This is my first ever review on Amazon. I'm only writing because people need to be aware of the type of doorframe that will not accomodate this lock. This is a great item, but before you buy, please examine your doorframe. There is a narrow strip of wood that your door hits and pushes against when you close your door. (about 1/4") Look on the backside of this strip. If it is flat, i.e. parallel to the door (when it is closed), then you are OK to use this device. However, if it is more decorative with a bevelled edge, the door stop on this device will just slide over this narrow strip and the door will always open and be useless. This is hard to describe.
In order to get this to work for me, I need to find a narrow square dowel if wood (about 1/4" X 1/4" X 3-4"long) and nail it to the doorframe so that this device will pull against it and prevent the door from opening. My other option is to chisel out a section of the bevelled edge so that the door stop won't slide over it.
Also, please note that the door will only close completely if you have enough of a gap between your door edge and your doorframe to accomodate the width of the device. You need about 1/8" minimum. Otherwise, the door will always be open, or you will constantly "rub" the frame and put stress on the door hinges, just to close the door properly.
Someone also had a question about about whether or not you can have the lock such that a toddler cannot open the door at all, or does it only allow the door to be opened a few inches at minimum. My answer is that the door must have some "play" in it so that an adult can disengage it. It is impossible to have the door not open at all when a child twists the knob.
I will say that I think this is a good device but it has its drawbacks.
1. It will not work on some doorframes without modifications.
2. It may not allow your door to close "all the way" to the point where the knob latch engages into the frame.
3. If you must have your door completely, or near completely closed, and just want to prevent the child from fully opening the door, you run the risk of your child smashing their fingers. (There is a way to partially get around this, but it depends on measurements of your frame and pushing the gray latch in such a way that it still springs out when the door is opened)
4. The only real way both prevent the child from fully opening the door, AND prevent from smashing fingers is to always have the door partially open a few inches.
5. There is no way to prevent the door from not being opened at all.
Think of this item like one of the cabinet and drawer latches that you screw or stick on. The ones that come in two pieces. One that you put on the door and the other that screws to the cabnet frame. The child can pull on the door and the device on the door "catches" the device on the frame such that the child cannot open the door any further.
[...] Child Safety Latches, 12 Pack
If an adult wants to open the cabinet, you just push down on the spring loaded portion on the door to disengage it. You ever notice that your child can smash his/her fingers?
Then they came out with one that reaches a threshold beyond which the door cannot close any further.
Mommy's Helper Safe-Lok Cabinet Door and Drawer Lock
This lock is not designed for this, but if you carefully push in the gray bar without it "clicking" in place, you can get a similar effect. See #3 above.
This is a similar concept just that this door lock does not have two peices. You must have a doorframe that provides the "catch" portion of the lock. If not, you have to make you own "catch" like I have to.
I hope this review helps. Safety 1st Prograde No Drill Top Of Door Lock
This item clamps on your door and is tightened with an allen wrench (included). When the safety catch is engaged, the door cannot be fully closed (this prevents pinched fingers and allows the door to be opened from either side). It stays cracked open (maybe 2 inches) and offers just a short amount of travel. That may be annoying at first as your little one tries to swing the door back and forth, but they will probably tire of it quickly since they can do no more than get a hand through the opening. Safety catch can be easily disengaged when you want to close the door completely. Not ideal for all situations, but works for me (I have it on a laundry room door that provides access to the garage).
We bought this because our toddler kept going into the pantry. We put this lock on the door and it works great! The only problem with it is that sometimes when you're closing the door, the lock will catch and you can't close the door all the way. Then you have to push the gray mechanism and the door shuts easily. I would definitely buy this again.
I just installed this and it took all of 2 minutes. It works great. No drilling required. I like the ability to disengage the lock when my toddler isn't around. I like the feature that prevents the door from closing via the pinch guard. however this needs to be engaged manually. This is good if i were using this on a room door that requires access from both sides but i am using this for a pantry door so i would prefer an automatic spring feature on the pinch guard. Other than that I am pretty happy with this so far.
We bought this device because we wanted to prevent our daughter from jamming her fingers as she is learning how to close doors on us... turns out this product is really a door lock that allows a gap (not fully closed and still unable to open the door fully). My fault for not reading correctly, but i will review the product for others to benefit.
From the one stock photo it was hard to tell how this functioned, refer to the additional pictures I posted for more info.
First of all, this thing is big. I actually want to say huge.
It is unsightly, and though it "folds" away to be non-operational it is still an ugly sight IMO.
The construction seems sufficient for a child prevention device, but this is by no means a security device and is not made of such kinds of materials.
Now on to describing how it works...
The latch actually clamps onto the door and is held in place by using the allen wrench provided to tighten the clamp.
With the arm moved into position to function as intended, attempting to close the door results in a latch resting on the door jam preventing closure on precious little fingers - perfect.
However, attempting to then pull the door back open results in the other side of the device resting on the door jam preventing you from opening the door - not perfect.
What you are left with is a door that can't open past 3 inches, and wont close. It is locked in this manner until an adult is summoned by the helpless cries of their child locked in/out of a room. This is not really what we wanted.
If it were an ideal solution it would prevent full closure, but allow the door to be fully opened.
The configuration of this device will not allow such functionality.
Of note, another reviewer discussed the type of door jam you need for this to work, it worked with mine, refer to the pics posted to see if yours resembles my door jam.
Also, the gap between the closed door and the door frame should be at least 1/8'th inch, as the device takes up that space and may cause the door to be harder to close completely shut (if at all), and may cause the actual door latch to not fully engage without a firm push on the door handle.
As this does not fit our needs, i am returning it, but may work for your needs.
Rated good for the intended functionality, ease of install, non-permanent nature, and finger jamming prevention. - Baby Proofing - Baby-proofing - Door - Door Lock'
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