Deadbolt locks offer false sense of security (2014)
gaterslocksmith.com
gaterslocksmith.com
Deadbolt Locks Offer False Sense of Security… … when they are not installed properly.
Mythbusters inadvertently demonstrated the problems of the "short" screws that come with most strike plates in one of their episodes. They were testing "bashing through doors," and built a bunch of door frames, put doors in them, added locks, and proceeded to learn to slam through them - with rather great success, splitting the door trim.
Except for one, in which one of them rather nicely injured themselves (either Adam or Tory, can't recall which at the moment). The difference? 3" long screws into the studs, instead of the 3/4" or 1" screws that the others used.
I went through and replaced the screws securing all my strike plates after that episode.
Though, for most homes, all a lock will do is keep out the people who don't want to be there in the first place. They can be good if you don't want someone snooping around without you noticing, but unless you go out of your way to get "not abysmally shitty locks," anyone with a tiny bit of skill and a bump key or bump gun can pop your doors anyway without you noticing.
It should go without saying that the various internet connected and smartphone enabled locks are a security comedy if you care about security as well.
I've never looked into these much, care to expand a bit on why?
The issue isn't so much that the intruder can hack the lock, as that the intruder can bypass the smarts of the lock with age-old techniques that had been bred out of traditional lock designs.
If you want to prevent a break in, first construct a fence around your house. Then add steel window protection. Only then you should worry about deadbolts.
So, if you can kick through an 16" OC mounted sheet of 5/8ths OSB, then yeah, maybe you could kick your way into a house?
Curiously, both the international building code and ANSI require nails be used for wooden structural panels, because nails have better shear resistance than screws, which are typically designed with withdrawing resistance in mind.
Obviously, nails don't exactly work very well with normal drywall, though I'm not familiar with structural drywall either so I'm going to assume that's why you need so many screws... one snaps and it becomes a cascading force multiplication on the remaining screws.
I don't know what to think about it, to be honest. Here in Canada I've started to see a lot of houses built with fibreboard sheathing with an integrated 1/2" or 3/4" outer foam insulation layer. The stuff is very flimsy and turns into oatmeal when it gets wet, but apparently it's sufficient. Builders use it because it's cheap and increases insulation and decreases thermal bridging, but I think I would prefer regular OSB sheathing with building paper, or Zip sheathing with taped seams if I could get it (I've never seen it used here before).
Exterior walls in many US homes are usually sheathed with 1/2" thick OSB or plywood. Given 16" spacing for studs (or 24" if your builder is cheap) you're going to have to work really hard to kick through siding, plywood, *live electrical wiring might be in your way*, plus then finally drywall.
It would be so much easier to just break a window, same as any construction of house.
All of that said, just bought a Kwikset Halo and it came with extra long screws, for anyone curious. I'm pretty happy with it.
(If you mean windows that go down to your floor, yeah fair enough. Screws are still cheap and easy though)
Are they really though? Having something tell me that my front door was unlocked when I know nobody is home and nobody is SUPPOSED to be home, is yet another handy piece of info.
I mean, a good alarm system can fix that as well. Plus smart locks can lock themselves. Plus usually they're not any worse than any other lock you could get at home depot.
Given the ease of picking most locks anyway, any of those that could be set up to send a notification when locked/unlocked would at least add some logging.
I disagree. Even the most technologically savvy intruder isn't going to hack my bluetooth/wifi/zwave/whatever lock, they're just going to break the lock or window. And on the bright side, I can tell remotely if my deadbolts are locked, and then lock them if necessary.
Have you even heard of LPL?
For insurance purposes if nothing else, I want there to be solid evidence someone forced entry. So while my heavy duty strike plate and three hinges on the other side aren't anchored as well as I'd like and there's pretty easy access through a porch window, it's secured by an Abloy lock from https://securitysnobs.com/ so force will be required. And I can lend out a key with confidence that if I get it back, it won't have been copied in the meanwhile.
I doubt it would have any difficulty slicing through a deadbolt. Just stick the wheel in the crack between the door and frame, and bzzzzt!
(It's the same tool thieves use to cut off your catalytic converter in a few seconds.)
This is why castles, no matter how stout, are worthless unless manned with defenders trying to kill anyone attempting to breach the walls.
The thing is that the hardened parts will go through hack saw blades in nothing flat, so I'd expect even the expensive cutting blades on the grinder would struggle. But a lot of those old bike locks, the shackle was hardened but the body was not, or too thin in spots to matter.
If you were hypothetically taking out a door with a grinder, you'd just slice a triangle around the lock, not go after the lock.
Your triangle idea sounds like a good one.
Second, I've never spent a lot of time around a metal shop and it did not occur to me how hot a small piece of really hard steel would get when grinding through it. That was exciting.
archive.org to the rescue: https://web.archive.org/web/20190909090731/http://www.gaters...