How to Choose a Deadbolt Lock for Your Door

Quality deadbolt locks are an important safety feature on your home to prevent break-ins and keep your home secure. There are many different styles and models of deadbolt locks, but most are either single or double cylinder locks.

Here’s the difference between them:

• • Single Cylinder Deadbolt Lock: Features a keyhole on the exterior side and a thumb lock on the interior side. This type of lock will allow you to escape the home quickly in case of fire or other emergency since a key is not required to open it from the inside.
  • Double Cylinder Deadbolt Lock: Features a keyed cylinder on both the exterior and interior sides of the lock. This provides more security on glass doors, since the interior key can be removed from the lock to prevent intruders from breaking the glass and reaching inside to unlock the door, but can make it harder to exit a home in the case of a fire or other emergency. Before installing a double cylinder lock, check the building codes in your area to make sure they’re allowed.

For added security, choose a deadbolt lock with a 1” throw, and reinforce the strike plate in the door frame with longer screws or steel plates. Watch this video to find out more.

Further Information

• Burglarproof Locks (article)
• How to Reinforce a Deadbolt Lock on Your Home (video)
• How to Make Your Home Secure from Burglary and Break-In (article)

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Danny Lipford: One of the best ways to avoid your house getting broken into is to install a good quality deadbolt lock on every exterior door. Now, there’s a couple of different types of deadbolts, and you may need to check with your local building code to check what type you may need to use, because of several safety issues.

Here is a good example. This is a single cylinder deadbolt which has a key on this side and a thumb lock on the other side. In the event of a fire you can get out easily, which is a lot different than a double cylinder deadbolt that has a key on each side, that would require that you open it before you can get out very quickly.

Now some people like the double cylinders, because if you have glass on the door or glass at adjacent to the doorway someone could break the glass out and reached in to unlock the door, so it is very important to check with building codes in your area.

Now, the most important thing is to have a good-quality deadbolt. One that has at least a one-inch throw, like this one does, that would make sure that it gets into the doorjamb to protect it from the break in.