Keypad for entry to front door?

[sussexwoman]

I am thinking about removing the traditional lock and putting a keypad type on my Victorian timber front door. Our door is right on the pavement, no front garden.

I currently have one of those fancy locks for which you have to send off for every spare key @£40 a pop.

My reasons are, I use a wheelchair or mobility scooter and find it hard to reach up and turn my key in the lock, plus it would be handy to be able to give the number to my home help to let herself in, to friends who visit, and to paramedics should I ever need an ambulance. Also I share the house and the others sometimes lock themselves out and have to ring and ring till I get up and hobble with my zimmer to the door. And if it's 1am its a nightmare for them.

What worries me about the keypad lock is that I never see any, anywhere. I specifically looked when I was out today and I didn't see a single one. Why is this? Are they not safe? Can strangers get in? Do they get jammed? What is it about them that I don't know?

 

[Old Salt]

Get a key safe fitted

https://www.screwfix.com/p/master-lock-water-resistant-combination-8-key-safe/93263

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Get a key safe fitted

https://www.screwfix.com/p/master-lock-water-resistant-combination-8-key-safe/93263

How will that help the OP's access?

I suspect the reason they're not popular in domestic settings is people like a conventional lock, the cost and a bit of a lack of awareness/trust in something electronic to keep it locked. Commercial buildings have electronic entry to avoid having to distribute keys, they work just fine. You can get them with a key override too.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I am thinking about removing the traditional lock and putting a keypad type on my Victorian timber front door. Our door is right on the pavement, no front garden.

They are short term secure, but can be defeated, more easily than a proper, normal lock.

If you have Internet/wifi, plus smart phone, could you have a remote control lock, plus a camera/doorbell cam.

 

[sussexwoman]

They are short term secure, but can be defeated, more easily than a proper, normal lock.

If you have Internet/wifi, plus smart phone, could you have a remote control lock, plus a camera/doorbell cam.

Thanks. That would be good when I am indoors, have my phone with me, and the doorbell rings. But not a solution to the original question.

 

[sussexwoman]

Get a key safe fitted

https://www.screwfix.com/p/master-lock-water-resistant-combination-8-key-safe/93263

Yes I did that. In fact that is the exact key safe I already have. Hoodlums have already ripped off the flap and turn the numbers at random to see if they can hit the jackpot. I have now removed the key from inside.

It does not answer my query though. The keysafe holds a key, which I still struggle to turn in the lock from a seated position and also not being able to get close to the door because I am on a mobility scooter.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Thanks. That would be good when I am indoors, have my phone with me, and the doorbell rings. But not a solution to the original question.

Actually it is. You could unlock the door, when outside, from a wheelchair. Others could do likewise, using their smart phones to get in..

 

[sussexwoman]

Actually it is. You could unlock the door, when outside, from a wheelchair. Others could do likewise, using their smart phones to get in..

I'm actually trying to move away from depending on smartphones, expecially for anything important. A few weeks ago the entire network went down for three days. On top of that, batteries can go flat, phones can be dropped and smashed, lost or left in a cafe or a friend's house miles away. So I definitely do not want my ability to get inside my own home to become dependent on having a working smartphone which must be connected to the internet.

 

[JohnD]

What worries me about the keypad lock is that I never see any, anywhere. I specifically looked when I was out today and I didn't see a single one. Why is this? Are they not safe? Can strangers get in? Do they get jammed? What is it about them that I don't know?

They are not at all secure and can be tricked open with little skill.

If you are in a wheelchair you can have a British Standard nightlatch fitted at low level so you can reach it from inside and out.

The BS means it is stronger and more secure than the simple "yale" type. You do not have to have registered key design. You will notice the outside "keyhole" is larger and thicker than usual, this is because it is armoured. You will spot them if you know what to look for.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I'm actually trying to move away from depending on smartphones, expecially for anything important. A few weeks ago the entire network went down for three days. On top of that, batteries can go flat, phones can be dropped and smashed, lost or left in a cafe or a friend's house miles away. So I definitely do not want my ability to get inside my own home to become dependent on having a working smartphone which must be connected to the internet.

OK. In which case you are very limited then, to entirely mechanical locks. Maybe something like this - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/37491604...jQEXkO8B7G8Hm+/TFWLabYjulI9Y|tkp:BFBMwLndtqpl

They are not that secure, a matter of pressing only the right buttons, out of 13 possible, and in any order, so long as they are the correct ones. Press a wrong button, and it stays locked. Choice of unlock buttons, is between 1 and 13. 13 would mean pressing all of the buttons.

I use one, on my garage/workshop, people entry door, which is in my back garden. They work similarly to a Yale, night latch, and was what I had on the door. I was forever going out to the garage, forgetting the key back in the house, and so fitted the keyless lock.

 

[justigator]

Get a key safe fitted

https://www.screwfix.com/p/master-lock-water-resistant-combination-8-key-safe/93263

But not one of those or any other brand that looks like it! They are dead easy to break into - YouTube will show you how easy.

In fact I'd like a good keysafe for my house but haven't been able to find one yet, only variations on the above.

 

[JohnD]

I have a keysafe, but it is hidden in my shed, screwed to a strong post but with something in front of it.

So a casual visitor will not see it, but I can get to it if I am locked out.