Kids are a curious bunch, and that can direct them to remarkable discoveries, as well as disastrous ones too—because crawling, navigating, and roaming youngsters tend to get into everything. Steadfast supervision is necessary, but without a doubt, our little ones can be pretty speedy. That is why securing down your drawers and cabinets is the best idea to prevent curious kids from opening them. And one easy way to do this is by installing latches to your cabinet doors. Check out this guide below on how to install baby cabinet locks.
Types of Safety Locks
Before we proceed on how to install baby cabinet locks, check out the various types of safety locks that you can use for your cabinet doors. There are variety of safety locks available in the market. The main types of locks are:
- Magnetic locks: These latches are fixed inside your cabinets and drawers and utilize powerful magnets to hold them shut until you use a “key” to unlock them.
- Adhesive strap locks: These locks use heavy-duty but removable adhesive and are used on items such as cabinets, drawers, and appliances.
- Spring-action locks: These are traditional childproofing latches that can be installed inside your cabinets. They are released by holding the cabinet somewhat half-open while pressing down on the latch together.
- Slide locks: Intended for double-door cabinets, slide locks can fit around adjacent knobs. Tie them together until released by pressing the two surfaces.
Tips on How to Install Baby Cabinet Locks
Before we proceed to the step-by-step guide on how to install baby cabinet locks, here are some quicks tips for you to remember.
- Don’t place or store breakable or heavy items in overhead cabinets (such as solvents, bleach, etc.)
- Don’t just rely on pinch-grip or magnetic or latches to hold your cabinet doors closed, particularly on overhead cabinets or those that carry heavy, breakable, or dangerous items.
- Install the cabinet door latches according to the manufacturer’s directions. For example, use everything that was provided with the latch and don’t substitute small screws or bolts for those that were provided.
Easy Guide on How to Install Baby Cabinet Locks
Here’s a quick and easy guide on how to install baby cabinet locks.
- Plot the location of placement. The latch should be installed on the shelf or cabinet frame opposite the hinge side of the cabinet door and can be placed either at the top or bottom of your cabinet. You can install it vertically or horizontally.
- If possible, place the latch near the door handle. If the cabinet’s handle is on the bottom of the door, then install the latch at the bottom. This will allow you to apply enough force against the latching mechanism.
- Place the latch in the marked location and label screw holes using a pencil. Many latches have elongated holes to allow adjustment after the installation.
- Remove the latch and indent pencil marks with a bit. It will help hold the screws centered and prevent them from slipping when you’re screwing them in. Pre-drill the holes if you have larger screws.
- Realign the latch using the screw holes and install them with the screws provided by the manufacturer. If there are no screws supplied, you can look for or buy appropriately sized screws. The hardware store employee will be glad to assist you in picking the correct size of screw.
- Close the cabinet door and mark where the latch meets the door. Set the strike plate inside the door and mark the place of the screw holes with a pencil.
- Use the awl to indent the pencil marks where the strike plate will be located.
- Realign the strike plate with the holes and screw them to the door.
- Close the cabinet doors and test the latch mechanism. Make some forward or back adjustments to the latch mechanism by slightly loosening the screws and adjusting the location.
Conclusion
Babyproofing your cabinets by installing door latches can be very beneficial. It gives you that peace of mind while you’re doing your daily tasks at home. Installing a cabinet door latch is comparatively a very simple task that will solve your toddler woes. Your curious toddler won’t be able to open those cabinets and drawers that might contain dangerous items. Learning how to install baby cabinet locks is just easy and also need not be expensive. Get more tips on childproofing.