London Locksmith Tips

How to prevent a burglary

We all hear every day that crime rates are rising. How can you protect your property from a burglary?

Many of London Locksmiths clients are wondering how they can upgrade the security of their homes and here are few locksmith tips:

Burglar Alarm– you can install a security alarm to protect your premises.  It’s designed to spot an intrusion into your home or office. The alarm sensors can detect a break in by monitoring window and door contacts, by motion detectors, vibration, magnetic fields and more. Door Armor– most burglars just try to force the door in order to enter your home. The door jamb armor is a steel sleeve placed into your door jamb. By adding door armor you can upgrade your door jamb to a level of a steel framed door.
This video shows the advantages of the door jamb armor: Window Locks– any locksmith in London will advise you to upgrade your window locks. Most people install heavy duty locks on their front and back doors, but neglect the window locks. Don’t forget that a professional burglar can easily spot a low quality window lock and use this window as an entry point to your house.

Choosing A Lock

How do you go about choosing lock? You want something secure that won’t be easily opened but don’t know exactly what to look for? The first thing you will want to check is that the lock cannot be bumped. Lock bumping is a simple method of opening a lock using a bump key which is can be purchased very easily for very little. The key is inserted in the lock and slightly pulled out. By giving a quick sharp blow the necessary pins move slightly and the lock can be easily turned quickly. In many bumping break ins the owner is unaware that the lock was forced open as it looks like the lock was just left unlocked.

There are many other methods used by burglars to break in and our locksmiths in London can give you some locksmith tips on which lock to get depending on what the lock is for.

What is re-keying?

Re-keying allows you to fit a new key to an existing lock, or to alter a lock so it fits an existing key.
In case you need a new key to match an existing lock, the locksmith will cut a sequence of notches in the new key so it matches the pins pattern of your old lock. If you prefer to change the lock, but you would like an existing key to fit it, the locksmith will simply change the pins pattern of the new lock so it matches the pattern of notches on your old key.

There are several advantages to the re-keying process:

• It’s much cheaper then installing a new lock. When it comes to home security, quality of the locks and the service is more important than the price, however if you need an overall upgrade of home security it can be quite expensive.
• It allows you to carry around fewer keys. You can add new keys to your home or office without adding extra keys to your key ring.

When might you need to call a London Locksmith for a re-keying job?

• When you move to a new house or a flat you need to change the lock. However in the case of a high quality lock, a qualified locksmith may advise you to re-key it instead of installing a new one.
• If you lost your purse or you were mugged and you are concerned that the thief might have the keys to your door, it’s advisable to call a locksmith for an emergency re-keying.