Should Every Bathroom Door In Your Home Have A Lock?

A bathroom is an essential room in every house and should be kept in the best conditions always as it contributes to the tidiness of the entire home and household.

While keeping your bathroom in the best state, you may consider adding locks to every door to enhance efficiency, privacy, and safety when using the door.

Door locks help secure a room and everything in it. For a bathroom, door locks serve several functions but mainly help enhance privacy.

In this regard, Should Every Bathroom Door In Your Home Have A Lock?

There is no direct answer to whether all bathroom doors should have a lock; it depends on your area’s builder’s regulations and codes. Even though there is no immediate answer to whether or not a bathroom door should have locks, it is okay to add locks on all bathroom doors.

Like any other room, a bathroom serves its unique purpose of making a home complete. For this reason, most people assume that every bathroom door should have a lock, just like other doors. However, this may not always be the case since locking bathroom doors can be a safety concern, especially for those bathrooms used by children.

Whether you are wondering if you should add locks on all your bathroom doors, read on to find the benefits of having locks on every door and the dangers before you make a sound decision.

Four Bathroom Door Lock Considerations

A bathroom is one of the most frequently visited places in the home.

You will see the bathroom before going to work when you need to freshen up after a long working day and any other time when you want to have a relaxing bath.

Since you visit the bathroom regularly, it is important to ensure its locks serve you best.

When you go to the market to purchase a bathroom door lock, consider the following.

1. How Much Privacy Do You Need?

A door lock is primarily installed for privacy purposes. Once you determine the level of privacy you need, you can choose which lock to buy.

If your privacy needs are high, you can purchase locks that only lick and open from the inside.

That way, you can be sure that once you lock the door when inside, it’s only you who can unlock it.

No one outside can open such doors, thus giving you the privacy you need.

2. How Efficient Is The Lock?

Always consider efficiency and ease of use when purchasing door locks.

Purchase door locks that everyone in your house can find very easy adapting to them and using them.

When the door lock is tricky to handle, someone can easily get locked in the bathroom and be unable to get out.

You should install standard locks that are easy to use or install indicator bolts, which have handles on both sides that make it easy to hold and open the bathroom doors.

3. Durability

Bathroom door locks can only be effective when functioning at 100%.

Be sure to buy durable locks that won’t malfunction after being used for a short period.

With the frequency at which bathroom doors are opened daily in a home, having durable locks can save you on repair and replacement costs.

4. Bypass Simplicity

The ease of bypassing a locked bathroom door is critical when purchasing locks.

Complex locks can be tough to pull off during an emergency, worsening the situation.

However much you are seeking to buy a durable| lock, it is imperative also to check how you can handle the lock-in times of emergency, like when a child locks the door while inside.

Three Benefits Of Having Locks On All Your Bathroom Doors

Here are some reasons why you may find it necessary to install locks on all your bathroom doors.

1. Bathroom Locks Enhance Privacy

Most of the needs that an individual gets to serve in the bathroom are personal needs.

With a lock on the bathroom door, you will be able to comfortably attend to your private needs without fear of someone peeping at you.

Essentially, a bathroom lock is meant to ensure the privacy of the people using bathrooms and not for security.

2. Childproofing

Most children are usually curious and visit any open space to satisfy their curiosity.

If your bathroom is among the open spaces in the house, then be sure that babies will get in and can easily get harmed.

There are several recorded cases of children being taken to the hospital to treat injuries that occurred in the bathroom.

If you want to be safe and safeguard your babies against such bathroom injuries.

With a locked door, the child will not be able to open it and will definitely not get bathroom-related injuries.

Most parents store drugs, trimmers, and shaving razors in bathroom drawers.

All this should be kept away from children’s reach as they make a bathroom a dangerous place for children.

But if you lock the doors, you will have secured the bathroom with all that is kept in it and protect your baby from harm.

3. Bathroom Doors Enhance Sellability

Buyers wish to buy complete houses with everything needed in the place, including bathroom doors.

Doors with locks are most preferred as they contribute to sealing the house and everything in it, precisely everything in the bathroom.

Basically, some of the rings you store in a bathroom are too private, and you will have to seal them inside by locking the bathroom.

Three Reasons Why You May Opt Not To Install Locks On All Your Bathroom Doors

Bathroom doors with locks are, at times, risky. Here are a few circumstances when you can find a bathroom door risky and unsafe.

1. Children Can Lock Themselves Inside

This is a primary reason why most homeowners who have children in their homes prefer not to install locks on their bathroom doors.

Children can easily lock themselves inside the bathroom and cannot unlock it, especially if the lock is just on the inside part of the door.

It is better to have doors with no locks to keep your children safe and free from the tension of finding themselves locked inside a bathroom.

Having locks that can open both from outside and inside can also save you whenever your baby locks themselves in a bathroom.

2. When You Live Alone

Most people who live alone find no sense in having bathroom door locks.

They believe no one is watching everything they do in the house; therefore, they find it easy to even take a shower with open doors.

If you live alone and have no regular visitors, you can as well avoid incurring the extra cost of installing a lock on your bathroom doors.

3. If You Live With People With Impairments

People with impairments can find doors with locks very challenging, whether physical or mental impairment.

Generally, people with problems like Alzheimer’s, dementia, epilepsy, or any other mental impairment need to be regularly monitored; otherwise, they may not be able to handle and control themselves.

If your bathrooms have locks, the mentally impaired might lock themselves up in the bathroom.

Those who are physically impaired might find it hard to unlock closed bathroom doors whenever they want to use them.

Therefore, it is much better not to put locks on the bathroom doors or remove locks on the doors if they already exist to make it easy for those who have mental and physical impairments to use the bathrooms.

Conclusion

Bathroom door locks are just as important as the other locks, even though they are primarily meant for privacy rather than security.

You can choose to install locks on all your bathroom doors or simply install them on a few bathrooms and leave others without locks.

With the information above, you will be able to weigh your options and decide whether to install locks on all bathroom doors or not.

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