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If there were a fire with you panicking and not putting a key in the inside cylinder lock, you, too, could break a window—any window big enough to pass through—to exit. The fire is going to damage the house anyway.
Standard building code DOES require that a second way to exit, say, a bedroom, exist besides the doors. Typically, that is a window.
I may live in a certain amount of "fear" , lol, but I prefer to call it prudent caution.
It's only prudent caution if you have objectively weighed all the risks and made a logical decision about what is the greater risk. Is it more likely you being unable to get out of the house and getting burned up in a fire, or getting beaten and/or killed by an intruder? It seems to me that there are easy solutions to ensure that you will always be able to get out (hang or stash a spare key nearby) than there are keeping bad people out.
Not really easy if you take a few steps to prevent such easy access, and in Florida, many homes like mine, the doors open outwards.
Point is not to make it burglar proof, but to make it a hard target, because most thieves want to do things quietly, easily, not sit there for 15 minutes banging the hell out of something.
Exactly. I'd say the point is to make it loud enough and long enough to allow you time to wake up and get your gun ready. I could never keep an intruder out of my house - too many windows. But I'm determined that I never get woke up with a knife to my throat or gun to my head. Assuming the bad guys even allow me to wake up.
We've stayed in several vacation rentals: Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy. They all have this in common. The inside of the front door needs a key to unlock it. This is insanely dangerous on so many levels.
My apartment is on fire, uh oh, where's that key? The lights are out, fumbling for the key, gotta get out. The kid hid the key, now I'm late for work and can't open the door.
You can imagine the scenarios. Europe is pretty consumer friendly, so I find this inexplicable. Even in Ecuador, we have the usual thumb-turn latch for the dead bolt.
Have any of you run across this odd and risky door design? Why on earth?
The first home I bought In Calif back in 84, the deadbolt require a key to lock/unlock it from the inside! ...
It seems someone dies every year when they can't get out of their house because you need a key to unlock it from the inside. Sometimes it's a deadbolt. Sometimes it's burglar proof door or bars.
People who have that situation take safety steps. Extra copies made. One is hung by the door, others are hung elsewhere. A triple net safety procedure, so you're assured of having the key handy. Sometimes they just leave the key in the lock in the door.
Seems someone dies every day when an intruder enters their house when they are asleep. Yes, there are effective ways to ensure you can get out of the house. You can't fix stupid.
No, not all garages - but you're making it more and more of an "edge case" and that just keeps lessening the supposed value of the deadbolt.
And I never advised DROPPING your insurance. I'm saying that everyone HAS it - so USE it if you're broken into - that's what it's for.
BTW - what is irreplaceable except sentimental items that no one is gonna steal...all my digital stuff is backed up in a couple places so not an issue.
Every garage opener I've seen can simply be unplugged. Or have the chain drive disengaged.
Problem solved? Let the inspectors know that your going to hang a key and then see if they issue a certificate of occupancy for the house, it’s not happening and it’s one reason why all hardware has to be in place before receiving a final inspection.
Like another poster mentioned, I hang the key up high so my kid can’t grab it! Fire safety basics 101, smoke rises and can quickly fill a house. Pretty irresponsible in my opinion.
The best thing you can do for fire safety is have plenty of working smoke detectors. If smoke is filling the house and there's not enough time to reach for a key, you've already failed the test.
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I'm saying that everyone HAS it - so USE it if you're broken into - that's what it's for. 
