You’ll surely agree that the lock on a bedroom door is not usually there for security but for privacy purposes. In many cases, bedroom doors don’t even have locks. In this case, what happens when you need to lock the door from the outside to prevent intruders from entering?
Recently, I came across a question on a forum, where the user asked how to lock a bedroom door from the outside. If you’re also interested in getting answers to this question, read along to see what you need to know.
There are a couple of ways to lock your bedroom from the outside. One of them involves utilizing a deadbolt, which is a locking mechanism that features a bolt that you can activate with a key. Alternatively, you can visit a locksmith to get a lock handle to replace the existing one.
Unarguably, many people don’t buy the idea of locking one’s bedroom door from the outside. However, it’s worth knowing that there are a few benefits to it. For one, you get to prevent intruders from accessing your property. In the rest of this post, we’ll explore everything you need to know about locking your bedroom door from the outside.
Can You Lock a Bedroom From the Outside?
As earlier mentioned, you can always lock your bedroom door outside using a deadbolt. To do that, the first thing you need to do is close the door gently. By doing that, you don’t have to lock any of the two locks first.
Why don’t you need to lock either of the locks before pulling the door? The answer is simple. Deadbolt locks are designed in a way that allows them to slide easily along their strike plate, thus popping into their frame lock. Locking the locks first and slamming the door closed will result in a vibration that can damage anything placed around the wall.
So, after gently closing the door and letting the locks slide along their plate, the next thing to do is use the deadbolt key. If your deadbolt lock is well installed, all you need is turn it to the left-hand side to lock the door. However, if not correctly set up, you might have to pull the door tightly before turning the key in the left direction.
After locking the door by turning the deadbolt to the left side using its key, you just need to confirm it’s closed. To do that, all you need is to turn the doorknob and see whether it opens or not. If the door remains locked, it means you’ve successfully locked your bedroom door from the outside.
Should You Lock a Bedroom Door From Outside?
The answer to this question depends on a couple of things, including what you want. First, if you live in a rented apartment, getting a lock on the outside of your bedroom door might be considered illegal. Of course, this doesn’t mean you can’t install a deadbolt or other safety types on the door. However, make sure to return the door to its original position as soon as you plan on leaving the building.
Secondly, you shouldn’t lock your bedroom door from the outside. Doing that means you’re imprisoning anybody that’s inside the room, which is illegal as well. That’s not all! If the door leads to a fire escape, it may be both dangerous and illegal to lock it because other people in the building need to gain access to the fire escape at all times, in case of emergency.
Ways to Lock a Door From Outside
As mentioned earlier, there are several ways to lock a door from outside. One of them is to use a doorknob.
For this method, all you need to do is close the door gently while standing outside of the apartment with the door key in your hand. Next, insert the key into the keyhole and turn it clockwise until you’re no longer able to make a turn. When that happens, it means you’ve successfully locked the door. Confirm you did so by trying to open the door. If you find out that the door is still unlocked, you might have to flip the key upside down and repeat the whole process. After that, turn the key slightly anti-clockwise and remove the key.
The second method involves using a deadbolt, as detailed earlier. The process is simple and only requires you to insert the deadbolt key into its hole, then turn it clockwise until the door closes successfully.
Finally, the last method is effective for a wooden door with night latches or mortice deadlock. If you’re interested in locking the door from the outside, the first thing you need to do is get the compatible key to the door. After that, all you need to do is insert it into the cylinder and turn it clockwise (towards the latch frame).
The same process applies if the door uses a mortice deadlock. All you need to do is insert the key inside the mortice deadlock and turn it clockwise until you reach a dead end.
How to Lock a Bedroom Door from the Outside Without a Lock?
The three previous methods only work for doors with outside locks. That said, what happens if the door doesn’t have a lock outside? How can you successfully deadlock it?
Here’s the trick. If you must lock your bedroom door from outside, your best bet is to replace the door handles with locking ones. Doing so will enable you to use a key from outside to deadlock the door for safety purposes. If you live in a rented apartment, make sure you keep the current handles and install them back as soon as you plan on moving out of the room.
You can also consider screwing a hasp to the door frames. The slotted hinged metal plate will allow you to add a padlock from outside to lock your bedroom door safely.
