If you have ever been locked out of the house, you probably know just how frustrating it can be. Especially if the weather is cold or you are hungry, it can be terrible having to sit outside and not able to get into your own home. It happens to almost everyone at some point. However, there are preventive measures that you can take in order to avoid this situation.
Many people think it is a good idea to leave a window or door unlocked in case they end up getting locked out. However, this is not a good idea at all, considering the fact that if you know how to break into your house so easily, a burglar can figure it out fairly easily as well. It is important to always lock your doors and windows.
In order to avoid getting locked out of the house, you should make sure that you have an extra set of keys that you know the whereabouts of at all times. You should always have access to a spare key just in case you happen to get locked out of your house. If you do not have one, you may actually need to contact a locksmith. In case of this event, just make sure you program the phone number of a locksmith into your smartphone.
There are many good places that you can hide a house key. It will be a lot simpler if you only need one key, so what you should do is make sure that all of the locks in your home can be opened by this one key. You can do this yourself, take your door knobs to a hardware store, or call a locksmith to come in and change all the locks, so that they are all opened by the same key. Once you have this taken care of, figure out a good place to hide an extra set of keys. One thing you can do is give an extra key to someone you trust, such as a family member, friend, or neighbor. You can also buy a fake rock and put the key inside, and then hide it among other rocks. You should make sure it looks real, since burglars know that people do this and will look for these rocks. You can also carry an extra key in your purse or briefcase or lock it inside your electrical panel and then lock the panel with a padlock that has a combination. You can also attach a heavy duty contractors box to one of your gas pipes and put the key in there. Another idea is to hide a key in your garage and install a wireless keypad on the outside so that you are able to get in.
There are several places where people commonly hide keys that are actually not advisable. Even though a burglar is more likely to break a window than to spend a lot of time searching for a key, you should still make sure that you don’t hide it in an obvious place. Many people hide their keys under the mat on the front stoop, but this is the first place a burglar would look. Also, avoid hiding it in the mailbox, under a planter, taped in a gutter, on a window ledge, in the lock itself, on your dog’s collar, or in the glove box of your car.
It is also important to make sure that everyone who lives in your home is also able to get in whenever they need to do so. As such, make sure that anyone who lives there knows where the extra key is.
