16th June 2022
When purchasing locks for your home, there are many things to consider, with the most important of all being security. After all, that’s why you purchase door locks in the first place!
It’s also essential to buy the best type of house locks for your outside doors, as this is something your insurer is likely to quiz you on, before giving you cover for your home.
To help you make a well-informed purchasing decision (and get you clued up on all the different types of house locks) we’ve put together a quick and easy guide. Read on to learn about the most common types of front door locks and locks for upvc door handles, along with their advantages and disadvantages.
Five-lever mortice deadlocks are a popular choice for main doors commonly made of wood. They offer moderate protection and can be deadbolt locked and unlocked from either side of the door, using a key. Sometimes, they may be installed with a night latch for extra security.
This is one of the door lock types recommended by home insurance companies, as they are fitted within the material of the door, rather than on just the surface. By installing a mortice lock on the outside doors of your home, you may be able to get a slight discount on your cover.
When purchasing a mortice lock, it’s important to make sure it conforms to BS 3621. Simply look for the British Standard Kitemark on the lock and you’ll know it’s the real deal. As well as being manufactured to a high standard, the Kitemark tells you that the lock has been tested against common burglar techniques, such as picking and drilling.
Some of the best brands of five-lever mortice locks are:
Please note, this type of lock is not suitable for upvc door handles.
Night latches offer an extra layer of security. There are two types of locks: standard and deadlocking. Standard night latches lock a door automatically unless you use the fastening to hold the latch back. Deadlocking night latches lock automatically and require the use of a key to open the door from both the inside and outside.
Generally speaking, deadlocking latches are more secure. However, night latches should only ever be installed as a secondary security measure. They should not be the sole lock on your outside doors.
16th June 2022
Multi-point locking systems are commonly installed in modern houses with upvc door handles. They bolt the door into the frame and lock at multiple points (minimum of 3), with the turn of a key. These upvc door locks offer a high level of security and will make a practical choice for garages and patio doors.
The mechanism for key-operated multi-point locks is operated with a euro-cylinder lock, which is where you insert the key. The good news is that only one cylinder is required to lock the full mechanism, so it can be keyed alike with other cylinder locks in your home. This means fewer keys are needed for your property – less to weigh your pocket down!
It has to be said that this type of locking system is easy to get wrong. It’s important to familiarise yourself with how to double-lock the door, so you can fully secure your home when you go to bed or leave the property. This often involves lifting the door handle, whilst turning the key twice. If it’s double-locked, you shouldn’t be able to push the handle down afterwards.
Cylinder locks are most commonly used as front door locks. They can be used both internally and externally and are suitable for upvc door handles. However, they don’t have the best reputation for security. The issue is that they’re one of the deadbolt door lock types vulnerable to lock snapping.
Before installing cylinder locks in your home, consider whether there are any more practical and secure front door locks within your budget. It’s also a good idea to check with your home insurer that this type of lock is acceptable. After all, you don’t want to risk invalidating your insurance!
If you’re lucky enough to have sliding patio doors in your home, it’s important to make sure they’re fully secure. Sliding patio doors are often referred to specifically in home insurance policies, as the lock requirements differ from those of standard doors.
Although they look great and are very practical, sliding doors can be vulnerable to break-ins, as they can be lifted off their runners and removed.
With this in mind, we suggest installing a key-operated multi-point locking system, as mentioned in one of the sections above. Alternatively, you could install key-operated patio door locks at both the top and bottom of the sliding doors. For extra security, consider an anti-lift device to prevent thieves from easily removing the doors.
Remember, it’s always best to check the wording of your home insurance policy and speak to your insurer directly if you have any questions about your sliding door lock.
Now we’ve covered some of the most common door lock types, here’s a little recap of the things to consider and look out for before installation:
So there we have our quick and easy guide to the different types of house locks! We hope you’ve found the answers to your questions but should you be concerned about the security of your home or whether your locks are covered by your home insurance policy, our best advice is to get in touch with your provider.
We Beat or Match Any Quote
Call 0330 912 4843 and we’ll beat or match any quote.
Serious About Service
24/7 claims support & rated Excellent on Trustpilot
Cover Match Guarantee
Get a £50 gift card if you find something we don’t cover
All Gas Boilers Covered
All makes and models, regardless of age
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
__cfruid | session | Cloudflare sets this cookie to identify trusted web traffic. |
AWSALBCORS | 7 days | This cookie is managed by Amazon Web Services and is used for load balancing. |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-advertisement | 1 year | Set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie is used to record the user consent for the cookies in the "Advertisement" category . |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional | 11 months | The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". |
CookieLawInfoConsent | 1 year | Records the default button state of the corresponding category & the status of CCPA. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie. |
PHPSESSID | session | This cookie is native to PHP applications. The cookie is used to store and identify a users' unique session ID for the purpose of managing user session on the website. The cookie is a session cookies and is deleted when all the browser windows are closed. |
viewed_cookie_policy | 11 months | The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data. |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
_uetsid | 1 day | Bing Ads sets this cookie to engage with a user that has previously visited the website. |
_uetvid | 1 year 24 days | Bing Ads sets this cookie to engage with a user that has previously visited the website. |
AWSALB | 7 days | AWSALB is an application load balancer cookie set by Amazon Web Services to map the session to the target. |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
_ga | 2 years | The _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognize unique visitors. |
_ga_X89BZ20HEM | 2 years | This cookie is installed by Google Analytics. |
_gat_UA-77274851-4 | 1 minute | A variation of the _gat cookie set by Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager to allow website owners to track visitor behaviour and measure site performance. The pattern element in the name contains the unique identity number of the account or website it relates to. |
_gcl_au | 3 months | Provided by Google Tag Manager to experiment advertisement efficiency of websites using their services. |
_gid | 1 day | Installed by Google Analytics, _gid cookie stores information on how visitors use a website, while also creating an analytics report of the website's performance. Some of the data that are collected include the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously. |
_hjAbsoluteSessionInProgress | 30 minutes | Hotjar sets this cookie to detect the first pageview session of a user. This is a True/False flag set by the cookie. |
_hjFirstSeen | 30 minutes | Hotjar sets this cookie to identify a new user’s first session. It stores a true/false value, indicating whether it was the first time Hotjar saw this user. |
_hjIncludedInPageviewSample | 2 minutes | Hotjar sets this cookie to know whether a user is included in the data sampling defined by the site's pageview limit. |
_hjIncludedInSessionSample | 2 minutes | Hotjar sets this cookie to know whether a user is included in the data sampling defined by the site's daily session limit. |
_hjTLDTest | session | To determine the most generic cookie path that has to be used instead of the page hostname, Hotjar sets the _hjTLDTest cookie to store different URL substring alternatives until it fails. |
CONSENT | 2 years | YouTube sets this cookie via embedded youtube-videos and registers anonymous statistical data. |
MR | 7 days | This cookie, set by Bing, is used to collect user information for analytics purposes. |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
__qca | 1 year 26 days | The __qca cookie is associated with Quantcast. This anonymous data helps us to better understand users' needs and customize the website accordingly. |
_fbp | 3 months | This cookie is set by Facebook to display advertisements when either on Facebook or on a digital platform powered by Facebook advertising, after visiting the website. |
IDE | 1 year 24 days | Google DoubleClick IDE cookies are used to store information about how the user uses the website to present them with relevant ads and according to the user profile. |
mc | 1 year 1 month | Quantserve sets the mc cookie to anonymously track user behaviour on the website. |
MUID | 1 year 24 days | Bing sets this cookie to recognize unique web browsers visiting Microsoft sites. This cookie is used for advertising, site analytics, and other operations. |
test_cookie | 15 minutes | The test_cookie is set by doubleclick.net and is used to determine if the user's browser supports cookies. |
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE | 5 months 27 days | A cookie set by YouTube to measure bandwidth that determines whether the user gets the new or old player interface. |
YSC | session | YSC cookie is set by Youtube and is used to track the views of embedded videos on Youtube pages. |
yt-remote-connected-devices | never | YouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video. |
yt-remote-device-id | never | YouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video. |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
_dlt | 1 day | No description |
_hjSession_549866 | 30 minutes | No description |
_hjSessionUser_549866 | 1 year | No description |
hometree_landing | session | No description |
hometree_qs | session | No description |
hometree_referer | session | No description |
outbrain_cid_fetch | 5 minutes | No description available. |
wisepops | 2 years | No description available. |
wisepops_activity_session | session | No description |
wisepops_session | session | No description available. |
wisepops_visits | 2 years | No description available. |