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Five Great Reasons to Change Your Locks

by | Jan 28, 2016 | Residential Locksmith

Keyless electronic lock on a home door in Texas
Residential · BLOG

5 Reasons to Upgrade the Locks on Your College Station Home

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Published On:January 28, 2016

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Why homeowners upgrade their locks, what the upgrades can do, and how to choose the right one for your doors

A homeowner in College Station renting out a room does not want to hand a guest a copy of the house key. Someone who just bought an older home wants better locks than the ones the previous owner left behind. Neither is an emergency, and that is the point. Upgrading your locks is one of the simplest ways to make a home safer and easier to live in, and it is worth doing by choice, not only after something goes wrong.

You do not have to wait for a lost key or a break-in to change your locks. Done on your own terms, it becomes an upgrade, a chance to replace tired, basic hardware with locks that are stronger, easier to use, and built to last.

In This Article

What We Cover

Keyless electronic lock on a home door in Texas

Are the locks on your home enough?

Burglars almost always look for the easiest way in, a door with a weak lock, no deadbolt, or a spare key sitting in the first place anyone would check. Most homes make that easy without meaning to, simply by keeping whatever locks came with the house. Before you decide whether to upgrade, it is worth looking honestly at what is on your own doors:

  • A knob lock and no deadbolt: a doorknob lock on its own is easy to force, and a good deadbolt is one of the biggest improvements most exterior doors can get.
  • Builder-grade hardware: the locks that come with a new house are chosen to be cheap in bulk, not hard to defeat, and they are usually the lowest grade sold.
  • A lock that is worn or loose: a key that sticks, a bolt that does not throw fully, or a lock that wobbles in the door has seen better days and is easier to bypass.
  • Keys you have lost count of: if you cannot say how many copies exist or who holds them, you no longer control who can open your door.

If more than one of these sounds like your home, an upgrade is one of the most worthwhile improvements you can make.

Five reasons homeowners upgrade their locks

When you upgrade to better hardware, you get more than a lock that is harder to break. It is more durable, more reliable, and it can take the daily fuss of keys out of your life. Homeowners make the change for a mix of those reasons, and these are the ones that come up most:

  • Better protection against real break-ins: stronger locks stand up to the methods intruders actually use, such as kicking a weak strike or picking and bumping a cheap cylinder. Our guide to the best locks to prevent a break-in covers what holds and what does not.
  • An end to hidden and shared keys: a smart or keypad lock lets you and your family in with a code, so there is no spare under the mat and no key to hand around and lose.
  • Real control over who can get in: high-security locks use keys that cannot be copied at a hardware store, so no one makes a duplicate of your key without your knowing.
  • More reliable, day to day: newer hardware turns smoothly, latches cleanly, and handles weather and daily use far better than a lock that has been on the door for years.
  • A home that is safer and easier to sell: good, current locks are a small, visible upgrade that adds to a home’s security and its appeal if you ever rent it out or sell.
Expert Tip

When you upgrade a deadbolt, ask your locksmith to fix the strike plate with long screws that reach the door frame, not just the trim. When a door is kicked, the strike is usually the first thing to give, and long screws into the frame are what stop that from happening.

What a lock upgrade can involve

A lock upgrade is not one fixed job. For some homes it is a single, stronger deadbolt on the front door. For others it is keypad or smart entry on every door, with restricted keys throughout. Most homeowners land somewhere in between, and often combine a few of these:

  • A Grade 1 deadbolt: the strongest residential grade, on every exterior door, which brings most homes up to a genuinely secure baseline.
  • Smart and keypad locks: code, app, or fingerprint entry that ends the hidden spare and lets you give or remove access without cutting a key.
  • High-security cylinders: locks that resist picking and bumping and use restricted keys no hardware store can copy, for homeowners who want the most control.

Many homes end up with a combination, a smart lock on the front door for convenience and strong deadbolts on the rest for security.

Choosing the right upgrade for your home

Two homes on the same street can need very different upgrades. One has solid doors that only need better cylinders. The next has a warped back door where a new deadbolt will not latch until the door and frame are sorted. That is why a good upgrade starts with the door itself, not the lock. An exterior door needs different hardware than an interior one, and a strong deadbolt does little on a misaligned strike or a door that has shifted, so a proper fit and install decide whether the lock actually performs. Start with the doors most exposed to the street, sort out the alignment and the strike, and work with a licensed locksmith who looks at your doors before recommending anything. If you are not sure how far to take it, upgrading is one part of the wider question of when to change your locks.

Upgrade your College Station home locks

Texas Premier Locksmith provides lock replacement, rekeying, and new lock installation for homes in College Station and the nearby communities, including Bryan. Whether you want a stronger deadbolt, a keypad on the front door, or high-security keys, a quick visit is all it takes to bring your doors up to date. Call 512-893-5811 to talk through what would suit your home.

Call (866) 948-8188 request service

Written By
line

TPL

Texas Premier Locksmith Team

Texas Licensed Locksmith — License #B17236

This post was written by the team at Texas Premier Locksmith, a licensed and fully mobile locksmith serving homes across Texas. Our technicians rekey, replace, and upgrade residential locks, from a single deadbolt to full smart and high-security setups.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a deadbolt on every exterior door?

On doors that lead outside, yes. A knob lock on its own is easy to force, so a Grade 1 deadbolt on each exterior door is one of the biggest security gains most homes can make. Interior doors do not need the same, though a bedroom or office door can take a simpler lock for privacy.

Are the builder-grade locks on a new house good enough?

Usually not for long. Builder-grade locks are chosen to be cheap in bulk and tend to be the lowest grade sold, so they wear faster and stand up to forced entry less well. Upgrading the exterior locks to a stronger grade is a small change that noticeably improves security.

Should I choose a smart lock or a traditional keyed lock?

It comes down to how you want to get in. A smart or keypad lock ends the hidden spare and lets you give or remove access with a code, which suits busy households and rentals. A good keyed deadbolt is simpler and needs no power, and many homes use a smart lock on the front door with strong deadbolts on the rest.

I just bought an older home. Which locks should I upgrade first?

Start with the doors most exposed to the street, usually the front and any door hidden from view, and check that each one has a solid deadbolt that latches cleanly. Older homes often have worn cylinders and misaligned strikes, so a locksmith can tell you which locks to replace and which only need adjusting.