Last night, I made a nice, tidy, quick little stack of dollars for opening a guy's locked apartment door in 10 seconds or less. When the customer saw how easy it was to gain entry to his apartment, he freaked out.

Although I don't use one (I have a better, similar 'tool'), his situation was the kind that allows credit card bypassing techniques. That type of opening is called shimming.

The reason credit cards and their cousins, the license and membership cards, work so well in many doors is that so many door knob locks are incorrectly installed. If you take a few minutes to look at the latch bolt of your door knob lock, you'll see actually 2 parts of the bolt sticking out from the edge of the door; the main spring latch bolt which is beveled on the door stop side and is flat on the opposite side, and the 'deadlatch' which is that really small bolt sliding against the center of the flat side of the main latch bolt.

The little deadlatch bolt is the security device that is designed to prevent entries by credit card. When the door is properly latching into its strike plate, the main bolt will of course pop into the hole of the strike plate, yet the smaller deadlatch bolt will remain depressed and resting against the face of the strike plate. When that deadlatch bolt is held in, while the latch bolt is extended into the hole of the strike plate, the latch bolt cannot be pushed back into the edge of the door. This assures that the bolt cannot be bypassed by shimming or by working the latch bolt back with a pocket knife on a door that swings out.

The 3 biggest problems I see with easy-to-open locked doors:
1) Strike plates that are not adjusted correctly to allow the latch bolt to pop into the strike plate properly and keep the deadlatch bolt depressed. The deadlatch bolts are permitted to pop into the strike plate hole, too, defeating the whole purpose of the deadlatch. Simply align and adjust the strike plate.
2) Broken/missing deadlatch bolts. On cheap locks, the deadlatch bolt is fairly weak and can break off, negating the security of the lock. Replace the deadlatch bolt at the very least. Better yet, replace the lock with a quality unit to prevent a repeat of the problem.
3) Incorrect or old door knob locks. The older locks do not have a deadbolt latch. In other cases, the lock will have the wrong latch bolt with no deadlatch bolt feature. Replace the lock... you'll be glad you did.

And finally... have deadbolts installed on all exterior doors, above the knob locks. Nothing beats a good deadbolt for excellent resistance to kick-ins, picking, shimming, drilling and prying.

...and a high school bus pass! It's been 25+ years, but I still have my high school bus pass that I often used to get into our house when I'd forgotten my keys. I never used it on a home that wasn't my own, but it sure came in handy many, many times.

Thanks for the reminder and the caution, KeyGuy!

Cool topic. I have always been interested in locks and locksmithing, getting into placesa I am not supposed to be.

Hey Keyguy...is there any truth to "lock bumping"? I've received emails on it and even went to "snopes.com" and they claim it's true. I thought I'd ask you since this is your area of expertise.

Also, I'm trying to decide the best way to keep my mother safe while at home. We do need to install a new door so it can be deadbolted (I have 2 other outside doors already deadbolted) and I'm hoping to get that project finished within the next couple of weeks. However, I've been thinking of having a security system installed. The only "catch" is, do the security systems have a variety of control panels to choose from? I ask because my mother has macular degeneration and can't see very well so there is a concern about how well she could see the buttons to punch the code in correctly. I worry about her, mainly because of some businesses near where she lives. But I really don't know which way to turn first.

Thanks!
Puddles

First, lock bumping or bump picking is for real and most residential locks, including deadbolts are vulnerable. Picking a lock by bumping is easy, if you practice, a lot. So, most that have learned the skill really aren't that up-to-speed. Getting a high quality deadbolt, like Medeco, ASSA or Schlage Everest will be a great way to prevent bumping. Those locks are bump-proof.

I am a major proponent of security systems for a bunch of reasons, and in the case of your mother, you can choose features like medical assist, fire and motion failure. Any good system will now have keyfob remotes and interfaces that permit telephone keypads to be used as security system keypads with digitized voice confirmation. Finding a button on a remote is much easier and many people that are sight challenged can still use a phone.

I have been selling wireless security systems for 19 years and I recommend looking into the GE Security Concord Hybrid system. The features found in a Concord system are amazing.

Word of warning. Most of the coast-to-coast companies (like ADT, Wells Fargo, Brinks) do not sell systems. They lease, typically for 3-5 years at a hefty monthly charge. Consider buying the system (wireless systems can be moved with you) and you'll see a lower monthly fee and no pesky lease hassles.