35 Years a Locksmith: The One Door Fix I'd Do Tonight

The whole door, done properly in one afternoon → raykessler.vercel.app I spent thirty five years as a locksmith, and I never once caught a burglar. I was the fellow who showed up the next morning. About four thousand doors, and nearly every one of them told me the same story: the lock never failed. The frame did. So if you only do one thing to your house tonight, do this one. It costs about twenty five dollars, it needs no drill, no screws and no landlord's permission, and it takes the fight off your doorframe and puts it on your floor. What's in this one: 0:00 Why I'd tell you to skip the smarter lock 1:40 The three seconds a kick-in actually takes 3:30 Your lock didn't fail — read a broken door like a page 7:20 The triangle: where the force really goes 9:40 Why this beats the Saturday fixes 10:40 The apartment door that moved this to the top of my list 12:40 How to set one properly — angle, length, foot, weight, handle 16:10 Why the kitchen chair never works 17:20 Fire, family and your floor: the three questions I always get 19:10 Where a bar is NOT the answer — outswing doors, sidelights, sliders 21:00 The other door: the one you're standing behind Quick reference for the hardware store: one thick steel tube, not two thin telescoping ones; a wide steel foot with real rubber; a wide yoke if your doors have lever handles. Pick it up before you pay for it — heavy is the whole review. Set the angle near forty five degrees and snug enough that the last inch takes a push. The bar is the tonight fix. If you'd rather do the whole door properly — the strike plate, the hinges, the alignment, a real reinforcement plate, the entire door squared away in one afternoon so you never think about it again — that's what I wrote down: 1. THE ONE AFTERNOON DOOR — the ten minute test to run before you spend a dollar, the shopping list with length, gauge and material in the order you buy them, which screws from the box to throw away, and the afternoon in order: jamb, strike, hinges, bolt. 2. THE $1,500 PHONE CALL — the word for word script for calling a locksmith at eleven at night, rekey versus replace, and the letter for claiming the insurance credit nobody claims. 3. NOTHING TO BUY — thirty seven fixes that cost zero, including the letter renters send their landlord so the landlord pays for it. No jargon and no upsell. Just a retired locksmith showing you where the weak spots are and how to close every one: raykessler.vercel.app And whether you ever look at that or not: go put a bar behind your door tonight. Then lean your shoulder into it and feel it not move. — Ray Kessler, retired locksmith The Four Thousand Doors #homesecurity #locksmith #doorsecurity #homesafety #diyhomesecurity