We are planning to replace our door knobs with levers. We live in a safe neighborhood; but we have multiple exterior French doors, all with deadbolt locks keyed alike.
In our family there is a tendency for persons unknown to lock the lock on the knob, leaving an unsuspecting family member to be locked out of the house.
So I would like to have no lock on the levers replacing the doorknobs, just using the deadbolts. What say SF friends? Is that a mistake?

I don't see a problem, but I urge you to use deadbolts that are only keyed on the exterior and have a toggle on the interior, rather than the double keyed kind. Double key deadbolts are dangerous in a fire.

Such a system would seem to ensure that you couldn't get locked out, as the only way to lock the door from the exterior is to use the key.

It's a bit cumbersome, but I kind of like it.

I have the key type lock with turn knob on inside and the double cylinder lock on 2 sets of french doors.
I think the door knob one is more for a sense of security as all you have to do is break a glass panel and its defeated.

I'm fine with a properly installed deadbolt and no other lock on a door. We have these: Hercules Mul-T-Lock Deadbolt which use a captive key. When we are home, the captive key stays installed on the inside so we can unlock the doors from the inside. When we leave on vacation, we remove all of the captive keys so someone can't just break the glass and open the doors.

The easiest type of lock to defeat is the center lock doorknob. I don't know if going to a lever makes it any more difficult. Deadbolts are much more secure. I wouldn't have a problem with a door with an unlocked doorknob but a locked deadbolt.

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Double key deadbolts are dangerous in a fire.

True, it is why we leave the key in at night and hide when we leave.
Better security if someone breaks in (other than kicking in that door), less paths for them to get out.

I think it is fine, especially with a large strike plate screwed into the frame.

The knob latch still provides another contact point. Sure, they can turn the knob, but then the same person can't generate much force. I guess if one turns the knob and another kicks, it would theoretically be weaker with only the deadbolt making contact...but probably negligible. I haven't tried to kick my door in, but I bet it isn't possible with the StrikeMaster II plate installed much like this one:

https://www.amazon.com/Door-Ja...eywords=strikemaster

Not sure it matters much, security-wise, what type lock you have with french doors. They’re easy to force open. But I prefer a double cylinder deadbolt on any door that has glass in it or next to it.

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Originally posted by ArtieS:
I don't see a problem, but I urge you to use deadbolts that are only keyed on the exterior and have a toggle on the interior, rather than the double keyed kind. Double key deadbolts are dangerous in a fire.

Double-sided deadbolts do present more of a fire hazard. Single-sided are less secure in the event there's glass within reach of the lock such that a burglar could break the glass, reach in and unlock the deadbolt.

If you have glass near the lock and want double sided, you could hang a key near the door, but out of reach, or put it in a bowl on a nearby table, etc.

I like having both a deadbolt and a locking knob, even though the knob itself isn't much security. The only time I lock the knob is at night. Anytime I go through the door and expect to return relatively soon, I lock the deadbolt only, for the simple reason that if I don't lock the knob, it's impossible for me to lock myself out (unless I lose the key). Learned that little trick the hard way.

Would it be possible to replace one of the exterior locks with an electronic keypad? This would remove the safety issues from the equation, and still allow the person who is locked out to access the house.

I had neighbors whose teenager locked herself out at least once a month. Used to play golf with a druggist whose wife locked herself out twice while he was playing with our group. I won't have locking knobs/levers: only the deadbolt.

My exterior doors have a deadbolt and a lock on the knob. I had all the locks keyed the same.

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Originally posted by rusbro:

quote:

Originally posted by ArtieS:
I don't see a problem, but I urge you to use deadbolts that are only keyed on the exterior and have a toggle on the interior, rather than the double keyed kind. Double key deadbolts are dangerous in a fire.

Double-sided deadbolts do present more of a fire hazard. Single-sided are less secure in the event there's glass within reach of the lock such that a burglar could break the glass, reach in and unlock the deadbolt.

If you have glass near the lock and want double sided, you could hang a key near the door, but out of reach, or put it in a bowl on a nearby table, etc.

I like having both a deadbolt and a locking knob, even though the knob itself isn't much security. The only time I lock the knob is at night. Anytime I go through the door and expect to return relatively soon, I lock the deadbolt only, for the simple reason that if I don't lock the knob, it's impossible for me to lock myself out (unless I lose the key). Learned that little trick the hard way.

This is what we do. We use double keyed deadbolts but have a key within reach of us but out of reach of anyone breaking the glass.

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..Double-sided deadbolts do present more of a fire hazard. Single-sided are less secure in the event there's glass within reach of the lock such that a burglar could break the glass, reach in and unlock the deadbolt.

If you have glass near the lock and want double sided, you could hang a key near the door, but out of reach, or put it in a bowl on a nearby table, etc....

What I used when I lived in downtown Reading, Pa in the 70's and it prevented a perp from breaking in one night after he broke out a small window pane near the lock. There was no way he could not unlock the door.

My next move was to replace the broken glass with Plexiglass.

I don't believe a key-in-knob lock adds much security when there's a deadbolt lock, but I figure every little bit counts... except in this case: French doors.

All my exterior doors are full panel glass. The previous owner had installed double cylinder deadbolts, keyed on both sides. This was both dangerous in a fire and not terribly more secure from breaking and entry. If a criminal breaks the glass and finds he can't unlock the deadbolt, he will simply break out the rest of the glass and step through.

While counter intuitive, an inside thumb turn is actually more secure, because as soon as the door is opened, it will set off the alarm. I have more faith in contact sensors than I do in either glass breaks or motion sensors.

Keyed knobs are no additional security, but can be a convenience.

Double-key deadbolts are against building code almost everywhere now, and around here will fail an inspection, even if existing. Bad juju during an emergency.

I removed all the locking knobs at my house after my toddler locked my wife out the first time. Never really used them, don't miss them.

The deadbolt will slow someone down, the guts of just about any knob hardware won't. People in wealthier areas really like Medeco for the deadbolt and knob, and it just makes things more expensive, not more secure.

Modern keyed doorknobs allow you to open them from the inside even when locked. You can open them without turning the little knob or push the little button. So, you can leave without unlocking the door. At our old house that had no attached garage we leave locked ourselves out half a dozen times, usually without a cell phone on us, requiring us to go to the bar down the street, gave a drink and call the other one to pick up the tab and let me/her in. We eventually hid a key. Not sure if it helped anything, our house was never broken into, but the drinks tasted good.

Wouldn't having a locking knob and deadbolt help spread the force of a forced entry over a wider area and make it more difficult to force the door open?

My last 2 houses (I move every couple years for work) have not had locks on the knobs and am deadbolt only since they only keep honest people out.

A few years back, my Dad was living with me over the winter (escaping Upper Midwest's winter) and I had to go work offshore for a couple weeks so my Dad had some buddy's from back home come down. They were all smokers so they were having their morning smoke and coffee on my back patio. One of the guys had turned the doorknob lock (I never used it) and they were locked out. I kept a padlock on my gate to so nobody stole my SS gas grill, and 3 guys 55 to 65 years old are locked out and trapped in my backyard. They called a locksmith on their cell phones, but before he could arrive the morning coffee kicked in and 2 of them needed to take the Browns to the Super Bowl. Fortunately, it was the 2 who were able to scale my 6.5' tall wood fence. They knocked on my neighbor's door (he was a good friend) and explained what was going on, and he let them use his bathroom. It still makes me laugh to think about it.