Home Improvement Stack Exchange
Home Improvement Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [lock]

A device for securing access, typically on a door, and typically controlled with a key or combination.

Typical kinds of locks include locking door knobs, deadbolts, and padlocks. In addition to keys and combinations, fingerprint readers and wireless locks are now available for homes.

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How can I allow 911 first responders to access a locked residence?

What if I live alone and cannot unlock the door during an emergency? What can I do to enable 911 responders to enter my residence without tearing down the door?
gatorback
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What kind of lubrication should I use for a lock?

I recently made the Yale lock on my front door much easier to open by spraying some WD-40 in there. However, I just saw this question on WD-40 not being a “true” lubricant, and wondered whether it was appropriate to use on Yale locks?
Paul D. Waite
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How to open a door that has the insides of a door handle inside without a door knob

Currently this is what my doorknob looks like below I was trying to change out my doorknob and left both sides inside of the room but the AC kicked on and shut the door on me and now I am stuck outside of the room. I was wondering how I could I open…
John Rawls
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How to get locks that are keyed alike?

I'm looking to replace 3 sets of deadbolts and doorknobs with new keyed alike handles and deadbolts (they don't need to be high security or anything, just regular exterior entry). All of the big box home improvement stores I've been to don't have a…
user105037
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1 answer

How does Schlage SecureKey Re-keying mechanism work?

Here is their consumer info. And here is an amateur teardown, although I can't tell from the pictures how the thing actually works. Does any one have any better powers explanation? But beyond just being curious about the internal workings, the real…
Chris Noe
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How do I unscrew these?

I'm a college kid trying to sneak my boyfriend in my dorm window. The first section is the holder on the window, the second part is the end of the slider on the window. All I have to do is disconnect the slider. This looks definitely like a…
Rose
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Is it possible to replace just the antique locks or will I need to get whole new doors?

In the house I bought the doors are old but ok. However, the handle & locks are very old and we prefer to replace them. I am referring to the doors for the rooms inside the house. Now the question is, is it possible to replace just the handle and…
gyuunyuu
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Is it worth having two locks in exterior doors?

I've noticed that some places have a lock in the knob and a deadbolt in the exterior doors, and some places have a knob without a lock and just a deadbolt. Is there a benefit to having a lock in the knob I'm missing?
Joseph
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"key will unlock the door" vs "key will *open* the door, but not unlock"

Can anyone help me with terminology to describe two different types of functioning in a door lock. (Please note, I am not talking about a lock that is broken.) My front door and my back door both have regular old fashioned doorknobs which take a…
Lorel C.
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Do I need this special strike plate on my laundry room to garage entry? It's creating problems with a new lock

Good day everyone. I recently replaced my existing keyed Schlage lock with a keypad security lock on the door from my mudroom to my garage. The door is metal and the frame/jamb has thick rubber/silicone weather stripping. The new lock has been in…
Todd
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How do I disable a locking door latch?

I have the following door handle / lock combination that leads out to my garage. The key for the door has long been lost and sometimes someone will turn the internal lock and the door cannot be opened from the garage side. I wish to disable this…
Guy
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Why won't my door's latch set open when rotated downward?

I have a Honeywell door handle with keypad. To open the door I lift the handle up instead of the intuitive pushing it down. I asked the person who installed it to fix that and they checked and told me that is the way it's supposed to work. Not…
Guy
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How to open a door with no handle

Long story short, my door handle fell off today while the door was closed. Luckily I was outside the room. I've attached a photo. Any ideas how to get it open? I've tried the old credit card trick but that's not working for me. Any help would be…
Lockedout
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What is the protective plate on a door lock called?

Some doors have this plate that guards the latch mechanism. For some reason my search-fu is failing, I found tons of diagrams of lock and door parts but I can't find that plate. What is that called?
Jason C
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Suggestions for gate latch issue

Let me preface by saying that I'm not really looking for "shopping advice". I just need some direction on how to tackle this issue. We recently purchased a house and it has a block fence around the back yard, with a side gate. The latch is facing…
Batfan
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