With UPVC and composite doors quickly replacing wood doors as the preferred choice for new home builders and upgrades I take a look at the most important part of the door – The Cylinder.
Most people don’t realise that the cylinder, the bit you put your key into for those not of a technical mindset, is the single most important part of your door – it is the part that makes the door mechanism lock and there are many different types of cylinder on the market.
Some cylinders are considerably better than others, you can pick up a cylinder in Poundland or you can buy the best on the market – is there a difference? Of course there is, a cheap lock cylinder will have been made using the cheapest possible metal and will have been made for the lowest cost, the better cylinders will have been made to a specific standard and will have features to help defeat burglars.
So lets take a look at a standard euro profile cylinder, these are the most common type and found on most doors in Orpington and Kent.
The picture above is a basic cheap cylinder lock.
This lock will do the job of locking and unlocking the door but not much more – I have been to several burglaries in Orpington recently where the lock has simply been snapped out of the door allowing the burglars to enter the property quickly and quietly. This is one of the most common ways to open UPVC and composite doors and with the cheaper cylinders it is incredibly simple for a burglar to open your door.
Obviously I can’t show how burglars do this but it is simple and it can be done to almost every cylinder lock except for a few which have features which I will go into in more detail below.
With most of the doors in Orpington having these locks fitted I am now recommending fitting anti snap locks as standard.
What is an anti snap lock cylinder?
An anti snap cylinder has been designed to keep burglars out and has features to prevent the lock being picked, drilled or snapped leaving your home open to burglars.
I recommend as a minimum the Yale Superior cylinder, they are a good quality lock with some interesting features – They are difficult to pick, difficult to drill and very difficult for burglars to snap – combined with good quality handles and fitted correctly they are a burglars worst nightmare.
They are available in a range of sizes and all of your locks can be made to work on one key.
With a tungsten bar holding the lock together they are undeniably tough to snap and even drilling takes time and makes a lot of noise – not something burglars want to do.
The Yale Superior is a mid range cylinder and others such as the Avocet or Ultion cylinders offer even more protection but for those on a budget I cannot recommend them enough.
KLS Locks are Orpington’s highest rated locksmiths on Checkatrade.com and provide free, no obligation advice on all aspects of home security – Call us today to see how we can help you secure your home.
