# Schlage entry door knobs



## DexterII (Jul 14, 2010)

Sorry for the fact that I can't pull the correct terms out of my noggin right now, but I know exactly what you are referring to, and do not believe that there is any way to alter their operation. The style that you have has the emergency exit feature, or some such thing, obviously intended for a quick exit, without having to fumble with the knob. I sort of recall reading something several years back that this style of lock was going to be required, at some point, in new construction, and although they are increasingly common, I do not think that they have made it to the required list yet. Although a bit harder to find, I believe that the other style is still available, by at least some manufacturers. Sorry for the ambiguities, but my brain seems to get tired some days.


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## BlueBSH (Oct 29, 2009)

DexterII said:


> Sorry for the fact that I can't pull the correct terms out of my noggin right now, but I know exactly what you are referring to, and do not believe that there is any way to alter their operation. The style that you have has the emergency exit feature, or some such thing, obviously intended for a quick exit, without having to fumble with the knob. I sort of recall reading something several years back that this style of lock was going to be required, at some point, in new construction, and although they are increasingly common, I do not think that they have made it to the required list yet. Although a bit harder to find, I believe that the other style is still available, by at least some manufacturers. Sorry for the ambiguities, but my brain seems to get tired some days.


 
Ugh I hate them, how many times I would of locked myself out of the house... I always have to carry my keys with me anytime I even think about going outside just in case.... guess its time to put a digital dead bolt lock in the garage entry to the house.... that way I'd at least have a key code to get into the garage and a another one to get into the house from there...


if I was to design these I'd have them unlock the door if you go from inside to outside... at least then you'd not get locked out...


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## AllanJ (Nov 24, 2007)

All the entry door knob locks I recall when I was growing up and through college (dorms) (through 1980's) were that way, you can always twist the inside knob even when the outside knob is licked. And twisting the inside knob did not set the outside knob to unlocked.

In the 1970's at least there were some interior lock knobs, mainly for bathrooms, where turning the inside knob changed the outside knob to unlocked. On a few (interior only) closing the door, depressing the catch, also changed the outside knob to unlocked.


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## DexterII (Jul 14, 2010)

BlueBSH said:


> guess its time to put a digital dead bolt lock in the garage entry to the house.... that way I'd at least have a key code to get into the garage and a another one to get into the house from there...


That is exactly what I did a few years ago, and it has worked well for us; in fact, it has worked out even better than I thought that it might. We live in a relatively remote area, but nevertheless, crime has expanded, so while we used to leave the house unlocked while working in the garden, going walking, or whatever, we now simply lock the deadbolt, and don't worry about whether we have our keys, or not.


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## PaliBob (Jun 11, 2008)

Blue, You can also keep a hidden key outside the house.
That is , somewhere other than 'under the mat'


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## SubSailor (Feb 25, 2008)

I believe it is a safety thing, same reason dead bolts don't have keyed locks on the side anymore, in case of fire they don't want you fumbling with a lock to get out.


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## jqsat (Dec 11, 2010)

*schlage emergency exit door knob*

I have been furious about my new schlage door knob that constantly lock us out. We bought Gatehouse door knobs when we moved into our house two years ago. They are fantastic. They have the emergency open from the inside when lock feature BUT they automatically unlock the knob when exiting from the inside. We have never locked ourselves out. We are remodeling the kitchen and bought a new back door that had two holes in it so we bought new deadbolt and door knob that match. Gatehouse is being clearanced out at Lowe's for some reason and I can not find them anywhere so we bought Schlage. Now we lock ourselves out constantly. I emailed Schlage and told them how dangerous the emergency exit feature is without a feature that unlocks the knob when turned. They had no answer for me. She offered to send me a exchange certificate. The F51 knobs don't have the emergency exit feature. The F54 ones do is what she told me. This is in Colorado. Other states who think they have to think for you may require only the emergency exit ones (I expect the federal government to babysit us into requiring them soon also). I would rather have to unlock my door to get out in case of a fire then get locked out when it is 10 degrees outside in my wet swimming suit after being in the hot tub. We have put a spare key outside but it is a pain in the ___ to fumble for the key in a wet swimming suit when it is 10 degrees outside because your "safety feature" door knob has locked you out AGAIN!
My door installer threw away the box and receipt for my Schlage door knob so I can't get the replacement certificate. I am so mad at them that I bought a Kwikset door knob and I am going to ship the Schlage set back to them with a long letter telling them they are idiots and are endangering lives with their "safety feature." I feel better now being able to tell someone else about my frustration. Remodeling is stressful enough without having this kind of crap to deal with! Thanks for listening.:furious:


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## BlueBSH (Oct 29, 2009)

jqsat said:


> I have been furious about my new schlage door knob that constantly lock us out. We bought Gatehouse door knobs when we moved into our house two years ago. They are fantastic. They have the emergency open from the inside when lock feature BUT they automatically unlock the knob when exiting from the inside. We have never locked ourselves out. We are remodeling the kitchen and bought a new back door that had two holes in it so we bought new deadbolt and door knob that match. Gatehouse is being clearanced out at Lowe's for some reason and I can not find them anywhere so we bought Schlage. Now we lock ourselves out constantly. I emailed Schlage and told them how dangerous the emergency exit feature is without a feature that unlocks the knob when turned. They had no answer for me. She offered to send me a exchange certificate. The F51 knobs don't have the emergency exit feature. The F54 ones do is what she told me. This is in Colorado. Other states who think they have to think for you may require only the emergency exit ones (I expect the federal government to babysit us into requiring them soon also). I would rather have to unlock my door to get out in case of a fire then get locked out when it is 10 degrees outside in my wet swimming suit after being in the hot tub. We have put a spare key outside but it is a pain in the ___ to fumble for the key in a wet swimming suit when it is 10 degrees outside because your "safety feature" door knob has locked you out AGAIN!
> My door installer threw away the box and receipt for my Schlage door knob so I can't get the replacement certificate. I am so mad at them that I bought a Kwikset door knob and I am going to ship the Schlage set back to them with a long letter telling them they are idiots and are endangering lives with their "safety feature." I feel better now being able to tell someone else about my frustration. Remodeling is stressful enough without having this kind of crap to deal with! Thanks for listening.:furious:


We tried kwikset also and they did the same thing to us......


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## jqsat (Dec 11, 2010)

*Schlage door know emergency exit feature*

I switched the model numbers on my last post. The ones with the emergency exit feature are the F51. The F54 do not have the emergency exit feature.


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## DangerMouse (Jul 17, 2008)

I know what you mean BSH... I have all no-lock lever action handles and deadbolts.

DM


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## sausagefingers (Nov 16, 2008)

Take knob apart and remove the pin that connects the little knob that actually locks it, and don't use the knob lock again. Just deadbolt it. The knob lock isn't going to keep anyone out anyway. A lot of the new houses I work in nowadays use a doorknob/deadbolt combination and the knob part doesn't even lock.


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## DangerMouse (Jul 17, 2008)

Yup! (see above) 
I like the levers too because if you have stuff in your hands, you can open the darn door with your elbow or leg! Po)

DM


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## PaliBob (Jun 11, 2008)

Being accidentally locked out in the Winter can be fatal.

http://www.todaysthv.com/news/news.aspx?storyid=98797
.


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## Tom H (Jan 4, 2012)

*Disable Emergency Exit Feature of Schlage door locks*

Some Schlage door locks have an "Emergency Exit Feature" that allows the inside door knob to open the door, even when it is locked. This is suppose to allow for a faster exit because you don't have to unlock the door first. However, I find that I am more likely to lock myself out of the house because I can open the door with it still locked, then be caught outside a locked door without any keys. 

When the door is unlocked, the inner square tube does not spin freely, allowing either knob to open the door.
When the door is locked, the inner square tube spins freely, allowing the inside knob to still open the door.
The key is to prevent the inner square tube from spinning freely at all.
This will prevent either knob from working unless the door is unlocked.

*How to disable the Emergency Exit Feature of Schlage door locks:
*Remove the outer knob from the door, then add 2 screws to it as follows:
Drill two 7/64" holes in opposite sides of the plate beside the square tube.
Drill just deep enough to go through the plate and internal ring attached to the square tube, but stop once you make contact with the inner lock mechanism.
Drill the holes with the knob unlocked, so the square tube is properly aligned in the non-free-spinning mode.
Insert two #6 x 3/8" machine screws into the plate and internal ring attached to the square tube, but not so far as to make contact with the inner lock mechanism.
Verify that the locking shaft turns freely before replacing the outer knob on the door.

Notes:
Shorter screws may be better, but I couldn't find any. Only about 1/2 of the threads are used, and I had plenty of clearance in the door with the other half of the screws still sticking out.
Don't use pointy or self-drilling screws, as the point will make contact with the inner lock mechanism before the threads grab.
I found that a 7/64" hole size to be just big enough to be self tapped with the #6 machine screw and remain tight.
The screw heads may touch the square tube, but the screw threads in the internal ring prevent it from spinning.
You could also try to weld, solder or use JB-Weld to secure the square tube in place, I didn't try these.
This may apply to other brands of locks, I don't know.
:thumbsup:


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## srecksie (Jul 12, 2012)

*Was locked INSIDE a garage because of this lock*

I'm a real estate agent who was showing a foreclosed home in January in Minnesota. One of these locks was installed from the house entering into the garage. All 3 of us went into the garage and the house door slammed behind us. We found out we were locked out of the house. No problem, right? Wrong!!! The bank had padlocked the garage doors shut and there was no service door or window. I called 911, the operator was a bit surprised when I told her I didn't know the address that we were at (we saw 6 homes and my paperwork was in the kitchen). They weren't at all willing to help locate us, thankfully we traced it back through emails on our phones and figured out where we were, otherwise we would have frozen to death. Not sure how we would have gotten out with no tools (other than breaking through the sheetrock, buildrite and vinyl siding).


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## BlueBSH (Oct 29, 2009)

srecksie said:


> I'm a real estate agent who was showing a foreclosed home in January in Minnesota. One of these locks was installed from the house entering into the garage. All 3 of us went into the garage and the house door slammed behind us. We found out we were locked out of the house. No problem, right? Wrong!!! The bank had padlocked the garage doors shut and there was no service door or window. I called 911, the operator was a bit surprised when I told her I didn't know the address that we were at (we saw 6 homes and my paperwork was in the kitchen). They weren't at all willing to help locate us, thankfully we traced it back through emails on our phones and figured out where we were, otherwise we would have frozen to death. Not sure how we would have gotten out with no tools (other than breaking through the sheetrock, buildrite and vinyl siding).


Gawd I hate this new lock design, every time I leave the house I am paranoid I am going to get locked out... I got in the habbit of never going anywhere in the house without my keys... I shouldn't have to do that... Almost have to have deadbolt locks on the entry doors just so you can't accidently close them locked...


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## mae-ling (Dec 9, 2011)

We moved to a new house with a keypad lock.
When it died we got a new one!


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## AGWhitehouse (Jul 1, 2011)

I just bought lock sets last year from Lowe's and they work just how you want them to. When the lockset is locked, both handles are rigid. Maybe they've changed inventory since...?

My grandmother lives in an in-law with my father and after all her years of living alone it's a ritual to walk around and lock doors. Now that dimensia has crept in she does this over and over again from about 5:00pm until bed. If she's woken up by any sounds, she makes rounds. Well, one night my father forgot something in his truck and did a quick run out (in his undies), grandma awoke to the door opening and made her rounds and went back to bed. Dad was stuck outside in his tightie-whities for over an hour before he could get her to wake back up....he now hides a key outside...


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## BlueBSH (Oct 29, 2009)

AGWhitehouse said:


> I just bought lock sets last year from Lowe's and they work just how you want them to. When the lockset is locked, both handles are rigid. Maybe they've changed inventory since...?
> 
> My grandmother lives in an in-law with my father and after all her years of living alone it's a ritual to walk around and lock doors. Now that dimensia has crept in she does this over and over again from about 5:00pm until bed. If she's woken up by any sounds, she makes rounds. Well, one night my father forgot something in his truck and did a quick run out (in his undies), grandma awoke to the door opening and made her rounds and went back to bed. Dad was stuck outside in his tightie-whities for over an hour before he could get her to wake back up....he now hides a key outside...


Do you know what set you purchased? last one I bought last year from schlage still did this behavior.. interested in what you got that doesn't..

yeah I keep a key in the garage now too hidden... at least then all I have to do is remember the garage PIN code then remember where the heck int the mess I hid the key :laughing:


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## srecksie (Jul 12, 2012)

*Schlage Lockset - emergency exit*

I just bought 2 schlage "emergency exit" locksets by accident. I was at Home Depot with DH and we saw at the very top a handleset/deadbolt combo pack for $29.99 marked with "Special Order Inventory". These were $29.99 and the visually similar ones on the shelf were $49.99. We installed this on our brand new service door on our garage. We were pleasantly surprised at this behavior because we often forget to lock doors and this will ensure our service door is locked. If we get locked out we have a keypad on the garage. I can't help but think the other ones at HD for $49.99 behave as most people expect (rigid handle when locked).

However the 2nd was planned to be installed from our house to our garage and I won't put it on the house because we rely on this door being unlocked. It brought back the memory of the time we were locked in the garage and I don't want that to happen to me at home because I know it will.

I'm going to try previous posters fix for the handleset and I went and purchased the 2 screws today (splurged 16 cents at ACE to get them).


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## AGWhitehouse (Jul 1, 2011)

BlueBSH said:


> Do you know what set you purchased?


I don't off the top of my head, I'll try and remember to look when I get home tonight...


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## wkearney99 (Apr 8, 2009)

Excellent warning about those locks. I'll definitely keep that in mind when we build the new house.

I installed a Schlage electric keypad handle just for the lock-out reason. I got tired of taking out the trash only to discover I'd locked myself out. Now I just punch the code and I'm back inside. Yeah, there's the potential security issue of the code. But the door's in a glass-walled sunroom, so if someone wants to get in there are much easier ways that hacking the keypad.


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## AGWhitehouse (Jul 1, 2011)

BlueBSH said:


> Do you know what set you purchased?


It was a Kwikset lever-handle lockset with seperate deadbolt. I double-checked and it does have a rigid interior handle when locked. I'm pretty sure I got it at Lowe's, but if I didn't then it would have been Home Depot (they are right across the street from one another in my town, so it's hard to remember whether I wanted to look at orange or blue that day)


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## Fix'n it (Mar 12, 2012)

i have that type lockset. i am getting used to it. but i did lock myself out one time, and so did my wife. i keep a hidden key in the garage.


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## m3rdpwr (Apr 16, 2012)

Thank you!

I bought a two sets of Yale locks 10+ years ago where each set had two locking knobs and two deadbolts all keyed the same. Nice convenience that both packages were keyed the same.
I liked the keys with the larger handle and when the knob was locked, it wouldn't turn.
In total I spend $60 for 4 hand locks and 4 deadbolts and 16 keys, not the highest quality, but I liked them.

When I replaced all doors in the house, I went with the Schlage Nickle and the first day I locked myself in the garage twice. lol

Tough getting use to the fact where the knob still turns when locked.
Funny because when I was picking up the extra Schlage set, I was debating just getting a deadbolt and a regular knob without a lock. I could return just that one, but I already had them re-key it.




Tom H said:


> Some Schlage door locks have an "Emergency Exit Feature" that allows the inside door knob to open the door, even when it is locked. This is suppose to allow for a faster exit because you don't have to unlock the door first. However, I find that I am more likely to lock myself out of the house because I can open the door with it still locked, then be caught outside a locked door without any keys.
> 
> When the door is unlocked, the inner square tube does not spin freely, allowing either knob to open the door.
> When the door is locked, the inner square tube spins freely, allowing the inside knob to still open the door.
> ...


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## m3rdpwr (Apr 16, 2012)

I hope you don't mind, but I took your idea and improved it for myself.
The problem I had with your fix is the knob would sometime turn enough to open, probably because I didn't do it perfect and not necessarily a problem with your method.

So here's what I did:
I drilled the two 7/64" holes as you instructed.

I then took 6-32 machine screws and screwed them in the holes I just drilled so it would be easier to screw them back in after I shortened them.

I then screwed the proper size nut for a 6-32 screw all the way down to the bottom until it hit the screw head.

Next I took my wire stripper/bolt cutter and screwed it all the way down until it bottom out to the nut and cut it. This left about 3/16 of threads, more or less.

I then unscrewed the nut until there was just a few threads left before it falling off.

Next, I screwed it back in the previously drilled and tapped holes in the lock about 2-3 turns which caused it to bottom out on the nut and lock the bolt in place from loosening.

I did this on both sides.
The flat side of the nut locked the center square post in place and it worked perfectly!

Thanks for the idea and I hope this helps other people out as well.
Below is a pic of what I ended up with.













Tom H said:


> Some Schlage door locks have an "Emergency Exit Feature" that allows the inside door knob to open the door, even when it is locked. This is suppose to allow for a faster exit because you don't have to unlock the door first. However, I find that I am more likely to lock myself out of the house because I can open the door with it still locked, then be caught outside a locked door without any keys.
> 
> When the door is unlocked, the inner square tube does not spin freely, allowing either knob to open the door.
> When the door is locked, the inner square tube spins freely, allowing the inside knob to still open the door.
> ...


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## mariaruth (Jul 25, 2013)

That is exactly what I did a few decades ago, and it has proved helpful well for us; actually, it has exercised even better than I believed that it might. They have the urgent start from the within when secure function but they instantly start up the handle when getting out of from the within.


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## Tom H (Jan 4, 2012)

Marvelous, marvelous!

I'm glad you got it to work. It's nice to see someone else using our idea.
Maybe this will promote the manufacturers to include a removable pin to select if you want the emergency exit feature or not!
Or better yet, make the outside knob unlock when exiting!
:thumbup:



m3rdpwr said:


> I hope you don't mind, but I took your idea and improved it for myself.
> The problem I had with your fix is the knob would sometime turn enough to open, probably because I didn't do it perfect and not necessarily a problem with your method.
> 
> So here's what I did:
> ...


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## wkearney99 (Apr 8, 2009)

During our new house construction it's had the kind of knobs that lacked an emergency exit feature. Don't know if they're Schlage or not. But if you want to go out you've got to turn the lock knob first and then the handle. The upside to these is if you want to check if the door's locked or not all you have to do is try to turn it. If it won't turn, then it's locked. Which is great when you want to check all the doors at the end of the day.

Meanwhile, once the construction's complete we'll be installing all new Schlage keypad locks.


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## LazyGlen (Jan 28, 2015)

*Thank you!*

I know this thread is old and I apologize for bringing it back to life, but I wanted to thank TomH and m3rdpwr especially. I've been looking for a fix to this problem for a while and the information that was provided in this thread allowed me to finally FIX this annoyance. I took my fix a little farther and 3D printed a part, getting my daughters involved in the process and making it look pretty. I wrote up an Instructable and posted it under the title: Fix Schlage free egress locksets

I guess I can't post links on my first post, fair enough. 

For the record, I included a link to this thread.

Thanks again.
Glen


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## wkearney99 (Apr 8, 2009)

This link?
http://www.instructables.com/id/Fix-Schlage-free-egress-locksets/

Nice work, and thanks for the follow-up!


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## Ed911 (Oct 15, 2011)

SubSailor said:


> I believe it is a safety thing, same reason dead bolts don't have keyed locks on the side anymore, in case of fire they don't want you fumbling with a lock to get out.


Not true. They're readily available at all the big box stores, unless your state has outlawed them. 

I use them for doors that offer little or no security...meaning that a glass pane can easily be broken allowing the intruder to easily reach through and unlock the door.

See the link below...dual cylinder deadbolts...cylinders on both sides. 

http://www.lowes.com/pd_133371-352-...=1&currentURL=?Ntt=keyed+deadbolts&facetInfo=


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