Securing Your Home After a Break-In: A Same-Night Checklist

Before you start nailing boards over windows or pushing furniture against doors, do a calm, methodical walk-through of every possible entry point: front door, rear door, side gate, basement windows, garage entry, and any sliding patio doors. Note what is visibly damaged versus what simply looks fine but may have been tampered with. Burglars frequently test multiple doors and windows before settling on a point of entry, which means a lock that looks intact on the surface may have a bent latch bolt, a compromised strike plate, or internal damage to the cylinder that is not visible until you try to turn the key. Take photos as you go — your insurance adjuster will thank you, and the documentation also helps a locksmith understand the full scope of work before quoting.

Pay specific attention to door frames. In Chicago's older greystone and two-flat housing stock, door frames are often original wood that has softened with age. A forced entry frequently splits the frame at the strike plate rather than defeating the lock itself. If the frame is cracked or the strike plate is hanging by one screw, the door is not secure even if you manage to close and latch it. A heavy piece of furniture against the door is a temporary measure only — it does not substitute for a proper repair.

If your home has older hardware — and many Chicago homes do, especially in neighborhoods like Andersonville, Ravenswood, and Irving Park where the housing stock runs back to the 1920s — you may already have a mortise lock set into the door body itself rather than a standard cylindrical bored lock. A mortise lock is a more robust mechanism by design, but after a forced entry the cylinder can be damaged, the cam can be bent, and the internal case can be cracked in ways that are not obvious from the outside. Knowing how to change the cylinder in a door lock like a mortise lock is a skill that requires specific tools and familiarity with the particular brand — a Corbin mortise lock found in antique locks and keys setups, for example, has a very different disassembly process than a modern Schlage or Kwikset mortise unit. Attempting to force a cylinder swap without that knowledge risks damaging the door further or leaving the lock in a state that appears set but does not actually engage.

This is the moment to call an emergency locksmith. A trained professional can evaluate whether the mortise lock case itself is salvageable or needs full replacement, swap the cylinder to a new key, and test the throw of the deadbolt to confirm it seats fully in the strike plate. If your door uses a standard door knob lock with a separate deadbolt, both should be rekeyed or replaced regardless of which one the intruder defeated — because you cannot be certain which keys were taken or copied. Rekeying is faster and less expensive than full replacement when the lock body is undamaged; a locksmith can typically rekey a cylinder on-site in minutes. If the lock body itself is compromised, replacement with a quality mortise lock or a heavy-duty deadbolt is the right call.

Here is an uncomfortable truth: most residential deadbolts are only as strong as the wood around them. The standard strike plate that ships with a door knob lock or deadbolt is typically held by half-inch screws that bite into a thin door stop rather than the structural framing behind it. A solid kick to a door at the right angle pops that plate out regardless of whether the lock itself is picked or bypassed. After a break-in, upgrading the strike plate is not optional — it is the single highest-impact physical hardening step you can take for the cost and effort involved.

A commercial-grade strike plate — sometimes called a high-security strike box or a door reinforcement plate — uses 3-inch or longer screws that reach through the door stop and into the jack stud or king stud behind it. Some systems include a steel wrap that reinforces the entire edge of the door frame. If the frame is already split, the wood needs to be consolidated, shimmed, or in severe cases replaced before a new strike plate can be properly mounted. A skilled locksmith or carpenter can assess this on the same visit. Do not let a contractor talk you into skipping this step because the new lock looks impressive — the lock is only one part of the system.

If your home uses a smart lock or electronic deadbolt alongside or instead of a keyed cylinder, the break-in is a trigger to audit those systems as well. First, change every access code immediately — including codes you have given to dog walkers, housekeepers, or family members, since any of those codes could have been observed or shared. Second, check the battery level. Many homeowners are surprised to discover how to change batteries in an August lock or a similar smart deadbolt varies by generation and model, and a lock running on low batteries during a stressful night can fail to engage properly or fail to communicate with a hub. Consult the specific model's instructions and replace with fresh batteries even if the indicator light does not yet show low power.

Third, review your access log. Most modern smart locks record every entry event with a timestamp. If you see entries you cannot account for in the days before the break-in, that is information for the police report. Finally, if the smart lock is mounted on a door whose frame was compromised in the break-in, the electronics of the lock do not change the physics of the frame — physical reinforcement from Step 3 still applies. A commercial locksmith can integrate smart lock systems with high-security mortise lock hardware for the best of both worlds: app-based convenience with the mechanical robustness of a full mortise case.

This is also a good moment to call us if you have not already — 773-900-5921. We are available around the clock and can handle everything from a simple rekey to a full mortise lock installation on the same visit.

Once the primary entry points are secured, turn your attention to the vulnerabilities that may have made your home a target in the first place. Sliding patio doors are a common weak point — many original installations have only a simple latch that can be lifted from outside. A secondary blocking bar in the track and a vertical pin lock or charley bar dramatically raise the difficulty for a would-be intruder. Basement windows, especially those at or below grade level on Chicago two-flats, benefit from window locks and security film that holds glass together even when broken. Garage entry doors frequently have hollow cores and flimsy hardware and should be treated with the same urgency as the front door.

Exterior lighting is cheap deterrence. Motion-activated lights at every entry point — including the gangway and back porch that are standard features of Chicago's greystone architecture — eliminate the shadow cover that burglars rely on. If you want a longer-term plan, an automotive locksmith visit for your garage remote system can also be worthwhile: garage door opener remotes have been cloned in burglaries where a car was also broken into, giving an intruder a hands-free entry to the garage and potentially the home. Our mobile team serves all of these needs in a single dispatch. For a comprehensive security review after a break-in, reach out to Andersonville Chicago Locksmith at 773-900-5921 — we answer every call, every hour.