My house has a sliding glass door as the main entrance and I need a solution to have it secure from tiny hands. My problem is it needs to be able to unlock and lock on both sides of the door so a pin drop or cross bar won’t work.
Put the lock high up?
If I’m able to build a landing/porch on the outside this is the easiest solution. But at the moment my stairs make it 1.5 feet lower than the inside floor which means it’ll to high on the outside but to low on the inside.
Ah. Sorry I missed that.
Remote control then. Getting into the house requires push of a button or typing in code. Getting out can be done with manual turn of deadbolt because inside you’re high enough to reach:
- fire failsafe because you’ve got mechanical control when trying to exit even if electricity’s out
- harder to copy your key because it’ll be a key fob or something
- if you do lose a key you can simply de-authorize it instead of having to change locks
- probably cost you a few hundred to a thousand for the hardware and install labor. Just my guesses at price haven’t looked into it
Not being able to exit your home in an emergency without a key is a serious safety problem. In most places it is not permitted.
International Residential Code R311.4.4 “All egress doors shall be readily openable from the side from which egress is to be made without the use of a key or special knowledge or effort”. Most local codes are derived from this.
Yes this is why I need it to be accessible on both sides of the door. 1 for emergency access and 2 so I and my partner can unlock it coming home from work if the other is sleeping edit added missing word
I guess I didn’t understand what you were describing. When we moved in to our house, the previous owners had a deadbolt that locked with a key on the inside instead of a thumb turn, and it was the only way to lock the door. This is a pretty bad idea since it creates a potential situation where you’re stuck inside your house, or have to find another exit. In some emergencies, seconds count. Even if you know how to open the door, you might have someone over who doesn’t, which is why fire codes are the way they are. Someone unfamiliar with the setup, panicking, in the dark, in a room full of smoke, needs to be able to escape without solving a puzzle.
Because I already had experience with having to replace that lock with an appropriate one for an exit door, I jumped straight to the assumption that when you said “lock on both sides”, you were talking about a key, and not just a childproof latch of some kind. I have the privilege of not living with anyone who is a flight risk, so it’s easy for me to just dismiss it as unsafe. I looked at some of the solutions out there and they seem to be designed to stop toddlers with no dexterity, not an autistic person determined to turn all the things. Sorry if my answer was unhelpful; people are injured or killed every day because they created a situation they didn’t realize was hazardous until it was too late. My intention was only to prevent the downsides of locking the door this way from being overlooked.
To be completely honest my only solution might be to rip out the door and put in a regular door so normal child locks will work. With home and safety checks we will be subjected to, having the door requiring a key on both sides won’t work and will be flagged as a danger. Thank you for your response all input has been extremely helpful including your insight
they asked for advice on a door to protect a child, not a lesson on municipal code. go out there and fix it yourself.
This comment feels needlessly hostile.
i’m sorry that I was too aggressive. I still feel that a lot of commenters were throwing shade where it didn’t belong.
That’s because it is. These “why don’t YOU do something about it” comments always are, I just don’t get why people are so aggressive straight out of the starting block.
Right, better to let them burn alive in a fire instead of pointing that out, right?
While they did, they cannot simply ignore municipal code with their solution.
Au contrere. one can simply ignore municipal code. happens often and everywhere, not to mention evrerwhere it doesn’t exist. unless it’s enforced, and that’s the key. also, i’m not against building to code. just realistic.
Yes, and that’s how people get killed in completely preventable ways.
Municipal code is usually to prevent people from dying. It’s simply dumb to ignore it in a case like this.
you know what, for all builders and contractors: please build things in a way that people don’t die. forgot about that part.
You can get a lockset with a numerical keypad on both the inside and outside hardware. i.e. no inside knob on the lock for little fingers to let themselves out. It might technically be a fire hazard, though, unless you have an alternate means of quick escape. Keep a safety glass breaker tool by the door but up high or something.
Most keypad sets use a deadbolt system, because it’s a sliding door a deadbolt won’t work because it slides open. I have seen other locks that use clasps but none of them have keypads on both sides of the door.
edit: Last night when i looked on Amazon, it appeared that there were several for a sliding patio door. There are thin ones for sure, you could ask in the questions if they will work for mortise locks. I know you dont specifically need the solution to be “smart home” capable but maybe one of these solutions would align with your needs.
Perfect thanks I’ll look into it!
How about a traditional deadbolt at the top or bottom?
Deadbolt at the top can cause the door to shift out of its tracks when pulled on and if it’s at the bottom it’s easily accessible to tiny hands playing with it. If I place it more in the top centre it’ll be Duffy to reach with a key unless it’s electronic… and that comes with many other issues
I’ve only ever seen deadbolts on swinging doors but this has gotta be a thing for sliding doors also
Just rotate 90°. I don’t know the easiest way to drill through it, but a decent handyman could probably do it.
Sorry if this is an obvious question but since it’s the main entrance, you already have a key, right? You already have the means to lock and unlock this door in a childproof way from both sides. Usually childproof locks are for pantry doors and such.
How come you need an extra layer of locking for the main door?
sounds like a door on the side of a trailer or some such. people live and raise kids in a wide variety of environments.
Yes I’m in a trailer and it’s a stupid door that the Manufacturer put in to “add more natural light” if I have to stay in this trailer for more than a year I’ll take it out and put in an actual door
I’m on your side friend. Your goals are true. Sorry I still don’t know the answer.
The current lock is a simple toggle. My autistic child loves to play with switches/nobs/wheels ect so he will be able to easily open the lock and pull open the door. There is nothing I can find to stop him from access to the toggle without blocking access from unlocking from the other side of the door
