Category : High Security Locks

• The Effect of Door Hardware on Curb Appeal

  Posted on May 17th, 2020 0 Comments

  According to a research study conducted at Princeton University, it takes only 1/10th of a minute for people to set impressions of other people; and this same fact applies to how your home, and it’s curb appeal, is judged by strangers. Lock hardware can actually make a big impression on the curb appeal of your property – and, of course, the myriad of factors that curb appeal in turn effects. In this blog entry, the lock and door hardware installation experts here at Chicago Locksmith will detail the way that lock hardware has a strong effect on curb appeal.

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• Benefits of Keypad Locks / Keyless Entry

  Posted on November 29th, 2019 0 Comments

   If you’re thinking of replacing your traditional door locks and keys, a keypad door lock is an excellent option for you. After years of being used by commercial locations, keypad door locks are being used in more and more residential homes – and have become a fast favorite due to all their convenient benefits. Here’s a brief guide to some of the great benefits of using keyless entry locks at your property, as prepared by the experts here at Chicago Locksmiths!

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• Underrated Home Security Tips

  Posted on October 31st, 2019 0 Comments

  Home security isn’t a clear cut and simple procedure for everybody – rather, it’s a selection of custom approaches to your home that’s unique based on everyone’s individual home. Here’s a guide for some essential and underrated home security tips that every homeowner should keep in their mind, as prepared by the locksmith experts here at Chicago Locksmith.

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• Specialty Utility Locks

  Posted on September 28th, 2019 0 Comments

  Utility locks are basically auxiliary locks, and can be pin tumbler, tubular, disk tumbler, wafer tumbler, electromechanical, and magnetic locks. They usually are made of a smaller cylinder lock that can be implemented in many different kinds of functions or considerations. Here’s a guide to all the different types of Specialty Utility Locks, as prepared by the experts here at Chicago Locksmiths.

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• 5 Best Electronic Door Locks

  Posted on March 23rd, 2018 0 Comments

  Now that huge advancements have been made in residential and commercial locksmith based security, there’s a huge variety of electronic door locks available on the market. This wide variety of locks come in an equally large variety of makes, models, sizes, and boast a huge amount of different features. In this brief blog post, the home security experts at Chicago Locksmiths will help you determine what the best electronic door locks for your home or business are.

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• Reasons Not to Break into your own Car during a Lockout

  Posted on February 23rd, 2018 0 Comments

  Picture this scenario if you will: you’ve just finished a long day of work or grocery shopping, and find that you’ve accidentally locked yourself out of your car. This is a stressful situation made even more aggravating if you’ve had a long day or happen to be parked in the middle of nowhere – and if you find yourself in it, you might be finding yourself stressed over figuring out a way to get yourself into your car as soon as possible. This is never a good approach. The automotive lockout experts at Chicago Locksmiths have prepared a short list on the top reasons NOT to attempt to break into your own car during a lockout; instead, contact our team to get instant, safe assistance with your car lockout problem.

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• Why Price doesn’t always determine a quality lock

  Posted on March 13th, 2017 0 Comments

  Here at Chicago Locksmith, we are often asked what kinds of locks are the best for home contexts. However, we tend not to favor one manufacturer or company over another one. The quality of a lock system is not determined by its packability – however this factor SHOULD be taken into consideration. Yes, some of the most expensive locks are impossible to pick, however the true security amounts from not only the lock’s strength, but how strong the door is, and how well it’s bolted into it’s frame. A high quality lock paired with a cheap door or doorframe won’t do that much to prevent a break in.

   

  Picking

  Sometimes cheap locks can be easy to pick, and expensive ones can be easy to pick. It’s easier to pick locks with short pins. It’s harder to pick locks that have a mixture of long and short pins. In order to determine what kind of pins your lock as, look at your key – if it has both deep and shallow cuts in it, it’s harder to pick your lock.

   

  Another aspect of packability is what quality the lock’s metal is made of, and how well it was installed. Good locks are both solid and heavy, and are mounted steadily within the door. All deadbolts should fit cleanly inside their drilled space – and often locksmiths won’t make a deadbolt hole large enough for it to sit properly inside, which increases the vulnerability to crowbar attacks. All bolts should be durable and solid, and should slide fully into the door frame when activated.

   

  Keyways and Home Security

  There’s four main popular residential keyway designs in the United States. These include Kwikset, Schlage, Yale, and Weiser. While many other key patterns are made, the majority of them are made for business security applications. Many outside companies make their locks according to the key designs of the big four companies mentioned above. Lowes ‘Carriage House’ lock design uses the Kwikset Keyway, as well as Home Depot’s ‘Defiant’ locks. Yale utilizes Kwikset keys in its residential lock systems, however it has it’s own type of lock for it’s commercial systems. Schlage makes its own keys for it’s own locks. Sergeant is a particularly high quality lock, that does have some residential offerings, but mostly focuses on making commercial locks.

   

  Again, we want to stress that the true quality of a lock lies in how well it’s installed. The most ineffective lock, is a poorly installed one – so even if your lock is expensive, you need to make sure it’s installed perfectly in order to really get the most out of it.

  

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• Famous Locks of History

  Posted on July 13th, 2016 0 Comments

   

  Locks have existed for thousands of years – just in different forms. In this blog post, we’ll survey some of the most notable moments in lock history.

  Ancient India Locks
  

  During the reign of the Emperor of Annam, expensive valuables were locked inside large blocks of wood that were kept on islands or inside an elaborate pool inside the courts of the palace. They were protected by a crew of crocodiles called guardian angels, that were fed so little that they were always starving – to go inside the water would mean you would get eaten.

   Gordian Knot Locks
  

  Rope cords made of fiber were used to secure doors for hundreds of years. The famous Gordian Knot, tied by GOrdius, the King of Phrygia, was secured to his chariot – it was foretold by oracles that it’s untying would be accomplished by the man who would go on to conquer Asia. When Alexander the Great couldn’t untie the Gordian Knot, he cut it apart quickly with his sword – giving way to the expression “cutting the Gordian knot” – meaning providing a swift solution when other lighter methods don’t work.

   The Gothic Ages Locks
  

  During this time period, locksmiths created beautiful ornamental locks with vast intricacy. THey would emboss, engrave, chafe, and etch onto metallic locks, creating security devices for the finest courts throughout Europe. Castle doors would be secured inside ward locks, domes that would often be covered in mythical symbols and characters, as well as metal coloring, known as the Niello process.

   

  Colonial America Locks
  

  During Pioneer days, home’s keys would often hang outside the door as a length of string – the doors were latched from the inside with a wooden bar or belt that would drop into a hollow area in the jamb. A piece of string was attached that would be threaded to the door’s exterior. The dangling string would signal a welcome to visitors, who could simply pull the string and open the door. This is the origin of the phrase “our latch string is always out.” as an expression of hospitality.

   

  Spanish Architecture Locks
  

  In 17th and 18th century Spain, there was a general dislike of locks. In order to stay safe, a block would collectively hire a watchman to patrol the neighborhood who owned keys to their homes. In order to leave or enter their home, a homeowner would clap their hands in order to signal the watchman to come.

   

  Deep Sea Locksmiths
  

  Charles Courtney always wanted to be a locksmith, but ended up a deep sea diver. Fortunately, he was able to meet his dreams when he started getting hired to open locked safes on sunken ships – retrieving millions of dollars for salvaging operations.

   

  Animal Shaped Locks

  Throughout history, high end locks in the shapes of animals were made in order to delight homeowner’s and frighten off superstitious intruders. From elephants and hippopotamuses, to stranger forms like flowers or even scorpions, locks of every specific shape or size exist in history.

  

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• What is a VIN number?

  Posted on May 23rd, 2016 0 Comments

  

  Vehicle Identification Numbers are unique code combinations given to vehicles when they are manufactured. This code contains the most important identifying details about the car  This code cannot be changed, and remains active throughout the car’s life. Consider it as your car’s DNA.

   

  VIN numbers are made up of a serial code of 17 characters. They started being used in 1954, and different manufacturers used different formats of the code until 1981, when the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of the United States standardized the use of these codes. This standard excludes the use of letters like: “Q, w, o, O, i, and I” from being used as they can all be easily confused with being the numbers 0 or 1.

  World Manufacturer Identifier Numbers

  The first three symbols of the VIN number determine the WMI (world manufacturer identifier,) showing which manufacturer made your car. The first character of the WMI identifies the area where the vehicle was made. The next 4 characters provide information about the vehicle type, the model, and the body style.

   

  Uses of VIN Numbers

  VIN numbers are incredibly helpful if you want to buy a used car. You can use the car’s VIN number to check its history report, and whether it has sustained any damage in accidents or has insurance that covers it. VIN numbers also help identify stolen cars, or specific parts if you need to have your car repaired, or your car keys copied.

  

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• Going Out Partying Lock Risks

  Posted on May 17th, 2016 0 Comments

  

  Drinking alcohol is one of the global pastimes of working (and indolent) people everywhere. For some people it’s a hobby; for others it’s a lifestyle. Casting an eye away from concern for your professional well being, in this blog post I’ll detail some of the ways that having a night out on the town drinking might affect your ability to enter your home – and lead to your need for a locksmith.

  Losing Keys

  When drinking, you might want to consider giving a friend your keys to hold on to. This prevents the potential of you getting behind the wheel of your car while intoxicated. However, if you’re giving your friend your keys, pay mind to whether they are drunk or responsible to make sure that they in turn don’t lose them. It’s also a risk to potentially forget the fact you gave your keys to your friend, or exactly which friend you gave them to. Fortunately to the alcohol consuming public, emergency locksmiths exist for a reason.

   

  Breaking Keys

  Alcohol can seriously affect anybody’s ability to maintain successful hand-eye coordination. Even simple actions like inserting a key into a lock become oppressively difficult; to use a clumsy metaphor about clumsiness, imagine if every time you wanted to touch your nose, you touched your foot.  Now translate that metaphor to trying to place your key into key slot. If you’re insanely drunk and the only thing you can think about is how badly you want to collapse into your bed, you might shove the key in the keyhole the wrong way, repeatedly, breaking or grinding off it’s details, or even worse, snapping it off inside the key slot.

   

  Breaking the Lock

  Alcohol can give people extra-human strength. Let’s say you forget your keys at the bar, or inside a taxi, and then get home, drunk, and all you want to do is get back inside. Some of the more confident among us might try to pick the lock – never a good idea for an amateur to attempt, especially when drunk. This could cause irreparable damage to the lock – damage that can be equalled or surpassed by manual attempts to force the door open – especially with the utilization of alcohol induced super strength. We’ve seen doors physically pried off their hinges by desperate intoxicated people – if you’re reading this you probably don’t want to even try anything like this, but just for the sake of safety, let us remind you – don’t even try it.

   

  Forgetfully Compromising your Security

  Even if you did remember your keys, you very well might forget to lock the door once you stumble inside and crash on the couch. It’s no surprise that the majority of crime happens between the hours of 2-5 in the morning; it’s when criminals expect people to be drunk and vulnerable, leaving themselves exposed to the dastardly machinations of others. In certain areas heavily populated by young people, criminals have been known to try opening street level doors, knowing the chances that one might have been mistakenly unlocked. Don’t leave yourself exposed to this threat.

   

  Reducing your Chances of Drunk Lockouts

  • If you know in advance that you will be drinking a lot, make sure to get good rest the night before, eat well during the previous day (and throughout your evening of drinking,) and most importantly, stay hydrated. It’s going to help your body deal with the effects of alcohol in a much more comfortable and healthy fashion, so that you can have your mental bearings when you arrive home.
  • Make sure to be drinking with people that you trust. This makes it easy for you to leave keys with them in case you need them to hold them for safekeeping. Never leave your keys or phones with strangers that you don’t know.
  • If one of your friend is the designated driver, make sure they carry everyone’s keys as well just to be safe. Since they (hopefully!) won’t be drinking, they will be able to keep tight track on the keys.

  

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