the inside of the house and not through the door itself, I am not understanding how you got the deadbolt to latch. Did you have to drill a hole through the side of the door to meet up with the cylinder hole to allow the bolt to come through the door?

sorry so long, but just want to be clear.

The are a number of high security deadbolts on the market and which one is "best" is a matter of opinion. Pricing is on the higher end as well, but as the saying goes..."you get what you pay for".
I chose Medeco to protect my home because I like its serviceability and low maintenance.
And if I decided to sell my house, I can either make the high security deadbolts an additional selling feature, or take them with me for my next home and leave cheaper product in its place. I chose the latter when we moved.
The high security line that we sold most frequently in Toronto was also Medeco. But we also carried Assa, Abloy, Multilock and Primus to give the customer a choice.

When I said that I installed the deadbolts into the existing rim cylinder holes, I should have been a little more descriptive.
I did have to redrill the holes to 2 1/8" to accommodate the Medeco deadbolts and I drilled the 1" hole in the door edge as well for the bolt.
Redrilling to 2 1/8" is'nt as hard as one might think though. The rim hole is usually a 1 1/8" hole.
If you have decent quality hole saws, you can screw the 2 1/8" onto the arbor and still have enough thread left to mount a 1 1/8" as well. That way, you can use the 1 1/8" as a guide into the existing hole and avoid chatter that migh otherwise mark up the door. Just take your time and go slow and easy, but don't forget to only drill halfway through the door then start again from the other side so you won't splinter the face of the door when the holesaw breaks through.

By your description of a vertical bar, it sounds like you have a jimmyproof on your rear door.

Thanks for your feedback

Regards

ok well I looked at the medeco deadbolts and I know I get what I pay for but I am not sure I need to pay for somethng I dont necessarily need. But I do not want to have nothing either. I have over 30 windows in this house and 2 of my doors are just wood although it is 1.75 inches thick. So there are many ways to get access if you truely want to rob me

I have taken a few pics of my doors.
Front
http://www.wizesworld.net/forums/uploads/post-1-1152671529.jpg
http://www.wizesworld.net/forums/uploads/post-1-1152671540.jpg
http://www.wizesworld.net/forums/uploads/post-1-1152671554.jpg
http://www.wizesworld.net/forums/uploads/post-1-1152671593.jpg

and the backdoor
http://www.wizesworld.net/forums/uploads/post-1-1152671617.jpg

yeah I know paint is needed deperately but all in due time.

I have measured the nightlatch and it apears to work with a 2.25" backset and the cylinder itself it 1.75 from the ends of each trim ring.

I think I am going to go with a baldwin deadbolt as it seems to be a good middle of the road lock with the finish I am looking for

oh and I will definately be using your trick with the 2 hole saws on one arbor - thanks

now is there a difference between 1-1/8 and 2-1/8 deadbolts besides 1 inch? Does the extra inch offer anything thing over the other one. I think I am going to just keep a hadle lock on the side door for now.

This is actually my projects for August. This month is get my sons room complete and move him in. and August is new doorlocks/ get a friggin doorbell already/ smoke detectors/ and insulate the basement ducts so the stop sweating month

Baldwin is definately a good quality lockset.
I think that most newer deadbolts require a 2 1/8" hole. That is usually to accomodate a sleeve that helps to protect the bolt.
Often the cylinder collar has a lip that sits in the cutout as well.
If Baldwin is what you've settled on though, read the installation instructions before doing any drilling to be sure it needs the larger hole. Some Baldwin gripsets still use the smaller hole for the deadbolt.

Something else to consider...
When we lived in Toronto, our home insurance agent gave us 2% off the policy after I explained the quality of our deadbolts to him.

I bought a wireless doorbell and the installation included sticking the button on the door with two sided tape and plugging in the bell/receiver where I wanted it. It's nice to have simplicity sometimes

Regards