Locking (childproofing) internal doors

finnigan

Hi all,

I just need extra brains on this one!!

Problem is I have a developmentally delayed child, she is the size of a tall nine year old but must be protected as a 2-3 year old would be, (usually with a stair gate, but she can climb over these).

We have key code locks on most of our doors upstairs (she 'wanders' in the night) and need to keep her either up or down stairs, depending on the time of day/night.

Our hallway has the front door, stairs and living room door. The rest of our downstairs is accessed through the living room.

It's this living room door I need help with. The opening is one meter wide and currently has two 50 cm doors there. One stays locked with a bolt and the other has a star bolt lock to lock it from the living room side and a keycode lock to open it from the hall side.

I'm currently doing up the living room and these doors annoy the heck out of me, I can't carry my laundry basket through without turning it on its side for example. So I thought I might turn them into bi-fold doors, but then how do I lock them? Idealy I want a user accessable lock from both sides, something with a code so the other children can get in and out without yelling for a key as they do now!!

Well hopefully I've made sense, any thoughts would be much appreciated , thanks in advance.

WestonDave

Bifold doors will be worse - the fold means that in order to secure them you'll need two bolts on the "fixed" door and one in the middle of the opening door, otherwise the lock on the opening door will need to grip the other door. With your current arrangement a normal lock stops the door being pushed, but on a folding door the lock would just pull out of the other door as soon as someone pushed the middle.

Your best option is to bring it down to one door - either by getting the doorway narrowed (not a big job for a builder - take out old frame and doors, bit of studwork either side, and new frame and door in. Alternatively it might just be cheaper to get a bespoke 1m wide door made up by a carpenter and hang it as a single door in the existing space - you can then use the same locking systems you use elsewhere. A quick look around on the internet reveals that 1000mm (1m) doors are available from about £175 - which I guess is about the same as two sets of bifolds (which in your space you'd also have to have custom made as 50cm ones split into 2x25cm would be pretty narrow and may look a bit wierd)

finnigan

Thanks Dave, the idea behind the bi fold was that I could use the two old doors and get away with only spending £20 - £30 on the bi fold track kit .

I hadn't properly considered the idea of rebuilding the wall and putting it back to a standard size gap.... certainly something to think about as my eldest might be able to do this for me, then I could find a second hand door to do up. I think this could be my cheapest option.

The only other thing I had considered was putting a small panel door in one side and a normal size the other, it's just finding a pair to measure 1 mtr - and then finding ones I could afford!!

I'll have a chat with the boy when he gets home from work tonight..... :rotfl:

Thanks again

WestonDave

Hmm, OK - so what if you were to set it up as a bifold as you suggest and put the keypad lock into the join in the middle - this might be enough to stop it "veeing" and thereby stop it opening. You'd need a fairly strong code lock to do it on its own, and certainly to ensure the part of the door it locks into is reinforced with a strike plate (metal surround to the hole). If you speak to a local locksmith it may be possible to buy two identical codes pads and fit the two code pads back to back so that you have to use a code both sides - otherwise you'd have to use two in order to have a code pad either side. In that case when you came to the door you'd have to open and latch the handle pad, and then enter the code to open the other one.

The track would need to be strong enough to cope with the child pushing against the loose end of the bifold as that is the weak point.

finnigan

You've been brilliant, thanks Dave. You're right, the bi fold idea just gets more complicated the further one goes into it.

My son said exactly what you did, build a stud wall, simple job and will have it done for me within a weekend :T bless him!!

I think we will just have to stick with the pain-in-the-backside locking system we have now.

Thanks again

Owain_Moneysaver

You can get "back to back" combination locks ie with keypad both sides.

finnigan

Thanks Owain, you're a star I didn't realise that that was what they were called, I can now go google (cheapest found so far £118!!)