Strange Lever Door Knob

The old knob on the side entry door has been sticking so I decided to replace it with a lever style doorknob, which would make it easier for my wife to open the door when she's carrying seed trays from the grow table in the laundry room to the greenhouse. So I picked up a Schlage lever style unit at Home Depot yesterday evening and replaced the old one with it. Easy job, four screws, took very little time.

When it was installed, I noticed a major flaw in the design. When the door is locked, you can open it from the inside just by depressing the inside lever, no need to fiddle with the inner lock/unlock switch on the inside. However, the door still stays locked! So if you depress the lever, walk outside and shut the door behind you, you're locked out.

The simple solution, of course, is to be sure to unlock the door from the inside before going out, but I can see that if someone is in a hurry or preoccupied with other thoughts they could easily forget. Seems like a bad design to me; they should have made it so that depressing the inside lever unlocks the door. I'm going to return this one and look for one that takes manual unlocking before it opens.

Paul

Reply to
Pavel314
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Kwikset is junk. Had a house full of them. Schlage is quality, thats what we have now. You need to be smarter than the door knob. ww

Reply to
WW

I've got one, I like it but it is a concern as I've locked myself out a couple of times. Good reason to keep a key hidden outside. Can't blame you for returning it.

Reply to
Frank

Reply to
Pavel314

Yeah, didn't work because with Schlage Smart Key you need to have two "blue" keys to re-key the lock... The one the lock is currently keyed up to and one for the new key that you want to re-key the lock TO... Me thinks you don't have a "blue" key for the existing key bitting the rest of the locks on your house use if they weren't also Smart Key locks...

You will never find them at Home Depot or Lowe's, but I find that Grade 2 Arrow locks with the Schlage C keyway are far superior in durability than anything Schlage sells for residential use, and with Arrow you won't be locking yourself out...

~~ Evan

Reply to
Evan

I lubricated the old unit with graphite lock lube and put it back in. The wife finds it usable although she really likes the lever style. I'll take the Schlage back to HD and get a Kwikset lever unit.

Reply to
Pavel314

The trick with graphite is to use just a tiny bit as opposed to packing the lock with it... Too much graphite in a lock then spray in WD-40 and you have a mud which will harden and cause issues...

I like Tri-Flow for use as a lock lubricant personally...

~~ Evan

Reply to
Evan

Get an electronic push button lock and you won't ever get locked out unless you forget the code.

I keep a key in the car in case the batteries die, but...

1 - The batteries don't just "die", they slow down the throw of the cylinder long before death so you have a warning. 2 - The garage door push button is on the same code, so they would both have to fail at the same time in order for me to be locked out.
Reply to
DerbyDad03

My wife wants a lever knob. Not for getting out, but for getting in with a load of shopping. Door opens inward too. That's where the lever makes sense. Hit it with an elbow and push with shoulder or knee. Makes little sense when you have to pull on it. No way we would buy a lockset that wants to lock us out. I'm going to tell her about that so she'll stop bugging me.

--Vic

Reply to
Vic Smith

She would unlock the door in the morning then be able to go in and out all day. We think that the effort of one unlocking per day offsets the risk of a lockout.

Reply to
Pavel314

I must be the only person who puts his keys in his pocket as soon as he gets dressed in the morning. I think the last time I managed to lock myself out was something like 7 years ago, and I still don't remember why I didn't have my keys on me. Fortunately jimmying the latch back with a library card was trivial. (not my house, rental. Kwikset.)

nate

Reply to
N8N

Its better to use digital door viewers, it is usefull for u to answer strangers with locked door, good security for ur family...

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Reply to
arunprasath.r

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