Advice On New Home Security
Moving home is well known as being one of the most stressful things to endure in life next to bereavement and financial woes. While this process can be both mentally and physically exhausting for us there is a few precautionary steps to take when you move into a new home to make sure that this stress isn’t confounded by something far worse.
When you move into a new property, you don’t only inherit the décor of the previous owner but also something far less visible but much more important, the security. You may never be able to tell how careful the previous owner has been with spare house keys and security codes, their neglect has the ability to seriously devalue your safety, and this is what I’d like to bring your attention to.
Getting your priorities straight
The first priority of any new home owner should be the immediate replacement of all locks that control access to the building. Think of your home being your very own Fort Knox and you won’t go far wrong!
The average home has one front door, one back door and possibly also a garage attached to the side of the house. Always remember that the lock you buy is only as good as the weakest link in the chain. So, if you have the very latest cylinders installed in the front and back doors but you haven’t looked at providing further security for the garage entrance then needless to say you may as well have not bothered. Look at the building as whole and not separate entrances and you’ll begin to get a good perspective of what you should be focusing on.
Changing a simple door lock is nothing to fear and can be accomplished by anyone with even the most modest technical ability. This is because most residential building’s entrances have a ‘mulit-point’ lock fitted; this would have 3 or more locking points up and down the door, seen in a lot of UPVC and wooden doors where you have to pull the handle upwards before turning the key to lock the door. To simplify things these locks come in two units, the main multipoint as described above and also the cylinder in which you put the actual key into. It’s a common misconception that these are in fact one unit and to change a key you have to take the entire lock out. This is FALSE!
How it’s done
To change the cylinder for any reason you simply have to open the door, remove the single set screw that holds it in place and then with a gentle tap, the cylinder will pop out of the door.
To fit your new unit just line up the cam (the small piece of metal in the centre of the cylinder), then slide into the cavity left by the old cylinder. Final step is to remember to tighten the set screw and hey presto, your lock is now changed and no matter who has access to them, the old keys are completely useless.
So take the stress and worry out of moving house and get yourself a couple of spare cylinders, after all, it’s better to be safe than sorry.
This is a guest post by Sam Ryder who works in the security industry.
He writes blogs about different aspects of home security and offers tips and inside knowledge on how best to protect your home at LocksOnline.
If you would like to read more of Sam’s blogs, follow him on Twitter.