Are all locks designed this badly? I just had to break into my neighbour's house because he'd left a key on the inside of the lock, which prevented him from using a key on te outside of the lock. Can't they be made so the keys don't reach each other? It must be seperate barrels, or the key being the other way round wouldn't work unless it was symmetrical. There was only about 3mm in it!
If you are talking about Euro locks, the default is that you can't insert a key when there is one on the other side.
You can buy ones where you are specifically able to.
I am not certain, but I have a feeling that I have seen ones where a second key can push the 1st key out from one side, but not from the other.
SteveW
I don't know what type it's called. It's in a fairly modern door, and the keys look Yale shaped, not mortice shaped. But the position of the lock is where a traditional mortice lock would go. I didn't check what position the inner key was in, it might have not been straight so unable to come out. I tried to push it from the outside, but the key was 3mm short of getting in far enough to turn. It seems a pretty bad design if you can easily prevent yourself from using your own key in your own door. He'd locked the back door from the inside, then popped out of the front door later on, closing it on the latch on the Yale lock. He knew he had the back door keys in his pocket, so thought he could get back in. I ended up having to remove one of their windows and climb inside to unlock the door.
You have the option when selecting a euro cylinder to exactly how it behaves with a key on each side. There are youtube videos showing how the interlock mechanism works if you are interested.
I doubt most people even know to ask about that. My neighbours are pensioners.
Ouch, I looked up Euro locks on Youtube and have seen many many ways to open them without keys. Secure my arse! Maybe I should have broken his lock instead of the window.
My back door is like this. I think its pretty standard. Brian
SNAFU. Situation normal, all f***ed up. Nobody thinks before designing= things.
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What is it when a man talks nasty to a woman? Sexual Harassment. What is it when a woman talks nasty to a man? =A33.99 a minute.
There may well be a reason - with many traditional locks you can slide a button on the inside, which prevents a key being used from the outside. The "one key prevents another being inserted" may be a deliberate feature to "replicate" this function.
SteveW
Never seen the point in that. I have a traditional Yale type lock and have never used that button. Why would I wish to prevent someone (probably myself) with a valid key from unlocking the door?
All of the Euro cylinders that I've had and also fitted for other people have been very simple: the 2 keys are too long to be in together (this wouldn't be so in longer locks, but I've never used those). If a key is in and slighly turned there isn't room for the other key; if the key is not turned, the other key can push it through a bit.
I suppose that long locks would need a mechanism to stop entry when not desired ;-)
Surely that method is.... the burglar doesn't have the key? Having an extra "mechanism" to stop entry is admitting the lock is pickable.
I wouldn;t want someone breaking into my place when I was there what would be the point of them doing that unles sit was the fire brigade or a medical emergancy. People have used bolts on doors and mortice locks been locked at night for years I thought most people locked themselves in.
But if the lock works properly and cannot be picked, why do you need extra steps to prevent someone with a valid key from unlocking it?
Agreed. If the lock works as designed, there's no point in preventing a key being used from outside. I suppose if "one key prevents another being inserted", it also makes it (presumably) much harder for anyone without a key being able to pick the lock. It is a two-edged sword, though, because it's also possible for a burglar to break the glass, retrieve the key and then use it from the outside. In the olden days of doors with a large gap between the door and the floor, it also allowed someone to joggle the key out of the lock onto a piece of paper that you put through the gap, and then you pull the paper back with the key on it. That only works with a) internal doors that don't have a ledge on the bottom edge that the door butts up against, and b) if there's enough of a gap, which isn't the case with modern doors that rub against a carpet and doesn't leave a big enough gap to get the key through.
The problem comes when it locks someone out who has a key. Several times I've gone out while my wife has been in the house, and she's put her key in the inside of the front door after I've locked it from the outside, and I've been unable to get back in when I return home. That's usually resolved by knocking and ringing until she unlocks the door, usually with a sheepish "oh shit, I forgot".
What makes you so sure it's a valid key ? whatever that means. Are skeleton keys valid. ?
Which would mean the lock is rubbish. If you're out of your house, how can you lock it from the inside to prevent a key being used?
You can't, but when leaving the house you have to have some way of getting back in, but when already in the house you don't need a way to get in because you're already in.
Leaving your key in the door when you're inside has advanatges too, such as in a fire you don't have to go find your key and neither does anyone else who might happen to be in your house. There are disadvantages too if someone broke in or could get to yuor key through the letter bix like I did once. (although) that was an advantage in my case.
You're such a pessimist thinking of fire. Try not setting light to your house in the first place.
I thought that doors only had one key in general use, with the spare key in some safe place, in which case the problem doesn't arise. If a couple keep one key each, then if one leaves the house taking the key with them, the problem doesn't arise. If one is in the house, the other can ring to be let in. If one of them does not keep the key in their pocket when they leave the house, then one of them will not be able to get in - no worse than a single person forgetting to take the key with them when they leave the house via an automatically locking door.
But most houses have two doors. So you might lock one from the inside and go out the other. Of course in my neighbour's cause you could blame the Yale type lock for letting him lock the other door without having the key on him. Yales are perhaps the stupidest invention ever.
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