Your family home is your own little castle, so it makes sense that you want to do everything you can to protect it. Sometimes, though, we can over-focus on the trendy technology out there whilst leaving ourselves short on the essentials. For example, you might have invested hundreds of pounds – or more – into smart security, but do you have a simple door lock latch on your gate?
Look, there’s no reason why you can’t have the best of both worlds here. You can have modern smart solutions for improved home security, but you can also turn to gate latches for locks for some tried-and-tested security. To help you understand why a door lock latch on your gate is so useful, we contacted Lock & Key Leeds for an explanation. We asked a simple question: What makes a locking gate latch ideal for family homes?
When you choose a security setup for your home, you need to make sure it offers you three attributes:
While this all sounds very simple, you would be surprised how many home security systems fail to provide at least one of these three attributes. Luckily, a door lock latch rarely does so. They are easy to use and maintain, and provide a high level of protection – so long as you buy a good-quality lock latch. You can buy many cheap gate latches, but they provide precious little protection.
Spend your money on a high-quality door lock latch, though, and you should immediately feel the benefit. Latches are obviously very easy to use; you simply lift the lever up to open the gate, and then let the latch fall back into place to lock the gate. While they do not have integrated locking mechanisms, you can add extra security with something as simple as a padlock or a combination lock.
They are easy to maintain, too, as they tend to be made from materials that are compatible with the UK’s weather – such as stainless steel or cast iron. You can pick from several different types to fit your personal requirements, too, from spring-loaded latches and gravity latches to bolt latches.
A gate latch with an added locking mechanism, such as a padlock, can be a great way to secure your gate. The main reasons Lock & Key recommends going for a door lock latch for your gate include:
While some locking mechanisms can feel like they are not really designed for regular use, a latch is. They are designed to be constantly engaged and disengaged, so they are unlikely to wear out. Wear and tear is the main culprit of lock replacements; this helps you to avoid having to deal with that particular issue. Thus, they remain perfectly suitable for daily use.
If your gate is used on a daily basis as people head out of the house and come home from shopping, work, school, etc., then you will want a locking mechanism that can stand up to repeated use. Most of the time, all you need to do is lubricate the gate latch from time to time to make sure it continues to operate smoothly. You might also need to loosen/tighten the fixing screws, but that’s about it.
We spoke about ease of use, and that is one of the main benefits of the door lock latch for your gate. A latch can be operated by just about anyone tall enough to reach over the gate. They can pull the bolt back and open the gate. Or, if your gate uses a spring-loaded latch or gravity latch, there is usually a little lever they can push – on either side of the gate – to activate/deactivate the latch.
That simplicity makes it easy for everyone to use the gate. You might have family members who aren’t quite as tall as others, or who are older and thus more likely to have physical mobility issues. A latch can thus be easily operated by everyone living in your house. But wait, does that not make your house less secure?
Not really – with a door lock latch, you can add a padlock or a combination lock to make it even more secure. When you are in the house and can monitor the gate's activity, you can leave the lock off. If you want to keep the gate secure – such as when you are out of the house, sleeping, or otherwise engaged – you can use the door lock latches for extra security, such as a padlock, for peace of mind.
The other benefit is that a gate lock latch cannot be easily operated by young children, and your pets cannot disengage the lock either. That means if your children and/or pets are in the garden and you want to avoid them running off to do their own thing, a latch is perfect.
The latch will usually be fastened to the top of your gate, meaning the children are highly unlikely to be able to get up there to disengage the latch. Pets, too, will be unable to operate the latch. So, you can have them safely playing in the garden without worrying about them wandering off out of the garden or being interacted with by strangers.
We hope you can now see the benefits of installing a gate lock latch. They tick all three boxes we mentioned earlier: ease of use, ease of maintenance, and security quality.
However, one final piece of advice from Lock & Key: always make sure your new latch is compatible with your gate material. A latch for a metal gate might not work with a wooden gate, and vice versa. You can always ask for advice in-store when buying a latch, but if you are buying online, be sure to read the guidelines carefully so you don’t buy an incompatible gate latch. If you ever feel unsure, ask a local locksmith service – they can make sure you get the right gate lock latch fitted and secured.
