One of the common calls we get is “my Yale key turns a little bit then stops” it is however unusual to get 4 of these calls in a week as happened to us recently.
A dropped snib can happen in 3 ways the button has become loose over time and by slamming the door it may have dislodged and slipped down deadlocking the door, it may have been snibbed with the latch out and if theres a big enough gap between the door and frame the slamming of the door can push the latch in far enough to let the door close. Unfortunately the 3rd way is a bit more serious – a thief may have broken in through a back door or window and then snibbed the door from the inside to warn them of your return.
Usually using our specialist tools we can open most snibbed Yales saving the expense of a new lock.
Noticed an increase in break-in work this week with 3 jobs requiring emergency locksmith services all in different parts of Edinburgh.
1.The first one was a ground floor window that been forced open during the night, luckily they were disturbed and did not actulally enter the house. Typically the window was held shut by only a centre fitch fastener which had been forced out of its fixing points as it was only held in place by 3/4 inch screws.
We fitted our Rola Sash Window Stops and the client was happy with these. The other windows in the house were over a basement and so provided no easy access for a potential break-in.
2.Around the Colinton area someone had forced the door open as it was only on the Yale lock. The reason it was only on the Yale lock was because one of the residents was inside this house at the time. We don’t know who got the bigger fright the residents or the housebreaker. They managed to run away hopefully they will think twice before trying to break-in to a home again.
3.Sadly the third break-in is not such a good story as they managed to get in this time and steal the homeowners electrical stuff – laptop, i-pod and games console.
The door was forced open and the mortice keeper and facing came away from the door frame. not only did we patch up the damage we fitted an additional mortice deadlock further down the door and to strengthen the frame we fitted a Birmingham Bar. If you would like a Mortice Lock or a Birmingham Bar fitted call Capital Lock Services on
We had to upgrade the security to a couple of garages this week as a direct result of a nearby break-in. Garages can be an easy target for thieves as generally they are insecure but can contain some valuable property like bikes or gardening equipment sometimes even providing an easy route into your home through an unlocked adjoining door. See our garage door security page if you are thinking about improving your garage security.
