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by knodi123 1060 days ago
> Only some people have the skills and tools to open them - so they are useful at keeping most people out,

No, not really. A large part of the security of locks comes from most people not knowing that they have the tools and skills to open them. It's like if everyone taped their door shut, and we depended on most people not knowing that tape is easily removed.

My kid accidentally locked us out of the house the other day by twisting the knob lock on our garage door. Turns out we never got a key for that lock when we bought the house - oops! And we didn't have keys for the back door, for complicated reasons. No worries, I took my wife's key ring and used the key to her parents' house to open our back door. In my experience, most keys work in most locks, if you just apply a light turning force and then rake the key in and out a bunch of times, ending with the key sticking all the way out except for a millimeter or two.
2 comments
hutzlibu 1060 days ago
Erm, maybe the locks in germany(europe) are different - but what you describe I only know from very old or cheap locks, no one would use for a front door (insurance would not accept that).
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akira2501 1060 days ago
> (insurance would not accept that).

Which is always hilarious to me considering insurance has no problem with glass windows or fenced in backyards.

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knodi123 1060 days ago
haha, well in America, insurance has no idea what kind of locks you have, and the vast majority of home locks are "whatever was cheap at home depot".

My front door is a pricey digital lock with a key for backup, and I don't think I could pick it with this method. That's why my first instinct was to try on our cheapest door.

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hutzlibu 1060 days ago
Well, here they also don't know, but if a break in happens, they might check the lock and refuse to pay if it does not meet a minimum standard.
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SoftTalker 1060 days ago
I haven't had a key for my house in probably 10 years. I used the garage door opener PIN pad to get in. I recently replaced the front door lock with a new one that also has a PIN keypad, but I still mostly enter and leave through the garage out of habit.
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