Self Locking Mortice?

[Bohica]

Any such thing as a self locking mortice lock?

Situation is - got an existing mortice lock on a front door to flat. Only way of locking door is by putting in key and turning it. There is no night latch / normal barrol lock on door. For reasons don't really need to explain but can't fit add anything more to existing door or drill new holes into it. Just want to change the mortice lock to one that will automatically lock when the door closes and can be opened easily from the inside, using say a thumb turn but needs a key on the outside of flat to re-open door.

Make sense?

[fred]

In article , Bohica writes

Yes to the sense but I fear no is the answer. I have been searching for similar beasts for a very long time and have found nothing that can just be swapped out.

In europe, 'apartment' locks are available which are a bit like a sashlock (latch and deadbolt) but a euro cylinder operates both the latch and the deadbolt but you have said that you don't want to modify. Chubb do a fire escape lock which is a mortice latch but it is the size of a house and I have my doubts about its security.

In the past I've fitted a Union euro cylinder based escape lock which gives the features of the 'apartment' lock, it is good and strong but I'd struggle to say I was ecstatic about its ease of use and you'd have to modify the door. Assa do a similar one which I think is better but that isn't a straight swap either.

[Mark Williams]

The behaviour you describe is similar to that of a nightlatch. There are such things as mortice nightlatches (e.g. ) and you might or might not find one to fit the existing mortice.

You should be very wary of fitting a nightlatch as the sole lock on an external door, though. For your own peace of mind and to avoid making the contents of the flat practically impossible to insure against theft, you'd really want one with enough security features to deter most would-be intruders---preferably to BS3621 or similar. I'm not aware of any currently available mortice nightlatches which are particularly secure, certainly not to BS3621 (which explicitly requires unlocking with a key from both sides) or BS8621 (a new standard for moderately secure door locks which allow keyless egress).