One excellent home safety tool is the use of dead bolts. Keeping your doors protected by sturdy dead bolt locks is a great way to keep your home safe from would-be intruders. Of course, it’s vitally important to find the best deadbolt you can purchase. Some are simply far more effective and thus more discouraging to burglars than many others. You’ll want to be sure to install deadbolt locks on every exterior door, even between the garage and home’s interior. Burglars aren’t big fans of sturdy deadbolts. They prefer picking a much easier spring lock, or an inexpensive, flimsy deadbolt to a secure model. Often, burglars will avoid buildings with strong dead bolts in search of an easier target.

Grade 1 or ANSI-designated Deadbolt Locks

This grade specification means that these locks can’t be easily picked, pried, hammered or drilled out. These dead bolts have been tested to show that they can withstand up to ten hammer blows, and that they can work effectively long term. Grade 1 locks are tested to see that they can open and close two hundred and fifty thousand times, and that they can project a minimum of one inch into the door frame. Grade two dead bolts are also considered recommended for home use, but the grade one specification is a much more secure locking system.

Two of my favorite deadbolt locks are the Schlage B60 609 Grade 1 Single Cylinder Deadbolt and the Kwikset 99800-092, which are two reasonably priced yet top of the line models. Another solid deadbolt lock choice is the Signatures 980 Grade 1 Security Single Cylinder SmartKey. This option has a customized security system allowing simple lock re-keying if you lose a key.

At the high end of the price scale for deadlocks, you’ll find another good choice – the Medeco Maxum 11WC60L, one of the toughest out there. Also popular are electronic keyless deadbolts such as The Suunect AP501AB and the Schlage BE365VCAM619 Camelot Deadbolt Keypad, which are both excellent keyless dead bolts.

Each of the models suggested here have also met sturdy UL, or underwriters laboratories, listing standards. The sturdiest locks feature UL listings of four hundred and thirty seven, which means that the lock meets the highest standards for security locking.

While the models listed above are not double cylinder locks, you may wish to purchase that type of dead bolt if you have a window or glass openings on or near your door. A double cylinder uses a key to operate even from the inside. This can make using one more complex for your family, however. A single cylinder is the type of dead bolt most people select, and is the lock style of each of the models recommended above. A single cylinder lock works by using a key to lock and unlock from the outside, but needs only a twist to open from the inside of your home.

In most cases, a single cylinder lock is strong and safe if you have a solid door.

Each of the locks recommended also have another important feature to recommend them. They include steel bolts or steel inserts that have a one inch throw or more. What’s a one inch throw? A throw refers to the one inch of bolt that extends out past your door edge, making it more difficult for any would be intruders to pick your lock. And, each of the leading brands recommended comes with a striking plate made of steel, with screws at least three inches long.

Deadbolt locks with each of these specifications are the most secure locks around, and the locks that will make would be robbers look elsewhere.

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Madison Parker is a security expert whose interests range from personal to home security systems. Get more tips and advice on her Home Security blog, http://www.homesecuritysystems.net/