Burglaries…What can YOU do?

I cannot stress how important it is to do whatever you can to protect your home.

Although Norfolk is quite low on the burglary scale against the rest of the UK, we still have home intruders and they still go for easy targets. The most recent burglary I attended was a case where an insurance standard lock was not fitted on the door through which they gained entry. The alarm was not switched on, and the door through which the intruders entered was dark and secluded. All ideal circumstances for a burglar. The thieves made off with jewellery, ignoring the laptop computers on their way to the bedroom. Whilst it would have been a pain waiting for insurance to replace computers, the family heirlooms amongst the jewellery can never be replaced.

So here again, are the things you should be looking for when making sure you are as safe as you can be and also covered by most insurers.

If you have a upvc door, the locking barrel should have a kite mark on it. Regardless of the number of hooks and bolts and rollers the door has, this is the weak spot and I can guarantee most people reading this will have the basic barrels that are easy to bypass for those who know how, which unfortunately includes the burglars. Even among the kite marked barrels there are varying degrees of safety and we welcome all enquires along with free security checks.

If you have a wooden door with a ‘Yale’ type lock only, then this must also display a kite mark. You will usually see this on the part that is on the front edge of the door and therefore you will have to open the door to see it. These usually also have a chunky part around the keyhole to resist attack. The official name for these is an Automatic Deadlocking Nightlatch. If you only have a basic nightlatch and no other lock on your door, then you are asking for trouble as bypassing the standard nightlatch often takes less than a minute with no major tools.

The other locks found on wooden doors are mortice locks, often called “Chubb” locks. These are the ones that sit inside the door itself. Many people read in their insurance about 5 lever locks and confuse this with the upvc multi-point locking systems. The five levers are actually inside the mortice lock. You can get 2 lever locks, suitable for bathrooms, etc, 3 lever locks suitable for internal doors and then 5 lever mortice locks for final exit doors. If you have a 3 lever lock on your outer door, it will be vulnerable in many ways. They are easy to pick. They are easy to drill. The bolt does not come out as far as a 5 lever lock and they are therefore easier to lever open. The supplied keeps are never as robust either. Kite marked British Standard 5 lever mortice locks are designed to be difficult to pick. They have anti-drill plates. The bolts extend further and are protected against hacksaws and the keeps are strong with long screws to help ensure against being levered open.

If you have any doors in dark areas, invest in a powerful sensor light, and dummy CCTV cameras are a great deterrent. But a real CCTV system can be tailored to most budgets and burglar alarms can now send a message straight to your mobile phone alerting you to a break in, allowing you to be aware instantly that someone has triggered it. Even if you have pets that roam free, modern alarms can be set so that animals do not trigger them, while larger humans do.

Finally, many say to me that if a burglar wants to get into your house, then he will and unfortunately this is true. But he also wants to be able to get out fast without cutting himself on broken glass, so a solid lock on your door is still the best deterrent.

 

admin December 23, 2013

insurance standards / kite marked /

Locks and Insurance standards explained

Which lock?
While some of the following may sound obvious to some readers, I do still come across many instances where I am asked the questions I will answer here and hope that everyone finds at least some of it interesting.

Firstly, the three most common types of lock;-

  1. The Rim cylinder, often referred to a “Yale” type lock. This usually has a circular housing on the outside of the door, with a mechanism on the inside that is operated by a knob or lever, called a “nightlatch.”
  2. The mortice lock, often referred to as a “Chubb” lock. This lock is positioned into the door with a key hole on both sides. It can be just a key operation, in which case it is called a “mortice deadlock”, or it can have a latch as well, with door handles – In this case it is called a “mortice sash-lock.” The keys are usually cylindrical with a square piece on the end into which is cut the shape that will match the levers inside.
  3. The Euro-cylinder. This is found on upvc, composite (wood effect), aluminium and a very few wooden doors. The key is similar to the rim cylinder, the lock barrel is shaped as a circle with a rectangular piece coming down. There are oval versions of this but they are not common in Norfolk.

BSI and insurance standards.
If your door only has a rim cylinder and it is your door of final exit, then it must have a BSI kite mark to satisfy most insurers. This means it should have an automatic deadlocking system. You can identify this system by looking at the nightlatch. Where the latch part comes out, you will see a smaller spring loaded protrusion. As the door closes, this strikes the keep and makes the latch shoot out further and makes a barrier that stops burglars “slipping” the lock to gain entry. Often these also have a key hole on the inside to lock the nightlatch, making it impossible to open the door using the lever. This means that if a burglar breaks into your home through a window, they still cannot take large items out the front door. Finally, around the front of the key way on the outside of the door, a strong housing over the disc will deter drilling attempts.

If your door is protected by a mortice lock, then it must be a five lever mortice lock. You can get two and three lever mortice locks but these should only be used for internal doors and cupboards. A BSI kite marked five lever mortice lock will have certain features that are not obvious or even seen. Firstly, there is the anti-pick curtain. This sits just inside the hole where the key goes in. It stops standard lock-picking procedures. You will not see the anti-drill plate which is an extra piece of metal on both sides that protects the internal working parts from attack via drilling. Standard drill bits will blunt before getting through these. The bolt will be hacksaw protected by either internal rollers or a thick rubbery material that grips the saw blade. The keep that sits in the frame of the door, will be deep and fully metal. These locks are so strong, if the door is forced, the door, frame or both will normally split before the lock gives.

The Euro cylinder on upvc doors is the only lock that, so far, does not have to have a BSI kite mark to satisfy most insurance companies. When your insurance company asks if you have a five lever lock, they are NOT referring to upvc doors – this is a very common mistake. We believe every upvc door should have a kite marked euro cylinder as it has been shown several times that they are easy to attack in several ways. BBC West Yorkshire have shown it is possible to break in, with no power tools, in less than a minute, regardless of the amount of hooks, rollers and bolts on upvc or composite doors.
There are many ways to help ensure standard cylinders are harder to attack, but investing in a kite marked cylinder and more robust handles is, in our opinion, the best way to go. Sooner or later, the insurance companies are going to start calling for improved cylinders on upvc doors anyway, and at that point, the cost is likely to go up.

Many people are unaware that upstairs windows require locks by most insurance companies as well. These are often cheap and easy to fit, but it is always worth an assessment by a locksmith to make sure you have the best, or even to see if there are any locking designs that are more aesthetically pleasing than the bulk standard held in DIY stores.

Also, many people do not realise that most good locksmiths will also be willing to fit security lights and alarm systems. With wireless technology, these are now getting just as easy to fit yourself, but again, for more in depth security, a locksmith or alarm specialist should be consulted.

Should you have any questions about your particular locks, home security or anything in our blogs, please do not hesitate to contact us via the contacts page, or, by calling  07846 643176.

Thanks for reading.

admin June 24, 2013

insurance standards / kite marked / locks /