Around here most residential locks are Kwikset so I don't see many residential brands other than those. A customer brought by a new Schlage entry lock and wanted me to repair it. Seems the key would not unlock it the night after he installed it. After inspecting it Im not surprised . That lock is terrible. It makes cheap imports look like high quality. The cap wont stay on and you cant get a follower to go into the housing due to the shape. I gave it back to him and told him to go buy another brand lock.
I have one (common deadbolt with PITA tailpieces) on my door and it was made around 1995. It follows me wherever I move so I don't have to keep changing what's on my key ring.
It's been fine, but the one before was returned to the store because it was defective out of the box.
Just about everything is of low quality in the Home Depot/Wal-Mart realm so taking it back and buying a different brand is probably not much improvement.
I always thought it hilarious that Home Depot uses Best brand locks on THEIR doors, but sells standard junk to the homeowner. Doesn't that just speak volumes about what they think of us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Customers should walk in and say, I want to buy the kind of door locks YOU guys buy!!
Speaking of Schlage, a friend is a teacher at a local high school and I visited him at work one day and he showed me how the door lock, an obviously very expensive model, appeared locked if you moved the lever down, but if you lifted the lever the door would open.
He says he'd reported the problem but nobody was in a hurry to fix it and a room holding tens of thousands of dollars of band equipment was essentially left unguarded for weeks.
The new schlage knob locks (IMVHO) is crap. However it is serviceable. If the cap comes of it's advisable to replace it with a new one. They are available in bags of 25(?). They also take special top pins.
The new design has only been out for a couple of years. Everyone in the industry is complaining about them, and justifiably so. But they will be around for a while. Even if Schlage decides to re-re-design them, there's already millions of them out there to haunt us for years to come. Might as well get used to servicing them. :(
The one he's talking about is a knob lock and it's only been on the market for a couple of years
I've had commercial grade hardware and high security locks defective out of the box. It happens.
Actually Kwikset is now better than residential Schlage. And ***for the money*** Kwikset really ain't that bad.
Not really. It is called HOME Depot. They sell residential grade stuff. Best is commercial grade. If they tried to sell Best, Schlage Grade II or I, Medeco, etc., they'd probably fail miserably. They know their target demographic, and that's who they buy for.
In fact, if I recall correctly, several years ago, Home Depot tried selling Medeco in several test markets. They don't sell it anymore. That says something.
A Schlage A series (commercial grade II) lists for about $129. even discounted they'd probably sell for about $85-$95. While a few may, most people who shop at HD would probably laugh at "that kind of money for a doorknob!"
Imagine what their reaction would be to a D series sitting on a shelf ($358 list). To the uneducated eye, it looks like any other "doorknob".
Now I think they do sell Baldwin, which is "upscale residential". But the people (usually with big bucks) who buy that stuff do so mostly because it "looks pretty".
Home depot is very good at knowing what their customers want and providing it.
HD's entry doors use Adams Rite locks. Not a lot of house doors take Adams Rite. And not much need for Best IC cores either. :)
And on office doors, HD uses stock right off the shelf.
I don't get many calls for installing or repairing residential. But every lock I buy-(and I do not buy at HD)I inspect.HD does not. Im sure there are some defects in them.
The only thing home depot is concerned with is-what can we buy cheapER and sell cheap??
people go to HD because they are cheap
Once I went to home depot to try and order some locks from wright products. They did'nt have any idea where the book was or any Idea when their rep would be there-I should have stayed home. They basically shrugged their shoulders at me-Does that sound concerned????
In all fairness, it's physically impossible for HD to inspect every lock they sell.
[Placing bag over head] I buy all my Kwikset (what little I use) at HD. They're close and they're cheap.
Of course. That's their niche. You act like there is something wrong with that.
I do a lot of DIY stuff. i buy at HD and Lowes. Where else would you suggest I go for stuff?
Well, duh!
Oh, now the help leaves a lot to be desired. One of my biggest pet peaves is when you (finally) find soemoene to "help" you (and I use the term loosely), if they don't know, they "make it up". I'd rather have someone tell me, "I honestly don't know", than to give me wrong advice. If you don't have an answer for me, I can find out on my own. If you give me bad information, it can be costly, down the road.
Do your homework first. Try to know what you need before you go. If you need professional advice, seek out a PROFESSIONAL.
And, failing that, buy a new Medeco lever set from ebay for 20 bucks and be done with it.
That's what I did. Schlage on the top Medeco on the bottom. Just try to break in without leaving all sorts of evidence!
And help yourself cause I've always wondered what exactly, a 12 gauge slug does to the human body. I'm guess it's quite a mess, but have never seen it. rotten.com (before they had to remove the pictures) had some interesting pix that did answer a lot of questions I'll admit.
Yuck. Things that make you go hmmm.
This ain't no challenge. Stick to doing what you do best and leave the rest of us alone.
big town to my east has 2 Lowes.. 1 as far as help is WORTHLESS.. if it wasnt for the 'theft dectectors' at the front door, you could walk out with everything.. a -3 out of 10
the OTHER store, as far as help, rates a 4 out of 10.. and they dont know much.. lets not MENTION the Home Depot..
Show me a *new* Medeco leverset on ebay for 20 bucks. If it's there' it's hot. Medeco can't afford to sell one to the distributor by the truck-load anywhere near that.
That doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Your protection is in your deadbolt. Levers are too easy to defeat.
If someone is so paranoid that they feel they need Medeco on a residence, have it on the deadbolt!
Unless you're a spy, who cares about leaving evidence. But since you brought it up, levers aren't too hard to open (without picking them) without leaving any obvious signs that they were bypassed.
That's fine if you're home 24/7.
Locksmithing, and giving professional advice on the subject IS one of the things I do best. And what exactly do you do for a living, Bill?
Bobby
Bob DeWeese, CML snipped-for-privacy@spaammbearlock.com (remove"no spaamm")
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Bear Lock & Security Service, Inc - A full service locksmith company specializing in professional, cost effective solutions to your Commercial, Residential, Safe, and Automotive Security Problems.
<>< But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things will be added unto you. Matthew 6:33
I am about ready to put ANY Yale panic door hardware in that category as well.. spend 2 hours trying to find information out, is getting OLD real quick.. --Shiva--
Residential burglars usually gain entrance via a window or door that's out of sight from the street. The most common way for them to open a door is to kick it. I spent over 30 years in law enforcement and I can't remember one case of a residential burglary where a door lock was picked. Why bother? It's much easier, quicker and quieter to tape and break a window.
I occasionally get requests for Medeco dead bolt locks from commercial customers who have had high security locks installed in their businesses, mostly in steel doors with steel door frames, and now want them for their homes.
I don't see much point in putting them in the average residential door. As much as I like money, I explain to them that if they put a high security lock, such as Medeco, in a wood door with a wood frame, when the door gets kicked in, the door and door frame will have some serious damage but the lock will probably still be in great shape.
on ebay sometimes things get overlooked and you put in a bet and nobody calls.
I asked about its being hot and the seller said it was from a big set of stuff he'd bought at a bankruptcy or something. he had a lot of similar items that's for sure.
When they first came out, Schlage sent out 3 x 5 cards to all their customers. They gave away a free little pin kit including the special top pins and caps. The caps have to be replaced if removed. These are called "compressible cylinders". I sent away and got the kit, but have yet needed to use it. I've re-pinned some but have been able to re-use the top pins and didn't remove the cap. They seem to be an ok residential grade knobset. Time will tell.
The new design F lock is about the same as the old ones. The new design uses a one piece outside knob so the cylinder was redesigned so you could press down on the cap to insert it in the knob and once it is inside the knob it springs back up. In other words it is not supposed to snap down firm.
Also they use different drivers. The new style has a design like a Ford pin tumbler where there is a shoulder cut on the top of the driver to allow a full compression of the spring in a limited space.
As far as the odd ball follower this can be worked around without too much difficulty.
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