What scares you more?

Bryando

I would fear most of being burgled whilst in the house! If a fire broke out then the smoke alarms would go off, giving time to escape. But for a burglar to come in with no doubt some sort of weapon, horrifies me! Could not imagine getting woken up to somebody in your house.

Saturnalia

I've also got a door that lets you open it from the inside without a key, but from outside you need to unlock it. The back door needs to be locked/unlocked with a key and the key stays in the lock, but there isn't a letterbox in the door so it can't be fished.

My keyring goes on a hook in my bedroom as soon as I get home, that's because I am absent-minded and lose things if I don't put them in the same place every time.

I'd be more worried about intruders. I wouldn't be relaxed with the door unlocked if I were home by myself in the daytime, never mind asleep at night. My parents leave theirs unlocked in the day, along with the house, car and neighbours' house keys on the hooks right next to the door, and I'd never do that!

ifstar

It's not unknown for opportunist thiefs to operate at night and just try doors in the hope that they get one thats unlocked.

To the OP, if the place is broken into and stuff stolen then the insurance company will want to know how they person got in and they will not pay out if the person has got in an open door or window. Get your son a spare key.

peachyprice

ifstar wrote: »

To the OP, if the place is broken into and stuff stolen then the insurance company will want to know how they person got in and they will not pay out if the person has got in an open door or window. Get your son a spare key.

No-one can get in without a key. To get in the front door they would have to smash it in, if they were that determined it wouldn't make any difference whether the mortice and the deadlatch were locked.

It's only the bottom mortice that isn't used at night, the one that would need a key to open it from the inside. The top lock locks as soon as the door is closed and can only be opened with a key.

They have keys to both locks.

fluffnutter

Fire is more frightening but less likely. However, I don't really see how a locked front door makes much difference. My door is a yale lock - so I can always open it from the inside yet no one can get in without a key. Aren't most front doors like this??

And the chances that you'll be able to walk calmly out of the front door in the event of a fire... probably not! You'll probably be jumping out of windows.

BTW, top tip. Don't try jumping from anything higher than the first floor and if you do have to exit via an upstairs window, climb out, hang from the ledge by your fingers and let go. Don't jump. That's what a fireman told me.

lostinrates

fluffnutter wrote: »

Fire is more frightening but less likely. However, I don't really see how a locked front door makes much difference. My door is a yale lock - so I can always open it from the inside yet no one can get in without a key. Aren't most front doors like this??

And the chances that you'll be able to walk calmly out of the front door in the event of a fire... probably not! You'll probably be jumping out of windows.

BTW, top tip. Don't try jumping from anything higher than the first floor and if you do have to exit via an upstairs window, climb out, hang from the ledge by your fingers and let go. Don't jump. That's what a fireman told me.

Statistically more likely maybe. Depends on the area and the form of heating though I guess.....

zaksmum

When my O/H was away for four days last week I was awake half the night trying to listen.

I triple lock the house up and we have an alarm, but being deaf I wouldn't hear the house or smoke alarm.

I was thankful I had my dogs with me because if anyone did get in, they'd bark the place down and hopefully scare the burglar off AND be loud enough to wake me up.

But even when O/H is home we lock up as much as possible. My neighbour was burgled while she was in bed after leaving the back door unlocked for the return of the drunken sons in the middle of the night, and was perplexed to find the iron plugged in and red hot next morning.

The cops said she should be thankful she didn't wake up, because if she'd confronted the burglars, she'd have got the iron in her face.

Mojisola

peachyprice wrote: »

Well, I never have locked the front door so it makes no difference what time they come in.

peachyprice wrote: »

No-one can get in without a key.

If "no-one can get in without a key", then the door is locked.

browneyedbazzi

I grew up in Canada and moved to the UK as an adult and was shocked to find that you needed a key to unlock (most) front doors from the inside here...and even more so to find that many people actually hide the keys some distance from the door. To me that is really risky and I would be quite scared of being trapped inside in a fire or other emergency (possibly panicking and unable to find the key in a smoky house)....I also think a lot of people in this country are paranoid about crime, including burglary, and go over the top in taking precautions against burglary to the point that it actually puts them more at risk in other ways.

I went out for a meal in a pub with a group recently in quite a nice neighbourhood. One of the group had a laptop in the boot of his car. Rather than leave the laptop locked in the boot of the car where it wasn't visible to thieves etc, he took it into the pub...because he's paranoid about things being stolen out of the car. In reality it's way more likely for the bag to be stolen from under the table at the pub (or being forgotten after a beer or two - which nearly happened as he walked out without it but someone else in the group noticed and picked it up) than for it to be stolen out of the locked boot of the car in a nice neighbourhood with a relatively low crime rate. To me it's just crazy.

I also find it crazy that public buildings like shops, pubs and restaurants have doors that open inwards as it is way safer in a fire to have doors that open out. There have been several fires where lots of people died and investigations found that inward opening doors prevented their safe escape (because people rush towards doors and crush into them preventing them from being opened in...if they opened out then it wouldn't be an issue).

peachyprice

Mojisola wrote: »

If "no-one can get in without a key", then the door is locked.

It's the extra mortice lock at the bottom I'm talking about, the one that needs a key to unlock from inside, this is the one my friend locks and leaves the key to in the kitchen at the other end of the house (in case it gets fished), and the one that she is horrified that I can sleep at night if my boys don't lock when they come in.

I did clarify that in a later post