I would go for the bolt latch. In our current master bedroom we have double doors for the bedroom entrance from the hall (bolt latch), as well as double doors from the master bedroom into the master bath (ball/resistance catch). We have a spunky toddler who can open the ball catch doors anytime he pleases, and the in-laws' poodle can open them as well. I wish our master bath had the bolt latch on it.

We did thumb bolts on all bedrooms and baths. Our hardware (Omnia knobs) didn't come with the privacy option. The only way to lock the door is through a thumb latch. There is a little plate you can pop off the back to unlock them (I asked the same question!) I debated whether to do it on the children's bedrooms but didn't want to have to add them later. I figured there may be times where they want to lock their doors (getting dressed with visitors/friends in the house) . . . I think it is reasonable to do either though. We plan on being in this house forever and I know when I visit my mom I often lock my door while getting dressed as there is always a child wanting to wander in and who knows where the rest of the household is! They have locks on their doors now (just turn latches in the knobs) and they don't usually lock them, unless they are trying to get away from their brothers and lock them out (my youngest will do this occasionally!).

Hello - the bulk of this post is older, but hopefully you guys can still give me some advice. We recently moved to Chicago and are renting a house - 2 days after we moved in we noticed a bulge in one of the walls. We own our house in San Francisco, and we've done a lot of work on it, but it's a framed house, so we have no experience with brick. My dad's a structural engineer in Eastern Europe - I sent him the pictures, and he said: break your lease/move out. Now, he has lots of experience, but might not be relevant. The house was built in 1890, and several parts were added/remodeled since, as late as 2005. We contacted the property management company, and they said they'll pass the info to the owner, but there's been no response for several days. Does this look dangerous? Should we move out?

A deadbolt is handy in two scenarios, both of which center upon the homeowner needing to prove forced entry occured: 1. Dealing with your insurance company on a theft claim. 2. Proving to the law that forced entry occured. (I'll let you speculate as to why that's important.) Sometimes a doorknob lock will show enough damage when forced open that it too will prove forced entry, but a deadbolt lock will ALWAYS show proof, assuming you remember to lock it. If you are truly trying to just keep someone from breaking in, there are usually other things that need to be upgraded at the same time - laminated windows, solid-core doors, reinforced door frames, lighting, to name a few. Relying only on deadbolts to make a difference in home security is a bit shortsighted. On the other hand, you don't have to make your home a fortress - just make it a less inviting target than your neighbors' homes. Deadbolts are also handy in that you can look at it from across the room (on the inside) and tell whether the door is locked or not, with a doorknob lock you have to get up and check it. I wouldn't want a house without deadbolts, but it wouldn't be a dealbreaker for me either - they are not that difficult to install.