Dual chamber locks

Hi all. I’m new to Smartthings. I am not up and running yet but working on getting devices. I want to have automated locks for front and back doors of my house, but both doors have windows and thus the locks are dual chambers (keyed inside and outside). I cannot find any dual chamber automated locks anywhere. Any suggestions? What are people using in this situation?

Thanks in advance.

Larry

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15 posts were merged into an existing topic: Zigbee/zwave door lock compatible with double cylinder/(key on both side)?

The technical term for these in the US is “double cylinder.” It’s been previously discussed in the forums:

The short answer, as others have mentioned, is that in the US fire safety codes require that for buildings where people sleep, the door must not need an additional key, code, or device to be opened from the inside. This rules out double cylinder locks. However, these locks are still used in other countries, including Australia and much of South America. And there are some smart models in those countries.

So it’s technically possible to build these, but there’s just no market for them in the US.

As far as keeping your house safe, remove the window that’s near that door, or just put a metal grating on it. That’s what people generally do in high crime areas. Home Depot carries these, and there are many local companies that make ornamental versions that can be very attractive.

If you live in a neighborhood where this is likely to be a major issue, chances are your neighbors have these as well so you can look at what local styles are.


As long as the door can be easily opened from the inside, most residential safety codes do allow these kinds of barriers on windows.

You can also add a Glassbreak detector for that window, which can trigger a siren and an alert notification. These are pretty big, typically the same size as a smoke detector, but they don’t have to be put right on the window, they can be a few feet away on the wall or ceiling. They’re just listening for the specific acoustic pattern of breaking glass.

And of course you can put an open/close sensor on the door itself and have it trigger a siren and notification if the door is opened when you are away from home.

So there are a lot of options without having to give up fire safety. :sunglasses:

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