What Advice on Mortice Locks With Escape Mechanisms in Terms of Safety, Security and Availability?
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Sarrusophone
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What Advice on Mortice Locks With Escape Mechanisms in Terms of Safety, Security and Availability?

by Sarrusophone » Mon Apr 30, 2018 10:45 am

Our front door--in a 1990s-era Barrett Homes development--has two locks: the original mortice sash lock and a night latch that someone has fitted more recently. It’s an ugly half-glazed affair.

I am thinking of replacing the sash lock with a straight dead-lock since it annoys me every time I go in and out that I have to use two hands to open the door (i.e. one on the night-latch and one on the door handle!).

However, I am also slightly concerned about the escape issue since there have been a few cases where someone has gone out and deadlocked someone else in. I wouldn’t like that to happen just before a fire.

Looking around there don’t seem to be many lever locks available which have an escape mechanism and those that do (like the Marston ones) have comments about how they are unpopular these days. There seems to be a better selection of ones with eurocylinders and I suppose you could then by a cylinder with a thumb-screw. Is that the way people deal with this issue these days?

Finally, I presume that, with a glazed front door you always have a problem between having a proper fire escape mechanism and stopping someone breaking the glass and opening the door with the thumb-screw. Or is there a way around this?

Thanks!

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