Trying Out An Electronic Lock

Do you have an electronic lock on any of the doors in your home?

If so, do you have strong feelings about it either good or bad?

We just got our first electronic lock and I must admit, it’s kind of handy!

The first thing anyone in the real estate field will tell you to do when you buy a new house is to change the locks! You don’t know how many keys for your house are floating around out there and who is in possession of them.

Sound advice, don’t you think?

Do we heed sound advice? Of course!

Except in one peculiar instance.

I shouldn’t even mention this out loud, but we did not have a key for our Carriage House.

The whole time we’ve owned the Carriage House it has been unlocked.

I’m guessing that building has been unlocked for at least thirty years.

It really wasn’t a building that anyone would want to break into since it looked…how do I say this nicely? Dilapidated? A death trap? Unworthy of holding anything valuable?

It also was difficult to get into because you had to turn the door handle hard and give the door a little hip check as well. Even if anyone did get into it, there truly wasn’t anything of value inside.

But back in those days when we had guests staying over, I can understand their need to want to lock up the possessions they traveled with. Being the considerate hosts that we are we just said, “It’s fine. Don’t worry about it. New Jersey is totally safe.”

But now they truly don’t have to worry about it because we have an electronic lock on the Carriage House.

And a door that works although ask me again in the hot, humid summer without having to hip check it.

Only the best for our guests.

We wanted an electronic lock for the sake of convenience, since we primarily use the Carriage House for guests. We didn’t want to worry about keeping track of guest keys.

If we ever want to use this space as an AirBnb, we can change the passcode for each guest. We can give contractors a different passcode. It feels convenient and secure. 

Now, if the battery ever runs out on this lock, it does have a manual key. However, we should have plenty of warning in time to change the battery. 

The electronic lock wasn’t any harder to install than a regular door lock. We used the existing holes in the door, so that was a breeze. We did have some old house problems when it came to the strike plate on the door jamb, but you aren’t going to have quirky old house issues like we do. Count your blessings, people! 

While I am holding the electronic lock in place in the above photo, I only had to do that because our door is a metal door and a bit thicker than the screws Schlage provides to hold the lock in place while you are assembling it. With most doors, one person should be able to install it. 

From the inside of the door, the electronic lock looks like a normal door handle with a deadbolt, which I like. 

Functionally, we’ve had the electronic lock in place for a couple of months now and are completely happy with our choice to go the electronic route for this particular door. 

The big question is will we add electronic locks to all of our exterior doors? Hmm…

I’m not completely sold on the look of an electronic lock for the front door of our main house. That’s less about the keypad and more about the lack of style selection at the given moment. If we lived in a more modern house this would be less of an issue for me.

However, I am okay with the look of an electronic lock for the back door and garage door, so don’t be surprised if we add them there.

Do you think you’ll ever add an electronic lock to your home? 

We installed this Schlage lock. It was around $100. For products with an electronic component, especially those involving our safety, we feel more comfortable using established brands rather than knockoffs.

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We’ve been learning a lot about doors and door hardware since buying the Colonial Farmhouse. This old house has been teaching us so many things! Here are some other posts related to this topic.

All About Rim Locks

Painted Black Doors of the Colonial Farmhouse

Removing a Dog Door and Fixing the Damage