So, on the inside knob of most lock sets there is a little knob in the middle that lets you lock it. It can be in either the horizontal or vertical position. For all the lock sets I have, and have ever had (as far as I remember), vertical is unlocked and horizontal is locked.

HOWEVER, I just bought one at Lowes and it is the opposite, and cannot be changed. I went to Home depot and theirs are the same, unless I buy the Schlague for a lot more money.

So the question is: Which position is "locked" on your door knob?

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1998 C230 330,000 miles (currently dead of second failed EIS, yours will fail too, turning you into the dealer's personal human cash machine)
1988 F150 144,000 miles (leaks all the colors of the rainbow)
Previous stars: 1981 Brava 210,000 miles, 1978 128 150,000 miles, 1977 B200 Van 175,000 miles, 1972 Vega (great, if rusty, car), 1972 Celica, 1986.5 Supra

Rental house: horizontal is locked
My condo: vertical is both, since the lock rotates 180 degrees between locked and unlocked positions.

I have a passage set plus a deadbolt on my exterior doors, so no little lever at all. I find the knoblocks don't hold up all that well so prefer the passage latch plus deadbolt.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Vertical is locked on all the doors at my place.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 401,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 26,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.
99 Mazda Miata 183,xxx miles.

Never saw one like that...
Installed many dozens of door handles....

I'm with Tom in that all exterior doors get deadbolts, and fer darn sure those twist knobs should be horizontal for locked.

You sure you can't finagle the pieces to allow for proper construction?
Remove the little bar, twist stuff around and put back together?

Of course, where I work, every locking door has a lever that is aligned vertically, and for some inexplicable reason, the interior latch turns away from the jamb to lock, and towards it to unlock... I always assumed that it was just the idiots in the door division of engineering...

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On some nights I still believe that a car with the fuel gauge on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. - HST

1983 300SD - 305000
1984 Toyota Landcruiser - 190000
1994 GMC Jimmy - 203000

https://media.giphy.com/media/X3nnss8PAj5aU/giphy.gif

My dead bolt lever points toward the jamb when it is shoved into the jamb (locked) and away when unlocked so you can tell from 20' away.

handy.

__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Exactly. Visual confirmation can save thousands of unnecessary steps over the lifetime of the lockset.

__________________
On some nights I still believe that a car with the fuel gauge on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. - HST

1983 300SD - 305000
1984 Toyota Landcruiser - 190000
1994 GMC Jimmy - 203000

https://media.giphy.com/media/X3nnss8PAj5aU/giphy.gif

Vertical is Occidental
Horizontal is Asian

All exterior doors are old U.S. made deadbolts. All are horizontal when locked. Interior doors don't lock except our bedroom, which has an old forged hand sliding deal on it we never use.

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You're a daisy if you do.
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84 Euro 240D 4spd. 220.5k sold
04 Honda Element AWD
1985 F150 XLT 4x4, 351W with 270k miles, hay hauler
1997 Suzuki Sidekick 4x4
1993 Toyota 4wd Pickup 226K and counting

He's not talking deadbolts, he's talking locking doorknobs. Vertical is locked in our house.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

yes

__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Shouldn't Asian be a 45-degree angle? :p

I have for years used only Schlage locksets on all of our properties, all keyed to a master, and as indicated above, the lever is horizontal in the locked position. Kwickset, a common, cheapo brand sold locally is the opposite, as many of the less expensive off brands sold by Lowes and Home Depot seem to be. Can't understand how it would be but perhaps it's cheaper to manufacture them that way, or maybe the cheapo guys just don't give a hoot.

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2005 C240 4matic wagon (daily driver)
87 190D - 225K (on loan)
85 190D - 312K (on loan)
2011 Subaru Legacy AWD (Wife's)

All mine are Kwickset, but they still go vertical to lock. My building was built in 1972, and I may still have the original doorknobs.

__________________
Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 401,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 26,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.
99 Mazda Miata 183,xxx miles.

The main knob turns a square shaft, and the little locking knob turns a flat "tailpiece" that is inside of that. The flat piece goes into a slot on the back side of the little knob. They could have easily made that an "X" shape so that you had your choice of vertical or horizontal, but they didn't. I solved the problem by putting the protruding tailpiece in a bench vice and twisting it 90 degrees. Done and done.

It was interesting that both Lowes and Home Depot sell an identical knock off of Kwikset. Home Depot's is called Defiance and Lowes is called Lighthouse I think. They are the same except the Lowes one is stamped "Made in China" and the Home Depot on stamped "Made in Taiwan". They both are locked vertical. The odd thing is I have a Defiance knob lock that I got at Home Depot about 10 years ago and it locks horizontal. Oh well.

__________________
1998 C230 330,000 miles (currently dead of second failed EIS, yours will fail too, turning you into the dealer's personal human cash machine)
1988 F150 144,000 miles (leaks all the colors of the rainbow)
Previous stars: 1981 Brava 210,000 miles, 1978 128 150,000 miles, 1977 B200 Van 175,000 miles, 1972 Vega (great, if rusty, car), 1972 Celica, 1986.5 Supra