How to Lock a Door From the Outside

When you lock a door using the doorknob lock, you can usually lock the door from the inside or the outside depending on when you think of doing it. But when you are leaving your home, a deadbolt can only be locked from the outside. When it comes to locking your door from the outside, you have options, but to make your locks and door frame last a little longer you should use the locking method that puts the least amount of wear and tear on the door.

Pull the door closed gently without locking either of the locks first. A doorknob lock is designed to slide along its strike plate and pop into its door frame lock, but if your doorknob lock is set tightly against the door frame then the constant friction of pulling the door closed with this lock already initiated will begin to cause damage to the lock and the door frame. The vibrations caused by the need to slam the door closed because the lock is initiated could also cause damage to items on the walls. Closing the door without the doorknob lock initiated can eliminate all of these problems.

Insert the deadbolt key into the deadbolt lock and turn the key to the left to initiate the lock. Depending on how the deadbolt lock is installed in your door, you may need to pull the door closed a little tighter to line up the deadbolt and the strike plate.

Turn the doorknob and try to open the door. If the doorknob turns but the door will not open then the deadbolt is engaged.

Place the key for the doorknob lock into the doorknob and turn it in the direction that initiates the lock. Most of the time this will require you to turn the key to the left. But if you turn the key to the left and the doorknob still turns to open the door, then turn the key to the right.

Attempt to turn the doorknob to make sure the lock is initiated.

Always check to make sure you were successful in locking the door before leaving the property.