Where do you keep your spare keys?

TBagpuss

nothing is ever 100% secure or safe - I haven't gt around to it yet but am planning to get one of the keysafes and to put it somewher that isn't too obvious.
At the moment, my parents have a key, but that's really more for their convenience if they are oming to visit and may arrive before I get back from work. It's a 2 hour drive to their house so it would be a bot of a hassle to go andfetch it if I locked myself out.

At one time I had an arrangemnts with my (then) next door neighbour that we each held a spare key to the other's house - I was very grateful for that as they went in and moved some of my more vulnerbale posessions when we had a flood and I was at work, once!
And I was able to go in and sort it when one of their wondows got broken when they were away (which I would have hesitated to do from the outside if I hadn't had a kety, as I am not comfortable on ladders, and would have been partiocualrly reluctant in a high wind!)

indsty

I would love to know the solution. I live alone, no relatives within 100 miles. Now retired so no place of work to leave a set. Live in a flat so no garden to hide them in. Neighbours frequently changing so cannot feel confident leaving them there.
I am terrified of either locking myself out accidentally, or losing my door key while out. We have a secure outer door which I guess I could get another flat owner to open for me, but I still need a front door key. Do I resort to the key on the end of a string through the letter-box?

casper_g

How far society has come in just a couple of generations - from a world where you would happily leave your door unlocked to one where there isn't a soul within sight (or even walking distance?) of your house you trust enough to hold a key for you!

ilovemygarden

PasturesNew wrote: »

I've always just been careful/lucky.

You can get those press-button key entry keysafes - punch in a code that you pick and the little door opens and you get your key. They're used for the elderly, for carers to gain entry, so they must be pretty secure.

we have one of these which is sited at the side of the house behind a drainpipe so you can't see it from the road or coming up the drive.

My mum has hers, in tin foil, in a tiny plastic zipper bag hidden under gravel - she gets it out every so often to oil/clean as it has a tendency to go a bit rusty.

Le_Kirk

Key safes are OK if you have them out of "plain" sight. The more digits there are, the more difficult it is to "work out" the correct number. I once spent a "pleasant" afternoon cracking the combination on my kids' bike padlocks as they had "forgotten" the number they had set?? Yeah right! Fortunately there were only three digits involved so didn't take long. Not sure, if I was a burglar, that I would be prepared to stand in someone's porch or near their front door trying thousand of different combinations of numbers. How do insurance companies look upon key safes? Are they making the house more vulnerable to burglarising? Still, if you have the four digit type it is safer than a front door key on a bit of string through the letter box!

warehouse

I keep mine the same place this guy does from the Ford advert:

DTDfanBoy

The commonly found Master Lock key safes can be opened quite easily with a sturdy screwdriver

I've got a spare key taped under a tile on the garage roof, it's only a two second job to hop up on the wheelie bin to retrieve it, probably not ideal for those with balance issues though

Le_Kirk

All we need to do now is pop round every house with a garage and a conveniently placed wheelie bin in Royal Tunbridge Wells and we're in!

wymondham

Many years ago i kept the front door key on a string through the letterbox - times sure have changed!

carefullycautious

Have a deadbolt lock put on. You have to use a key from the outside to lock it. This will help prevent you locking yourself out.


If you have a car could you tape a door key under the bonnet somewhere?