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  • Anyone use a keyless lock on front door?
  • loddrik
    Free Member

    Eldest daughter stated secondary school and now wants keys. She’s not getting any ad firstly I’m always in and secondly I don’t trust her not to lose them. Was thinking of some sort of electronic door lock on the front door. Anyone use one? How secure are they and which type would be the best to look at?

    funkmasterp
    Full Member

    Would it require some sort of swipe device? If so, what’s to stop her from losing that? Just musing.

    Daffy
    Full Member

    You can get RFID locks which can be programmed to work with mobile phones.

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    joshvegas
    Free Member

    Key on a string through the letter box…

    …artisan string obviously.

    Alphabet
    Full Member

    Can you get her chipped and then use one of those catflap locks?

    P-Jay
    Free Member

    This came up on R2 recently “why don’t we have electronic locks at home when we have the for our cars and offices”.

    Apprently they don’t make an insurance approved electronic lock, so your insurance may be void if you do.

    Most offices get around this by only using the electonic locks during the day when it’s occupied- at night the last out turns a massive mechanical lever lock.

    revs1972
    Free Member

    Mum and dad have had a mechanical “digital” number lock on the front door for the past 30 years. He has to polish it and swap the buttons round from time to time as the wear can show up the numbers you need to press to get in.
    Ideal when we were younger , but trying to remember a 6 digit code when you are drunk at 2am could be a bit of a pain

    matt_outandabout
    Full Member

    She’s not getting any ad firstly I’m always in and secondly I don’t trust her not to lose them.

    At some point your daughter will need to be trusted in life to look after herself and items she is responsible for.
    One of the clan_oab has now paid for two new front door keys and a school locker key as he lost them. A hard lesson, that now means he is careful over keys and they *always* live in his blazer pocket.
    The three of them are also learning how to get out of the house themselves, return and sort themselves out without us being there.
    IMO, as you go to secondary, this is when these things need to be learned in a managed way, preparing you for life.

    nickc
    Full Member

    She’s not getting any ad firstly I’m always in and secondly I don’t trust her not to lose them.

    You have to at some point, learn to trust her. and b. Unless when she losses them the person that picks them up knows who dropped them and where she lives, it’s a non issue.

    I was a latch key kid from about 11, we all lived to tell the tale. 😆

    marcus7
    Free Member

    From what you describe you want a biometric (fingerprint) lock as she is unlikely to misplace her finger… However P-Jay is right that when i had a fob system installed at my last place we still used mechanical locks when the place was empty. Also retrofitting the lock may prove a challenge…. Assuming you are using eurocylinders i would just suck up the potential cost of replacing the lock tbh, they are very easy to replace and available at any diy place (it take literally minutes to do). she will either learn her lesson and not lose another key or simply wont get another!.

    Murray
    Full Member

    Agree with the trust – you have 7 years until she’s 18 and in that time she needs to learn to be independent.

    If you really don’t want to give her a key, what about a key safe? It’s normal practice for vulnerable old people (e.g. my mum).

    richmars
    Full Member

    Yale do a range of smart locks. But not cheap.

    jsync
    Full Member

    MY neighbour has had one of these for over 3 years, no issues.

    Keys are much cheaper!

    lunge
    Full Member

    Give her a key, if she loses it then Euro cylinders are astonishingly easy to replace and cheap too, even I can do it and I’m a proper DIY moron.

    BigJohn
    Full Member

    A friend of mine has a lock that works when you swipe it with a finger. Not a fingerprint sensor apparently. Something else. Used by the US embassy and probably cost more than my car

    outofbreath
    Free Member

    Flower pot by door. Key under flower pot. Job’s a goodun.

    mikertroid
    Free Member

    Key safe?

    loddrik
    Free Member

    Ok the wife has just told me that she’s getting keys. So that’s that then.

    My thoughts were influenced by my always losing keys when I was a kid. Though she is a lot more sensible than I was/is.

    franksinatra
    Full Member

    My daughter is the same age and has just been given a key. No issues with her losing it, she quite likes the responsibility.

    We also have a C500 keysafe up that we share with our neighbour. Used by kids, dog walker, cleaner and me if I go out on my bike and everyone goes away and locks me out.

    midlifecrashes
    Full Member

    Keep meaning to pit up a keysafe for when I get locked out, but it’s easier to just pop along to whichever neighbour looks like they are in and get one of our spares from there and have a cuppa. Kids got keys in last year of primary school when they started walking to and from school by themselves.

    poly
    Free Member

    Was thinking of some sort of electronic door lock on the front door. Anyone use one? How secure are they and which type would be the best to look at?

    But you are always home so why bother?

    As others have said you need to introduce the independence and the responsibility that goes with it.

    The reason for their popularity in offices are:

    1. When someone leaves you don’t need to worry about getting keys back (you presumably aren’t worried about that!)
    2. When someone loses their keys you don’t need to worry about whether they had stored them with anything that identified the address (you can get round this by training her not to put her address on her key ring or store keys with ID just like you do, right?)
    3. You don’t need to be concerned about unauthorised copies of keys. (I assume you trust her not to copy the key and give it to a dodgy guy down the pub?)
    4. You can have one electronic key that unlocks multiple doors, and which is configurable to work differently at different times, zones etc. (I assume your house is not so large, or your rooms so secretive to need such zoning!).

    These systems often fail open when the power is off. That is a sensible solution as with a power cut you need to be able to move around and in the event of a fire you need to get out. In a home situation that doesn’t work as you would want to be secure in a powercut when you are not in. You can get lock on failure systems too, but you really need some sort of mechanical over ride (e.g. a key) for them or a fault in the electrics will mean you are locked out permanently, and powercut leaves you outside. So you end up carrying a key anyway!

    spooky_b329
    Full Member

    My wife and her siblings had to share one key when they were teenagers. The amount of to-ing and fro-ing and planning that involved to ensure the key was with the right person was crazy (but all worth it, as its easier to keep track of the key in case it gets lost)

    My view is, as long as you are not silly enough to engrave your address onto the key or have a photo of your house on the key ring, who cares if it gets lost. Its a few quid for a new one, and only a bit more to replace the whole lock barrel if it gets lost along with your address details (which is a DIY job, one screw)

    twowheels
    Free Member

    I had a electronic lock (key code) on a big house share. It was easy to fit- just replaced the barrel part of the Yale lock. It had some advantages but the main disadvantage that it was harder to keep track of who had access to the house. “Code inertia” meant we once kept the same code for a year during which there was high turnover of housemates and landlord would simply send the code to tradesmen etc. For a stable family it’s less of an issue. Or you can be organised and change the code 🙂

    Don’t forget to keep an emergency battery in the porch!

    antigee
    Full Member

    cylinder lock is near dead – thinking about replacing with phone thingy – currently the teens have access by getting a key out of key safe chained near door – ok if don’t go in and out again before second arrives as fail to return key to safe – personal keys on string attached in school bags go into some sort of vague outerspace place of disappear forever unlike phones never lost – sometimes near to dead but never actually

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