Hi all my 5 year old son is strong and a monkey. He is always climibing inside his closet to hang from the clothing dowel or otherwise wreck things in there. He is autistic and of course we've tried for a very long time(years)to keep him otherwise occupied and disciplined to keep out of it, we've obviously failed on this account. Now, we're searching for sliding door locks. There are two closet doors that slide along a bottom and top track. What has worked for you other parents to keep things locked with similar sliding doors?
When my youngest (also a monkey :) was little, we use a simple hook-and-eye at the top of each door. Would that work in your case? With an older child, he may be able to climb up and unhook it, so I'm not sure?
When my son was little he had sliding doors in his room. What worked for us was an adhesive "refrigerator lock" from the baby-proofing section.
Instead of sticking one side to the fridge door and one side to the side of the fridge as it's designed, I just stuck them to the doors across the section where they overlap. Doesn't mess with the look of the closet, but also doesn't let them open (from either side) because the doors can't cross any farther while it's locked. Just make sure that the side that dangles is on the outer door so it doesn't get caught being when you DO open them.
Adhesive worked well on his doors because they were mirrored. If your doors are wooden, a chain lock could work in the same way (just door to door instead of door to door frame like on a front door).
HTH
T.
You can buy bar-locks for sliding patio doors. I wonder if they would also do the trick in a closet?
The ONLY thing that has worked with my kids is using a shower curtain tension rod. We put one on the back sliding door and one on the front so that you can access the closet. The tension rods are the ones you extend to release or tighten them. (the smallest ones that the store sells) Hope that helps. My kids are evil about getting into their closets (and almost anything). My oldest has a sensory disorder and my youngest just likes to follow in her footsteps with anything she does lol. Plus we rent so we can't install any locks etc so this works the best.
There are small screw on devices that can be attached to the top rail. They are used on sliding windows to allow them to be opened 6" but no further. They might fit on a closet door rail.
Our sliding pocket doors have a locking device installed in the doors themselves. They are located on the side away from the handle. It has to be drilled into the door itself, works like a rocking switch and would have to be installed high up on your doors out of reach of your son. When in the locked position, it sticks out and keeps the door from sliding into the pocket. In your case, it would keep one door from sliding across the other.
