With the summer holidays just about over, we can look forward to the shops starting their Christmas displays. It makes us all groan because it seems to get earlier every year- but it also makes us start planning for the next expensive part of the year. In recent years we have started our Christmas shopping earlier getting bits  a few at a time so that when the last few days arrive, we are not panic buying in shops full of others just as fed up with the whole affair. This is also a good time to get your security checked as well – especially as we provide FREE SECURITY CHECKS! This does not just mean we are looking for ways to upgrade your locks. We look at ways to save you money. For example – French doors to your garden perhaps that have taken a beating over the summer and now seem stiff to lock back into position. UPVC doors that have warped in the summer heat. (There was some occasionally.) Locks that have rusted, especially in coastal areas, and, where the door gets battered by the winds. A free check now which might result in minor repair or servicing work has to be better than replacing broken parts when money is tight, and it always seems to happen when we can least afford it! UPVC doors are especially problematic, and as the manufacturers change their designs often, any mechanism more than 10 years old runs a risk of being obsolete so when it does fail replacements are harder to locate and more expensive. Much better to have these mechanisms with  their complex moving parts serviced before they cause serious problems. Let me also take this opportunity to re-state the importance of Diamond Standard locks on UPVC doors. Regardless of the number of hooks, bolts, rollers, etc your door mechanism may have, they mean nothing if the burglar can snap the lock barrel and be inside your home within 42 seconds (as demonstrated by W. Yorks. BBC). They do this without the need for any electronic tools making the job very quiet. Only Diamond Standard Euro cylinders offer the best protection. They cannot be snapped, drilled or picked. They are even protected against so called “bump” keys. While we all know burglars can always get in if they really want to, the idea is to make your home less inviting and when the criminal sees the kite mark displayed on your lock, he is more likely to move on to the next house (so tell your neighbours to increase their security as well!) After all, a house that is well protected suggests any valuables inside are also better protected. I am also still amazed at the number of wooden doors that are not fitted with five lever mortice locks. ‘Five lever’ does not refer to multi-point locking systems on double glazed and composite doors as many of us seem to believe, but the number of locking levers inside a mortice lock – the type that sits inside the opening edge of a door and has a bolt thrown by the key, and often a latch operated by the handle. The faceplate of your lock should tell you how many levers there are and if five, should usually have a BSI kite mark displayed. If the lock says 2 or 3 levers then it is not up to insurance standards and alternatives should be looked at. Also if the lock is so old that you cannot make out the markings, then it might be time for a change anyway. More often than not, private rental properties are where we find non-insurance standard mortice locks, so landlords and tenants please take the time to check your properties. Less common but still enough to cause concern are ‘Horizontal’ mortice locks. These can be identified as having a knob that turns the latch that is in (as the name suggests) a horizontal position to the key hole, further from the edge. Usually in older doors with ‘character’ these locks are rarely of the kite marked 5 lever type and should be looked at. The insurance standard replacements are nearly always different in sizes and should only be changed by a professional. If you don’t have a mortice lock on your wooden door, then your ‘Yale’ type lock should also have a kite mark. (Again, landlords and tenants should double check). Above are highlighted some of the more common problems we see every day, so our final message is this; Don’t give the burglar reason to choose your house and don’t give the insurance company reason to refuse payment. AC Locksmiths Norfolk is currently looking into alarm systems. Please ask if this is something you are interested in as starting rates are likely to be extremely competitive. Thanks for reading.