Improve Your UPVC Door Security!

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As professional security experts, we are constantly buying in new products and testing them independently for ourselves. This ensures we can choose the best products for our own customers and advise them on the most secure locks for their doors. Knowing the products on the market is extremely important in the locksmith trade.

So you think you ARE secure? Your door was installed by a reputable company and it cost the Earth right?

You may be surprised how vulnerable your home really is!

UPVC doors:

The common misconception here is that 'my door has X amount of bolts/hooks' so it must be very secure. WRONG, These hooks and bolts are only as secure as the cylinder barrel fitted to your UPVC door. Once that key is turned all those hooks and bolts retract.

Criminals are becoming evermore ingenious and I have been called out to many cases where they have easily entered through the main door by manipulating this flaw.

In most cases the UPVC doors were fitted with incorrect barrels.

Is your barrel protruding from the handle of your door more than 3mm? If so then your home could be entered in seconds.

UPVC door barrels are relatively weak in the center mounting point where they are held in the door, just below the cam. They are only manufactured from cast brass.

A small degree of movement in a secured lock will quickly cause the barrel to snap in half and be completely removed from the door. Criminals will achieve this using a pair of grips or pliers that they can get on to your protruding lock. Once removed the door can be opened easier than if you had the key!

A correctly fitted lock will be flush or slightly inset with the handle in which it is fitted. This makes it extremely difficult to get a grip on the lock barrel and break it.

Ideally you want a lock cylinder to BS3621. This will mean that your lock will be highly resistant to lock picking, breaking, drilling and snapping.

There are higher degrees of security for mores risky premises.

I would advise the fitting of the following locks to your doors for maximum security. They are more costly... but far less costly than your household possessions.

Good names to look for:

MUL-T Lock, Evva, Kabba and Assa are some of the best locks available for the most reasonable price.

Lock technology is always changing and its wise to keep your security up to date, just as you would with anything else. Often the lock ios the only barrier between the crooks and all your worldly possessions and spending an extra ￡30-￡50 to ensure the safety of these possessions is a no brainer!

Article written by Rick Corfield of Wolverhampton Locksmiths.