Break-ins statistics are rising.

On average, there are 1.6 million home invasions every year. That is the equivalent to a break in every 3 minutes! The scariest thing about that statistic is that two thirds of break-ins leave absolutely no trace of forced entry. So how exactly is this happening then? Maybe someone figured out your garage door code? Maybe you lost a house key? But most likely, this is happening because of a simple, yet frighteningly effective, method called “Lock Bumping.”

So, what exactly is lock bumping?

Well, it’s about as simple as it sounds. Most homes still use cylinder, or pin tumbler, locks. This means that a key with the correct groves is needed to open the lock, by balancing the pins at at certain height.

People can successfully break into these locks by buying a “lock bump” key, inserting into the lock, and “bumping” the lock with such force that the pins move, and the door unlocks. These usually cause little to no damage, and can open the lock within seconds. It’s because of the effective ease of this method that we are seeing it rise in commonality with burglaries.

Houston’s crime rate is growing.

Houston is ranked a 3 in the crime index, meaning that it’s only safer than 3% of all U.S. cities. If 100 is the safest, this means that Houston is labeled as a “high-crime” city.

Residents of Houston, Texas have a 1 in 22 chance of becoming a victim of a property crime.

This is significantly higher than the 1 in 42 average in all of Texas. So what exactly does this mean? It means that the proactive choice will always be better than the reactive one. With the average American burglary costing nearly $2000 to the victim in stollen goods and damage, you cannot afford to risk it.  With statistics this high, you have to take the necessary steps to protect yourself, and your home!

Now, these statistics aren’t meant to scare you, but to open your eyes to how you can prevent this from ever happening in the first place. So, what are your options here? We’ve broken it down to our top two High Security Lock and Deadbolt systems, and even included an honorable mention at the end for invasion protection. Below you’ll find the pros and cons of each option so that you can make the best choice for you. Protecting yourself, your loved ones, and your belongings is probably a lot more affordable than you think. But in all actuality, who can put a price tag on safety and peace of mind?

High security locks.

So out first option for a High Security Lock and Deadbolt is a Medeco Lock. These locks are bump and pick resident. As you can see, they have added a hardened steel insert to protect against drilling into the lock, and have a secondary locking system making lock bumping nearly impossible. Another important element to look at here is the way in which keys are copied. With a traditional lock, anyone borrowing a key can go and make a copy, but not with Medeco. Keys are unique and require a special key cutting device to precisely duplicate the groves and angles of each key. Medeco carries a Grade 1 certification, the highest available grade, and even has a variety of colors to choose from! You really cannot go wrong choosing Medeco.

Another big name in the High Security lock game is Mul-T-Lock. While Mul-T-Lock has a Grade 1 for high security locks, they scored a Grade 2 for High Security Deadbolt and Mul-T-Lock Cronus deadbolts. Making them come in second compared to Medeco. Mul-T-Lock’s are also pick and bump resistant and feature a key control system and a locking bolt reinforced with a hardened steel insert. Mul-T-Lock also uses high security keys, to ensure there aren’t illegal copies being made. A magnetic strip order card is necessary to have when trying to make a copy at an authorized dealer in order to copy a key. This higher level of security in regards to key copies make Mul-T-Lock the winner in key security.

As you can see, both systems are high security, bump and pick resistant locks. They offer harder restrictions on key copies, making it more difficult for a key to get into the wrong hands. Both have a variation on the standard pin tumbler lock, making them almost impossible to bump. 

So which choice is the best?

After going through all of the data, we choose Medeco as the overall winner. It not only carries Grade 1 certification for all locks, but also currently occupies over 60% of the market! While you really can’t go wrong with either one, Medeco gets our vote. 

There are other ways to protect yourself.

Now while this article was focusing on lock bumping, and how to prevent it, that isn’t the only way that burglaries happen. One third of break-ins leave noticeable, and often expensive, damage. Many times, this is because the means of entry was blunt force. Simply put? Someone has kicked down your door. 

And this is where the real problem with conventional locks come into place. Most common door locks have a balancing strike plate that is secured with only two tiny screws. Often, smaller than half an inch! This makes kicking down the door infinitely easier, as all they have to do is have enough force to knock two, half inch, screws out of the wall. This is where adding a heavy duty, high security, strike plate can be invaluable. 

The professional installation of a strike plate is crucial for securing the proper placement and fittings on your lock.

A locksmith can add it, which not only enforces the strike plate, but also the integrity of your your lock as well. This is because it extends the attachment screws three+ inches, and also adds an additional level of security as the strike plate itself extends into the door several inches. There are many different varieties of these, but when it comes to cost, effectiveness, and overall product – a Tuff Strike plate wins our award.

So if youre looking at protecting your home from a kick-in, High Security Strike Plates wins for the most economical and easiest solution.

So while no one wants to dwell on the negative, we cannot ignore the simple facts that break-ins are a real, and daily, concern. Your best bet for protection is always going to be proactive measures. We cannot turn back the clock. So instead, reach out to your local locksmith and review these simple and cost effective ways to give you the protection and peace of mind that your family deserves. 

Need to change a lock?  Rather than having the entire lock replaced, you can ask your Houston locksmith to rekey it.  This means realigning or changing the pins inside the lock so that it works only for your new key.  Rekeying is useful in a number of circumstances:   You cannot account for all existing copies of the key.  It’s always smart to rekey a new residence.  Not only may the previous occupant still have a key, but copies of that key may be floating around.  If you have lost your car keys, rekeying your car door locks will help keep your car safe.  If you think your car keys have been stolen, then have your ignition lock rekeyed as well.  Your building’s security has been breached.  If your home has been burglarized, or an employee with a key to the building has recently quit or been dismissed, have all locks rekeyed immediately.  Even minor security breaches may warrant rekeying.  If you have let a contractor use your key while remodeling your building, consider that they may make copies, which you cannot keep track of.  You want to add additional locks to your home or business.  If you want to make all of your doors secure but do not want to weigh down your keychain with three or four additional keys, a locksmith can configure each lock so that it works for your existing key.  You can also slim down your keychain by rekeying your locks so that one key unlocks every door in your home.  When you need rekeying, find a locksmith with experience. King Safe and Lock offers the best 24-hour emergency locksmith services in Houston.  We have been keeping Houston homes and businesses secure for more than 30 years, and we offer complete locksmith services, from rekeying to high security locks.  We also offer a wide range of gun and fire safes, as well as transponder chip keys, for all of your security needs.  When you need a Houston locksmith you can trust, visit our website or call (713) 465-0055.

Houston Safe and Lock’s Fred Trotter, a leading Locksmith and Security Consultant/Safe Cracker in the Houston area, tells some trade secrets about Lock Bumping, High Security Medeco Locks and American Security Products Safes.

All Safes and High Security Deadbolts are not created equal.

If you’ve missed the recent news reports on lock bumping, simply Google “Bump Key” and you’ll find over 2 million results! Lock bumping is a technique thieves are using to open pin tumbler locks covertly. Lock bumping is not a new technique. It has been used by locksmiths for decades as a method to open a majority of all residential & commercial locks. Unfortunately, due to the internet, this information had gotten in to the hands of crooks. The majority of all residential & commercial locks can be Bumped. You can better protect yourself by changing your locks to Medeco High Security Deadbolts and is the best way to increase your security. These Medeco Deadbolts give you a lot more protection against bumping & other methods of attack.

Get a risk assessment to determine how much protection you need. As a full service locksmith, we can offer solutions to fit your budget. Please give us a call to discuss the protection of your home or office @ 713-659-3951. In this day and time with the banks offering such low interest rates many homeowners are choosing to keep their money and precious metals at home or office. Don’t be cheap when purchasing a home or office safe. If your assets are of any value you should spend the bucks to protect them. Always bolt that safe to the floor. Once properly bolted to a concrete slab your safe will gain 2000 lb per square inch of bolt down pressure. Avoid purchasing a safe from the big box store chains. Why because the general public has long wanted a big pretty safe at budget prices and the big box store chains gave it to them by removing security features and (UL) Underwriters Laboratories fire ratings to reduce cost. This leading locksmith and security consultant states that he can gain access to most of those types of safes in ten minutes with a cordless drill.

Please never ever purchase a safe on line which offers some really low pricing. Why if it sounds too good to be true it probably is. First you will need to look for hidden freight charges; secondly many of these online safe products are imports, knockoffs or seconds and may be damaged and or scratched. Finally when and if you find the real deal it will be delivered to you driveway by a non licensed locksmith and may sit there for hours or days in view of cars driving by, now you will be at the mercy of a second person to move that safe into your home and a third to bolt it down and now all of a sudden you have three or more persons that know you have a safe.

Your best value is to purchase a safe from a licensed locksmith with a shop and showroom. He has a fiduciary duty to provide you with top quality security advice and a trouble free safe move plus a warranty after the purchase. Try to buy American safes as they tend to be of better quality than imports and are easy to get parts for if they ever need service with name brands like American Security Products who have produced over 60,000 safes each year and take protecting their customers’ assets very seriously. That’s how they got to be the largest security safe manufacturer in the world, and that’s why you can’t buy a better gun, fire or burglary safe than an American Security Safe.

Locking yourself out of the house can be a very stressful situation in Houston, TX. But knowing some basic information about how much a locksmith in Houston TX “should” cost, can keep “panic” from getting you ripped off. So how much should a simple door opening cost? Some people find that out the hard way.

Rip off Report, From Miss Helpless:

I went quickly out and slammed the door and said, “Oh, I’ve locked the keys inside.” Without a phone book, and on a Sunday, I searched the internet and found a locksmith close by. When he arrived, he couldn’t pick the lock so he said it will destroy your lock, but I had to get into the house, so, he went ahead and did it.

Miss Helpless says the locksmith quoted a price and upon arrival. It didn’t match the bill. “I said, you told me $75, he said, “No, I said $275. That’s when I first heard about that, I thought, I’m not hard of hearing.” And I looked at the invoice and here it was $351 and I said “What? That’s extremely high.”

The locksmith also added $26 just because Miss Helpless paid by debit card- not cash. Miss Helpless says she called the locksmith several times looking for the manager, and every time she heard the same thing. She said give me your name and number, I’ll have him call you back in the morning, well, of course there was no call.

Security expert and locksmith Fred Trotter says he hears stories like Miss Helpless all the time; mainly because consumers don’t know what locksmith services should cost. Fred Trotter with Houston Safe and Lock says a weekend service call should run no more than $75 to $95, depending on distance and time of day. He says drilling is rarely needed; maybe one in a hundred basic locks.

“I usually charge about $20 to $45. Extra for drilling and you don’t necessarily ruin the lock, just ruin the cylinder.” Mr. Trotter says replacing the cylinder should run no more than $30. That’s a top price of $95. For the weekend service call, $45. To drill, if needed, and $30 to replace the cylinder– for a total of $170. no where near $351! Now that you know what it should cost, ask whoever you’re talking to on the phone, if for some reason you can’t pick the lock, how much is it going to cost if you have to drill and replace.

$170 represents a “ballpark” of what a basic locksmith service should cost from a reputable company. If you do need a new lock, that can cost from $25-$200 depending on the brand and strength of lock you want. Make sure you call a licensed local locksmith, ask for the license # and the address where they are located. Even ask for the owner and managers name. If they won’t give you that information as required by law then keep looking until you find a reputable locksmith.

Have you wondered if Medeco and other high security locks are worth the money?  Go to Google and enter the search term “Bump Key”.

Did you see that??  Hundreds upon hundreds of sites offering videos on how to make your own bump key, how to use a bump key and even companies that will confidentially mail you a bump key for under five dollars.  This web content is available to millions of people and most of them searching for bump keys intend on using them – maybe even at your home or business.

Houston Safe and Lock recommends installing Medeco High Security Deadbolts and Locks for your home or business. Medeco is one of the elite, in a class of very few locks that absolutely cannot be picked or bumped. Houston Safe and Lock is one of very few Houston locksmiths that are authorized to install and service Medeco Locks and Deadbolts.

Still not convinced that the locks on your home or business may be inferior? Visit our Houston locksmith showroom at 10210 Westheimer Road and we’ll show you how easy it is to bump standard deadbolt lock.