Latched *not* locked. They aren't even called locks.
You were supposed to have a lock as well as a latch but many didn't.
There were better latches that could be locked using a key on the inside but they aren't as good as a mortice lock can be.
Just make sure you have plenty of ways to get out in a fire, the front door isn't likely to be one of them if the fire starts downstairs unless the detectors pick it up early.
In message , at
12:29:21 on Tue, 13 Aug 2013, "dennis@home" remarked:The OP was asking about locks for his patio doors, which are generally at the back.
In message , at 12:11:16 on Tue, 13 Aug
2013, The Medway Handyman remarked:How does that work? Would you need to open the door (and leave it ajar), then lock the handles, then have it slam shut against a sprung latch?
Because a lock like that is by design totally shit and guaranteed to lock you out of the house at some stage, leading to keys being hidden under flower pots and door mats 'just in case'
On Tuesday 13 August 2013 09:54 Jethro_uk wrote in uk.d-i-y:
It's true that's the way it used to be - and to me it always sucked.
I don't want a gust of wind making me locked out - I much prefer to positively lock a door.
I came across this with a cottage we rented in Scotland last year. The outside handle could not be turned without the key so if you closed the door behind you you were locked out if you didn't have the key. The owners had put a warning message to that effect inside the door. Seemed like a stupid set up to me as there was no option to keep the door closed without it being locked from the outside.
Mike
We've also lost the ability to gain entry to the house using a simple piece of reasonably flexible plastic, which was another facility offered by those locks.
Locks were available which could be closed and securely locked without a key, but they were few and far between.
I never found that trick worked for me - any plastic thin enough to go into the gap between door and frame couldn't even be forced round the corner to wards the latch, let alone be pushed far enough to undo the latch. I just h ad to resort to using the key...
Obviously your experience differs from mine - almost everyone I knew back i n the days before UPVC front doors had some form of deadlocking rim latch ( as I do now); those few who didn't usually had a separate mortice deadlock.
In some places outside the UK, it's illegal to have locks on rented accommodation that can't be opened from the inside without a key (for fire safety).
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