Today after lunch, I took the girls on a quick walk before naptime. I took with us the latest prize from Home Depot, a chain-and-bolt device for the back door, because I wanted to show it to my dad, who’s home today (he’s working nights this week). Our back door is set on the exterior, rather than the interior, of the wall — which means that the molding it sits in is about 8 inches deep (presumably holding paneling, studs, insulation, and brick in that 8 inches). So getting a device to securely lock the door so that a toddler can’t reach it or work it is a bit of a challenge.
Jerry thinks we just need to rekey the doors, so that the deadbolts upstairs alnd down are only workable with a key. While this is true, it also means that we’d have to have another key to carry. HAVE YOU SEEN MY KEYRING? I don’t want to carry another key.
Also, inevitably we’d get lazy and leave the key IN the deadbolt, which is stupid. She’d be able to get out anyway.
The chain-and-bolt thing I bought is kind of neat. I realized that because of the depth of the door frame, the door wouldn’t function unless the chain piece was installed almost at the inside edge. Not ideal — because it puts the chain under stress when the door is SHUT.
HOWEVER, there’s a bolt. And the bolt can be installed even without the chain. And THAT will work. But the door is metal, which requires special equipment to drill into it. And the strike would need to have the middle part chiseled out, also requiring special equipment. Grr.
Why can’t anything be simple?
Upstairs, the molding and framing of the door is perfect for the straight-off-the-menu installation. So that’s good. But downstairs? Ugh. And that’s the door we’re more concerned about.