A good way to mark the height of each lock is with some masking tape, which will not only help you align the locking plate but also allows the position to be fine-tuned without marking the door jamb.A height of 600mm from the floor is also about the height at which anyone trying to kick the door would impact it, so that’s a good place to brace the door. Again, at a convenient height so that no one has to grovel about trying to open or close it. We fitted both locks to the same door – one towards the top of the door and the other about 600mm from the floor. First of all, check the reach of the person/s who will be opening and closing the door and select a height that is comfortable and convenient there’s no point in placing it so high that no one can reach it.(A pair of brass or chromed ‘traditional’ bolts coast about R95 each – so our choice is a little cheaper.) They are supplied with four keys, all of which operate both locks. We selected a set of two locks, which cost about R140 for the pair.As mentioned above, however, if an intruder can reach it, it is easily opened. The door is closed and the bolt barrel pushed out and through the Keep/Catch and the Grip/Handle is turned through 90° once past the Slit/Middle keep. This illustration shows the parts of a ‘traditional’ door bolt, with the Keep/Catch shown separately for clarity. The downside, such as it is, of the lockable sliding door bolt is that you need the key to open it – so the key needs to be kept close for when needed, but not so close where an intruder can see it and reach it – or left in the lock, which negates the whole purpose of fitting the sliding door lock in the first place.
This ease of opening is not necessarily a bad thing as the bolt is quickly and easily released in an emergency, or keeps a door securely shut when whatever behind the door is not valuable. The ‘traditional’ door bolt is secure and very effective, but if an intruder can reach it, he or she can open it very easily. One can fit ‘traditional’ door bolts, and there is nothing wrong with doing that, but the advantage of sliding door locks like the ones shown here are that they lock and require a key to release them. In this case, we’re doing it with a pair of sliding door locks fitted to an ordinary swinging door. While no security system is absolutely 100% effective – not even the most secure bank is 100% secure – there are measures you can take to make your home just that little more secure.
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