Lock for a temporary door.

[epsilonGreedy]

I have fitted a temporary external door today made from a sheet of 12mm osb. Temporary is a relative thing as this door might be the primary entrance door in daily use for a year during the remainder of the build.

 

The door needs a handle, latch and be lockable from the outside. This simple £11 "Rim Lock" ticks the boxes, is there something more suitable? I have never fitted a door lock before.

 

https://www.toolstation.com/rim-lock-with-handles/p79578

[willbish]

I had thieves in my place on weds night. They came in through a temporary door blank.

What you have described is totally inadequate if you are intending to keep people out.

My set up was 18mm OSB bolted from the inside. It was a pain in the ass to open and lock each day but I (wrongly) thought it was secure.

 

On the plus side nothing was damaged in the house and my container wasn't touched.

 

If you have a locked door people will assume there are goodies inside. Better to leave it open until you have a proper door and keep tools off site.

 

 

 

[Big Jimbo]

12mm entrance door is not going to cut it. Thieving scum will get in through anything if they want to.  get either a cheap external door, or a second hand one, and put 12mm ply on either side. Make up a frame from 4 x 2 etc and fit the damn thing properly. Hinge bolts, Two 5 lever locks. One a third from the top, and One a third from the bottom. Think about a cheapish solar alarm, which will come with a couple of pir's and a couple of door contacts. The pir's can be fitted on a couple of planks and rested against the wall, and moved around. Put some alarm stickers around the place, and make sure One is on the front door. None of this will stop somebody who wants to get in, but it will help. One last thing. Make sure that you regularly set the alarm off during the day when the workers are there. Make sure anybody who comes to site knows that the place is alarmed. Early morning delivery. "Won't be a min fella, just got to get the alarm switched off. I am a firm believer that a lot of site nicking is done by somebody who knows somebody. Go to all the nearish neighbours, and tell them the place is alarmed. Give them your phone number, so if it goes off in the night, they can contact you. That way, with a bit of luck, any teenage kids will get to know that the place is alarmed from the parents. Tell the local Old Bill, and ask them to keep an eye on the place when driving by etc. It all helps.

[PeterW]

PIR lights are a good plan too - off the building and pointing at it. You trigger them and it lights up the front so you can see. 
 

Also consider fitting any chains or locks at shoulder height. Not only is it easier to unlock yourself, it makes it very hard for a scrote to conceal any cutting equipment and many don’t carry PPE so the thought of using a battery grinder whilst wearing a pair of Glasgow squints, and getting a face full of sparks puts them off.  
 

You’ll find lots of second hand doors too on Facebook marketplace - get one near sized and fit that, you may have to pack it out but it’s a ready made solution - just change the lock barrel first !!

[epsilonGreedy]

We live onsite and the bedroom of the static caravan is just 7m from the temporary door. My minimum requirements are:

1. Keep the weather out.
2. Deter nesting birds particularly when the swallows arrive.
3. Keep prowling cats out.
4. Deter opportunistic prowlers by creating a barrier that needs to be forced and splintered.

I could add a bolt top and bottom and padlock those each night.

[Big Jimbo]

And if you catch any thieving scum, dont do what my mate did, which was, detain them (several hours) Torture them ( to the point where they emptied their bowel.)  Unfortunately, that got him 6 years inside, and he had to pay compensation to said scum. Although, as the cops said. They thought that said scum would probably look for a change of career.

Edited March 20, 2021 by Big Jimbo

[epsilonGreedy]

One thing that I do not get about home security is all these front door features designed to keep out the 101st Airborne division when a regular window frame next to it offers a token barrier.

[ToughButterCup]

17 minutes ago, epsilonGreedy said:

...

Deter opportunistic prowlers by creating a barrier that needs to be forced and splintered.

...

 

9 minutes ago, epsilonGreedy said:

One thing that I do not get about home security is all these front door features designed to keep out the 101st Airborne division when a regular window frame next to it offers a token barrier.

 

That token barrier would need enough force to risk being  splintered , perhaps?

[epsilonGreedy]

20 minutes ago, ToughButterCup said:

That token barrier would need enough force to risk being  splintered , perhaps?

 

 

Precisely. Having achieved an equal token splintering barrier for doors and windows what additional benefit is gained from hinge bolts and extra 5 lever locks in the front door? An extra 90 seconds before a police SWAT team squad ram their way through the front door?

[nod]

I paid £25 for UPVC door and frame off eBay 

So many people said I like your sash windows but your door doesn’t match ?

[epsilonGreedy]

2 hours ago, willbish said:

I had thieves in my place on weds night. They came in through a temporary door blank.

 

 

Interesting. Were you living onsite that night? Was it a surgical break-in of the type hinted at by @PeterW or a brute force entry?

[nod]

2 hours ago, willbish said:

I had thieves in my place on weds night. They came in through a temporary door blank.

What you have described is totally inadequate if you are intending to keep people out.

My set up was 18mm OSB bolted from the inside. It was a pain in the ass to open and lock each day but I (wrongly) thought it was secure.

 

On the plus side nothing was damaged in the house and my container wasn't touched.

 

If you have a locked door people will assume there are goodies inside. Better to leave it open until you have a proper door and keep tools off site.

 

 

 

Break ins are a nightmare 

Im Plastering some apartments and thieves broke in over the weekend and cut off all the coiled rolls of wire Two electricians have spent all week putting it right 

They reckon less than a £100 scrap value 

I hope they didn’t do to much damage at yours 

[LA3222]

As you have pointed out, you live on site a few metres away from the house. Why does the door need to be lockable? If its to 'secure' the house then the whole thing isn't up to the job and you need a proper cheapo door. If the door is just to keep things sealed and weatherproof there is no need for the lock?

Edited March 20, 2021 by LA3222

[joe90]

A 12mm osb door with cheap lock is fine!, all it needs to do is keep a pair of hungry Doberman’s in ?

[willbish]

12 minutes ago, epsilonGreedy said:

 

Interesting. Were you living onsite that night? Was it a surgical break-in of the type hinted at by @PeterW or a brute force entry?

No one on site and two closest neighbors properties also vacant.

Surgical in that it must've taken them a decent amount of time and nothing was forced.

 

Moral issue now is whether to buy second hand tools, which fuels the market for stolen goods or cough up for new.

[willbish]

18 minutes ago, nod said:

I hope they didn’t do to much damage at yours

Fortunately no damage at all, thanks Nod. Very consider thieves, just took a few power tools that I had left out mid job. 

[nod]

2 minutes ago, willbish said:

Fortunately no damage at all, thanks Nod. Very consider thieves, just took a few power tools that I had left out mid job. 

It’s one of the biggest self build worry’s 

We were lucky being on a main road 

Our next one is quite rural Very easy target fingers crossed ? 

[Oz07]

1 hour ago, Big Jimbo said:

Tell the local Old Bill, and ask them to keep an eye on the place when driving by etc. It all helps.

Do you have a tardis to go back to the 60s

[willbish]

2 minutes ago, Oz07 said:

Do you have a tardis to go back to the 60s

So true.

Police wouldn't even visit my site to investigate. Got a crime reference number though, yay! 

[ProDave]

We just had an old scrap pine interior door, with just a bolt and hasp and staple with padlock on the outside.

 

Police do take some break ins seriously.  During our frame erection, the builders had 2 of their vans broken into outside their houses one night and a load of power tools stolen.  CID came to our site later that morning to examine the vans.   I was under strict instructions not to touch any part of their vans or any of their tools until CID had done their stuff.

[epsilonGreedy]

51 minutes ago, LA3222 said:

As you have pointed out, you live on site a few metres away from the house. Why does the door need to be lockable?

 

 

My thinking is that criminals vary in their level of planning, determination and risk they are prepared to face.

 

At one end of the scale there are opportunistic prowlers who will enter an unlocked or open building looking for easy pickings, others are prepared to engage in short duration smash & grab crime and others plan. Most of use will padlock a garden shed.

 

I think a lockable door that offers 30 seconds resistance against a few kicks is better than nothing though I like @willbish's reverse psychology about the message given by an un protected building.

[Pete]

1 hour ago, nod said:

I paid £25 for UPVC door and frame off eBay 

So many people said I like your sash windows but your door doesn’t match ?

I did exactly the same, must be a Northern thing, eh, like!!

[Big Jimbo]

4 hours ago, Oz07 said:

Do you have a tardis to go back to the 60s

No, i just make an effort. I live semi rural. When i spotted an old bill i engaged him in a conversation. When i later met him and another cop in the cafe, i paid for there butties while getting my own. I have a couple of direct mobile numbers for a couple of local old bill now, together with a couple of first names.