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How to secure your doors, locks and keys

A lock is only as strong as the door, the frame and the keys. Criminals rarely pick locks. They kick weak doors, force frames, reach through glass, or simply use a key that should not exist.

Strengthen the door and frame

• Hollow-core door: breaks with a kick. Fit a solid timber, solid-core or steel door on outside walls.
• Weak frame: splits at the lock. Fix the frame well into the brick and fit a steel reinforcing plate at the strike.
• Short strike-plate screws: the plate tears out. Use long screws.
• Glass panels: a hand reaches in to open the lock. Use laminated glass or film, or a security gate inside.
• Hinges on the outside: the pins can be knocked out. Fit hinge bolts.
• Sliding doors: can be lifted off the track. Fit anti-lift blocks and a bar in the track.

In a sectional title complex, outside doors may be common property, so ask the trustees first.

Choose the right lock

• A night latch springs shut and is convenient, but it is weak on its own.
• A deadlock has a bolt that cannot be pushed back without the key. It is the basic lock for an outside door.
• A cylinder lock lets you change the cylinder easily. Better cylinders resist picking, drilling and snapping.
• For gates, choose closed-shackle padlocks, which are hard to cut.

A good lock badly fitted is weak, and a deadlock left unlocked is only a night latch.

Change the cylinders when you move in

You do not know who has keys: previous owners, tenants, builders or agents. Change the cylinders or locks:

• when you move into a home;
• when keys are lost or stolen;
• when someone leaves without returning keys;
• after a break-in.

A handy homeowner can often change a cylinder. A locksmith who does it for payment should be registered with PSIRA, the security industry regulator. Ask for proof.

Control your keys

• Keep a list of which keys exist and who has them.
• Keep spares in a locked cabinet inside the house, never under a mat, in a pot plant or in the meter box.
• Label keys with a code, not your address.
• Do not leave keys hanging where a hand through a window can reach them.
• Keep gate remotes out of sight in cars. If a car is stolen, have the remote codes changed.

A key that you cannot account for is a door that you cannot lock.

Security gates

A security gate on an outside door lets you open the door for air, or to talk to someone, without letting them in. Choose solid steel fixed into the brick, and keep it locked when the door is open.

A gate across the bedroom passage creates a safe zone at night. Keep its key on a hook nearby, out of reach from the living-area side.

Fire and security gates

Security gates have trapped families in fires.

• Every person must be able to unlock the gate quickly, in the dark.
• Children and older people must be able to reach and turn the key.
• Nobody should take the keys away while others are inside.
• Practise your escape plan.

Answering the door

Many home invasions start at the door.

• Look first, through a window, a viewer or a camera.
• Talk through the locked security gate.
• Ask officials for identification, and phone their office on a number that you look up yourself.
• Teach children not to open the door or gate to strangers.

In a rented home

Ask the landlord in writing before you change locks or drill the frame, and agree who pays. A security bar in a sliding door's track needs no drilling.

This guide is based on Chapter 4 of Home Security in South Africa.