Key Locks on Children's Bedrooms

Hi All,

Have been looking at locks on bedroom doors. My family always used to key lock all the bedroom doors when we went on holidays, and hid the keys.

so, have been thinking about our new place. However, we don't want to provide the option for our kids to lock their doors ... so we have decided to have key lock from the outside, but have a plain (no key hole available) panel on the inside (ie from the bedroom). Does that make sense?

Would love to hear what others are doing ... or do you think it's a crazy idea.

thanks in advance.

Why do you want to lock the bedroom doors? is it just for security when the house is empty? In which case,then what you have suggested sounds fine. Otherwise, I would be concerned about it posing a risk in the event of a fire or emergency etc.

Yeah, good point about the fire safety, though the doors should never be locked other than when we go away on holidays. ... But then I think .. you just never know, kids can find the key, annoy each other and lock each other in their rooms.

Do you put locks on bedroom doors normally?

No- as a builder the most I have done is install privacy (like bathroom) function on master bedrooms.
Dennis

I've never heard of people doing this before... it's a little bit Josef Fritzl

If it's simply a security measure, I still wouldn't worry about it. If the crims have already broken into your home, a hollow-core internal door with a lock won't stop them - they'll just put the foot through it.

I grew up with a lock on my door and loved it. It's a very old house-my parents still own it. The locks came with the house however for a number of years my parents have taken off the locks. I too would also be concerned about kids locking themselves in their rooms by accident.

I really don't think though locks on bedroom doors are necessary.

privacy locks I think are more the way to go. For privacy.


I tend to agree with IkonInteriors. If the crims are already in your home they will just break the door down. Unless you plan on having solid internal doors. It would worry me not being able to open the door from the inside of it was locked.

Mum had a keyed lock on her study. But of course it could be opened from the inside. We had a keyed lock on a internal laundry door in our last house. Key being on the laundry side. Door was a solid door. We used to keep our laundry open for the dog so the internal door acted like an external door. If you are planning on having boarders/renting out a room a keyed door might be a nice idea. But again with a way to open it from the inside.

yeah, sounds a bit strange to me, if I saw that in a home I'd get a shiver up my spine I reckon!

No locks on any bedrooms here at all. In fact not even our ensuites have privacy locks.

The only rooms with locks here are the laundry and the powder room. The laundry door actually locks from the hallway - to stop people from wandering around inside our home should we have people out the back - but we still want to access the toilet in the laundry.

The powder rooms because they are in places where they will be utilised by guests and therefore privacy for them.

I think it's a crazy idea.

We are going to do something simular for our kids rooms, what we are going to do is doors that are separately keyed so each kid can have 2 keys, one for the front door, and one for thier room. (They also know we will hold a key) and on the bedroom side is one of those latches so they can lock it from the inside, or unlock it if it is locked.

The reason we are doing it is because of an couple of incidents a few years back with a member of the family that used to live with us which included a hammer rampage inside. As they were only 6 & 7 at the time they got scared and we put in place "safe places" where they can go and be safe behind a locked door. When we were in our house over in N.Z. that happened to be our bedroom because for some reason it was installed with a lock as above but keyed the same as the outside doors. We have decided to continue the theme in the new house when we can get it done, but making it thier own rooms so they have thier own little haven so that they will have that sense of security.

As has already been mentioned a couple of times, criminals will just smash the doors from the inside of the house.
Will you be having protective grilles or shutters on your window? My way of thinking would be, if I saw locks on bedroom doors, it would make me think there was something valuable in the rooms, and worth the extra effort to get into them (either by kicking down internal doors, or going outside and smashing my way through windows).

I put a key lock on my bedroom door when I was a teenager, started working and buying my own goodies.. but that was purely to keep my younger brother from using my stuff and nicking my money Mum and Dad allowed me to do it, and mum had the second key so she could get into my room whenever she wanted to. I wasn't keeping anything secret from them, so they were ok about it

I have never had locks on bedroom doors, not even the master bedroom, but we all learnt to knock on a shut door before entering, I expect that courtesy from my children and same in return.
The only doors we have locks on are the toilets/ bathrooms - they are the flimsy privacy locks, not designed to keep anyone out as such.
In our old house there was a lock on the door from the kitchen - it used to be the external door until back porch/laundry was enclosed.

There are easier ways to lock money than a lock on the door of the room.
And all our important documents are in a locked filing cabinet.

Cant see the point of what you are suggesting.

thanks heaps for the replies. I must say they cracked me up. I guess the whole internal door locking security exercise is a bizarre thing inherited from both our families!!!

Luckily I tested this idea on homeone before discussing it with my site manager ... now I know what he'd probably have thought while politely nodding!!! Ha ha ha ...

Have decided on doing away with locks.

we did originally plan one for our office door BUT when the guys installed the locks they assumed it was our bedroom ensuite lock and put it on that door instead. ( why do they never read plans and info) anyway we picked it up at pci and decided to leave it the way it was.

The house we have atm must have had some very paranoid previous owners because on all the bedrooms are funny little locks that use an allen-key type device that only has a hole on the outside of the room. There are bars on all the small windows, triple bolts on all the security screen doors, security screens on windows, spotlights all around the house and a fave security camera out the front. We live in a relatively low-crime country area. Quite comical really.

Seriously though, not a fan of locks on kids bedroom doors, a definite fan of a lock on parent bedroom door...especially with five kids. Good for wrapping christmas presents in private, among other things!

hmm maybe they didn't want sudden visitors or raids without notice

5 Kids!!! maybe it's for No locks! <grin>

Exactly what I was thinking, kexkez. A friend of mine bought a house that was similar to Raleighfarm's... 3 deadlocks on each external door, window shutters and cameras covering the WHOLE perimeter and yard of the property. He found out from a neighbour that the previous owner was not the sort of person you wanted as a neighbour! Lots of visitors at all hours of the day!

As we have an old house, when we chose door locks we got the type that had a key section, which was more about style than locking.
We have them on bedroom doors & bathroom, which is handy if I have people stay over. I have the spare keys put away. The keys are inside the rooms. Our kids would occasionally lock their doors but as they have huge easy to climb out of windows onto a verandah I was never worried about fire etc. and they didn't routinely lock the door anyway.
In a modern home it may look odd.

to kezkex and oceanus2. It has been mentioned that we might do well to watch more tv. I know that one of the previous owners was a little old couple with health issues. I am now having visions of them being ganster-types Thanks oceanus2.