Door locks

[schwalby]

I will be buying a home in the next month or so and was wondering what you guys do with door locks. On a detached garage do you key the garage to match the house or leave them different?

The property also has several sheds, would you recommend matching the keys or combinations on all of those too?

I know it is an odd question but the thought popped in my mind so figured I would ask.

 

[pattenp]

All my entry doors are keyed the same, detached garage and shed too.

 

[maddawg1952]

Depends on who your trying to keep out . Is your wife borrowing your tools? Are the kids taking them and not returning them . Locks are a security device,you need to determine what level of security you need. Or if they're all keyed alike and 1 of the kids looses a key you need to get all new locks. Lot of determining factors you left unanswered. Fortunately for me the cat hasn't learned what key fits what, YET . All my locks are keyed different just from being installed at different times

 

[Journaler]

Locks are all keyed alike here. Except the shed, which has no lock. If anybody wants to steal my Christmas decorations, box spring, half-full paint cans, folding chairs, empty plastic tool cases, decades old Halloween costumes, old fishing poles, and non-functioning washer, more power to them.

The most valuable thing in my shed is the shed. Maybe I shoulda had a yard sale instead of building the shed.

 

[schwalby]

Depends on who your trying to keep out . Is your wife borrowing your tools? Are the kids taking them and not returning them . Locks are a security device,you need to determine what level of security you need. Or if they're all keyed alike and 1 of the kids looses a key you need to get all new locks. Lot of determining factors you left unanswered. Fortunately for me the cat hasn't learned what key fits what, YET . All my locks are keyed different just from being installed at different times

Wife has actually bought the better chunk of my tools so I guess I can't get too mad if she takes them and doesn't return them. :\

No kids yet but I do have 3 very smart cats.

I guess the question was more if anyone had any reasons to key them separately. If there was some sort of security advantage to it or something.

I do like your point about kids losing keys. Probably makes for a good reason to not have everything keyed alike down the road.

 

[CNGsaves]

I'd vote for all house doors the same, and detached shop different.

Lots of reasons to "borrow" out the key to house like relative watching the house on vacation, neighbor to check house/cats while on vacation, etc. . . . but I do NOT want those people rummaging around my shop. At least keep one lock on shop different so you will know exactly who has access.

 

[NCtim]

Up here we don't lock our doors. Leave the keys in the car too. Freaks my relatives out when we visit them in Florida or Texas and they tell us to lock our car in their driveway. We tell them we left 2 cars in the drive at home with keys in them and the house unlocked.

 

[NUTTSGT]

All the house locks are keyed alike. My garage is keyed differently, no reason for the kids to be coming out in the garage when I'm not home. I'm not sure if I gave the wife a key when I redid the locks or not.

The last thing I want to happen is one of them come out to the garage and forget to lock a door when they leave.

 

[Dustin Echoes]

Up here we don't lock our doors. Leave the keys in the car too. Freaks my relatives out when we visit them in Florida or Texas and they tell us to lock our car in their driveway. We tell them we left 2 cars in the drive at home with keys in them and the house unlocked.

Same here, I leave my keys in the ignition so I know where they are. I don't however know where my house key is. Lost in the sands of time, I guess.

 

[Nowater]

Schlage locks with a key pad. We never use keys as we can lock the deadbolt while outside without a key. Others on this site have them too and I have not read a bad comment about them yet.

 

[jhelrey]

FYI... Key all locks the same and loose the keys, car gets broken into, etc... and you will be changing all locks. It wouldn't hurt to have a shed key, garage key, house key, etc.

Also, don't have your GPS actually drive you home. Put it somewhere like a gas station close to home so if someone breaks into your car, grabs your garage door opener, keys, GPS, they don't actually know where you live.

 

[neophyte]

FYI... Key all locks the same and loose the keys, car gets broken into, etc... and you will be changing all locks. It wouldn't hurt to have a shed key, garage key, house key, etc.

Also, don't have your GPS actually drive you home. Put it somewhere like a gas station close to home so if someone breaks into your car, grabs your garage door opener, keys, GPS, they don't actually know where you live.

Good advise about the GPS. I also would advise having more than one lock on your doors. If one breaks you still want to be able to lock your door till you can get the broken lock fixed or replaced. A backup digital lock also means if someone steals your keys they still can't gain access to your house unless they already have the combination. If the digital lock has a bypass key just make sure not to keep it with your keys. Digital locks are also convenient if you just want to go out quickly for something, i.e. convenience store, or run etc.

 

[brownbagg]

kinda related, i have a bar inside on my roll up doors, the orignal handles can be forced and they will turn enough to slip the rail. so only way to open roll up is from inside. it keeps one buddy from borrowing my tools

 

[Oldbear]

Depends on who your trying to keep out . Is your wife borrowing your tools? Are the kids taking them and not returning them . Locks are a security device,you need to determine what level of security you need. Or if they're all keyed alike and 1 of the kids looses a key you need to get all new locks. Lot of determining factors you left unanswered. Fortunately for me the cat hasn't learned what key fits what, YET . All my locks are keyed different just from being installed at different times

You can save the hassle of replacing all the locks by using something like a Wieser Smart Lock. They re-key with the special tool that comes with them. We replaced all the knobs and locks on our recent house purchase. I kept the two extra key sets (clearly marked of coarse) with the extra tools. If we have to re-key I have two more sets before I have to figure out anything too complicated.

 

[porschedude996TT]

I have my house, attached shop, and detached shop all on separate keys. We sometimes have people in to clean the carpet, windows, dog sitter, etc. and don't want them in my shops. I have yet to key a master key, but that is the plan. I also have the restroom keyed differently in my shop that has access from both the inside and outside. That way my young gardener can use it rather than a bush...

 

[kaffine]

Keyed alike. I even keyed my parents house to use the same key and if I could I would make my cars use the same key. I already have too many keys on my keyring I don't want anymore.

The reasons I can see for keyed different would be trying to keep someone out of the shop that otherwise has access to the house. Or the oposite maybe you have a neighbor that you trust and you have keys to each others shop but you don't want him having a key to the house. Honestly I don't see either as happening. If I trust you in my house I trust you in my shop and if I trust you in my shop then I trust you in my house.

If I loose my keys it would be all of the keys so I would have to rekey everything even if they all used different keys.

 

[maddawg1952]

kinda related, i have a bar inside on my roll up doors, the orignal handles can be forced and they will turn enough to slip the rail. so only way to open roll up is from inside. it keeps one buddy from borrowing my tools

On this same note 2 weeks after the overhead door went in the lock crapped out so for 11 years I have had a huge padlock in the track in a hole I drilled just above a wheel, all that you can lift the door with it locked is 1/2"

 

[RECox286]

One key does every lock in the house,shed,garage and basement.

I also have 2 hidden keys so I don't have to break a window just

in the case I, or anyone else who is allowed entry doesn't have a

key handy. Any way, locks are there to keep honest people honest.

Windows and doors are no barrier to those who are not honest,

especially considering the way we leave our homes open to them.

Uncle Bob

 

[koditten]

Key 'em all the same. As we go thru life we seem to aquire more keys. Bofore you know it you have 2 dozen keys that you don't know what lock they go to.

KO

 

[spotco2]

Everything around here is keyed the same, but the front door is master keyed so that there is a separate key that also works it along with the key that fits everything else.

It's pretty common around here for homes to be keyed this way. That way you carry 1 key that fits everything. You give your kids, contractor, house keeper, etc the key that only fits the front door. That way if one of them looses the key or does not return it you only have to rekey that one door and not every door on the property.

The same could also be done with the shop, so you could give someone a key just to the shop and they would not have access to your house.

 

[zoomzoomjeff]

You can save the hassle of replacing all the locks by using something like a Wieser Smart Lock. They re-key with the special tool that comes with them. We replaced all the knobs and locks on our recent house purchase. I kept the two extra key sets (clearly marked of coarse) with the extra tools. If we have to re-key I have two more sets before I have to figure out anything too complicated.

That's what I'm getting next time we get new entry doors. In a prior place, I've had a Schlage smart lock or similar name (same technology) and loved it. Everything was one key, or when we went on vacation, we re-learned the lock to match a different key and gave the spare to a neighbor. Came home, got the neighbor's key back, change the locks to match our normal ones.