<p>My door knobs and locks on the exterior doors are the gold color, and all of my interior door knobs are silver colored.</p>
<p>It bugs me that they don’t match… Plus i need new locks anyway. </p>
<p>So in looking at locks I decided I like the brushed nickel look. It’s not as shiny as my interior knobs but at least it’s close in color. .</p>
<p>Does anyone know how this holds up outdoors? Is it any less or more durable then the others? Most of the houses on my street have the regular gold or silver colored ones. I’m not sure of this is for a cost reason or personal preference or not… Just don’t want to put something up that doesn’t hold up well in our cold winters</p>
<p>We just replaced a bunch of exterior locks/knobs, so I’ve done my research. </p>
<p>Before you buy anything, have a locksmith take a look at your doors. Our front door had a Schlage lockset, and there were only one or two possibilities for replacing it that didn’t involve major reworking of the door.</p>
<p>If you’re willing to spend the money, and it fits, get a Baldwin lockset. They have a “lifetime finish” for their polished brass, satin nickel, and polished nickel finishes. The warranty is good for as long as you live in the house. </p>
<p>Schlage and Kwikset are both decent locks, but don’t get them from a big box store, since they make cheap lines for Home Depot, etc. A locksmith can get you the real thing. Also be aware that with Kwiksets, if the door is locked from the outside, you have to flip the lock every time you want to open it from the inside. They do this so you don’t accidentally lock yourself out, but I find it annoying. Baldwins work the ‘normal’ way - if it’s locked from the outside, you can just turn the knob to open the door.</p>
<p>Thanks booklady. I actually have kwikset locks now and that’s what we had in my house growing up - never knew it was abnormal!! And I’ve still managed to lock myself out. ;)</p>
<p>I actually want to get three sets of keyed alike locks. Front door, back door, and garage. I’m tired of carrying two keys because of the door on the garage!!</p>
<p>You can order Kwiksets online from handlesets.com (I don’t work for them, I promise!), and specify that you want them all keyed alike. As far as finish durability goes, there should be no difference between brass and nickel, and Kwikset also has a lifetime warranty on the finish. We got a Kwikset for our back door and the not-locking-yourself-out feature has been a godsend for my husband. ;)</p>
<p>Can I ask how much the ones cost that you got?</p>
<p>My locks are getting pretty old. The finish is really faded and the locks open hard sometimes. I think the keys might be getting a little warped with age. I thought my key was gong to break off the one day.</p>
<p>Mine are the ones with the Knob style lock and the other lock that goes like six inches above it. For the love of me I forget what that lock is called. Dead bolt???</p>
<p>We have brushed nickel throughout our house and it’s holding up very well.</p>
<p>If you’re replacing your locks, you might want to consider getting one door a combination lock instead of a keyed lock. It’s saved me from locking myself out many times over the years! At this point, I don’t even carry a house key.</p>
<p>I didn’t even know there was such a thing^^^. I’ve always thought it would be nice to have a “clicker” like the car for when I have my arms full of groceries.</p>
<p>If you get a Kwikset with Smartkey you can also rekey the locks yourself in about 30 seconds. It was nice being able to key everything I’ve bought for the house identically. I had a few spares made for, like, $1.50 each at a local locksmith. If I’m having work done on the house, I change the lock on a side door, give them the key, and when they’re done, take their key back and rekey the lock to the “normal” key. If I wind up losing any of my keys, and I want to change the locks, I can just go get any other Kwikset key, change it to that configuration, and then have duplicates made.</p>
<p>We got antique bronze for our doors/locks, but that’s mostly because the exterior of the house is brown/tan, and it looked nice. Otherwise I’d probably have gone with brushed nickel (might do that for all the interior doors, yet).</p>
<p>DMD , last time I locked myself out I left my whole purse inside and didn’t even have my phone.</p>
<p>My neighbor hoisted me up into a window that I didn’t think I locked. I pushed my hands up against the glass and pushed up and got in. I never go anywhere with my windows on the first floor opened now that I know first hand how easy it is to break in!!</p>
<p>I also locked my car keys in my car at a job interview once.</p>
<p>I saw the key it yourself locks at the store and thought they looked interesting.</p>
<p>I was going to say what racinreaver said - you can buy the locks where you can rekey the locks yourself easily. It’ll be a lot cheaper than using a locksmith and more convenient plus you can rekey them anytime - i.e. if you’re going to give someone temporary access to the house you key it for them then key it back.</p>
<p>I know you’re a bit of a do-it-yourselfer so you might want to think about this.</p>
<p>And Home Depot carries multiple levels of locks from the cheap end of a line to the more expensive end so I wouldn’t hesitate buying a lockset from them if they have what you want.</p>
<p>I renovate homes for a living and you can find high quality locks for much better pricing on the Internet. Try handlesets.com or another source. You can designate that you want them all ‘keyed alike’. Brushed nickel will hold up as well as any other finish and it is a much more desireable modern look. The only other finish that is popular now is the oiled bronze.</p>
<p>Be careful with the garage entry door (if you have one). This is the door that comes in from an attached garage. Modern building code requires that these doors be ‘fire safe’ and they are thicker than average doors. Check the thickness on your front door and the garage entry door to check when you buy your replacement locks.</p>
<p>Like dmd77, I have a programmable Schlage lock on my side porch door. I really like it for the reason she mentioned and, since I’m an empty nester, I feel like it gives me some peace of mind about not locking myself out.</p>
<p>Thanks coral - my garage is not attached. I do actually want to take the door off it and repaint it. </p>
<p>The ones I was looking at were at home depot. They weren’t the cheapest ones. I think they were in the middle. I talked top the guy there and he showed me how to check the codes on them to find ones keyed the same. </p>
<p>I’ll probably do the locks and repaint the door on my garage at the same time. </p>
<p>I’ll check out the website you guys mentioned as well.</p>