Which Type of Patio Door Lock is Best?

If you're in the market for a new patio door lock, you're probably wondering which type of lock will best fit your individual requirements. There are a few different types of patio door locks from which to choose. Of course the type of patio door lock that you choose will depend largely on the type of patio doors that you have.

The two main types of patio doors are sliding doors and non-sliding doors. Of the non-sliding variety of patio doors, there are single doors and double doors. Double patio doors are a little different than single doors when it comes to home security. Obviously, a larger entrance is going to be somewhat more difficult to secure.

Sliding glass patio doors have special issues and concerns when it comes to security. For one, sliding patio doors can sometimes be lifted out of their tracks from outside in order to gain access. While this security flaw has been addressed on the manufacturers' end for most models of sliding patio doors, such doors can still be installed in such a way as to reduce or increase the ability of people to lift the doors in this manner to gain access.

There are sliding patio door locks that address both the sliding direction as well as the lifting out of the tracks problems of sliding patio doors. These kinds of patio door lock are installed on the inside and directly on top of the track in which the sliding patio doors move back and forth. This type of lock makes it difficult to impossible to gain access either through forced sliding of the doors or by lifting hem out of their tracks.

There are also pins that can be used as a patio door lock. These lock devices are generally hung from the patio doors and can be inserted into a hole that goes through both layers of sliding door, but not completely through to the outside. Sliding door pins can only be engaged when the doors are completely shut.

There are also patio door bars that keep closed patio doors from being opened from the outside. These work very much the same way that patio door pins do, except there aren't any holes to be drilled except for screws by which to affix the bar or bar holder components to your patio doors frames.

One advantage of a patio door pin over a patio door bar is that the security device is not viewable from the outside. This may be an attractive feature if you don't want the security devices cluttering up the look and feel of your patio area. With a patio door pin, you cannot see the security device from the outside unless you know exactly where to look and are very close to the doors.

The best patio door lock is a combination of locks in addition to the simple lock that come with the doors. You should really have at least one additional patio door lock than the hardware that is meant to latch the door to the doorframe.