Technology finally saved my butt...

[Sigarms]

VERY long story short (with multiple cars, keys and 2 -15 year olds and my 88 year old father), locked out of the house going to our dinner reservation.

I had to use my boys phone outside of the house in the driveway (I left mine in the house as I didn't think I'd need it) to call my wife who is in Charleston for the week.

She was able to use the App on her phone to open the garage door in South Carolina, got back into the house and was able to take another car.

I'm not one for home automation via using your phone (actually don't care for it at all), but I do have to say it was nice that my wife was able to open the garage door out of state.

Got the new garage door installed a couple of years ago and did download the app because it's nice to go for a walk with the phone and not have to carry house keys (which are with the car keys). With multiple cars (sore point with my wife), she had the one garage door opener on her car in SC and my father had one in his car locked in the garage.

 

[psvfd]

VERY long story short (with multiple cars, keys and 2 -15 year olds and my 88 year old father), locked out of the house going to our dinner reservation.

I had to use my boys phone outside of the house in the driveway (I left mine in the house as I didn't think I'd need it) to call my wife who is in Charleston for the week.

She was able to use the App on her phone to open the garage door in South Carolina, got back into the house and was able to take another car.

I'm not one for home automation via using your phone (actually don't care for it at all), but I do have to say it was nice that my wife was able to open the garage door out of state.

Got the new garage door installed a couple of years ago and did download the app because it's nice to go for a walk with the phone and not have to carry house keys (which are with the car keys). With multiple cars (sore point with my wife), she had the one garage door opener on her car in SC and my father had one in his car locked in the garage.

That is why I have an opener on the outside of the garage and a set of house keys in there. No internet app needed.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Liftmast...MIv-zn6MCI6AIVApyzCh2O6AIQEAQYAiABEgLC__D_BwE

 

[old and tired]

That's why I have hid-a-keys... I would be too worried that someone in India could also open my garage

 

[Bocephous]

Would the garage door have opened if there had been a power outage? I keep a house key hidden outside for such times.

 

[Jchonline]

Hide a key and have a garage door keypad.
The last thing I would trust is the internet and an app.

 

[fried1765]

Hide a key and have a garage door keypad.
The last thing I would trust is the internet and an app.

^^^^^^AGREED!!!

 

[Jstpssng]

That sounds like a good ending to an oh-**** moment. The last time that I hid a key I found a place where nobody would think to look. That was in 1995 and I still don’t know where I put it.

 

[ericm979]

Hide a key and have a garage door keypad.
The last thing I would trust is the internet and an app.

I design data security products for businesses. It turns out that many of those apps and their back end servers have poor security because the product managers did not want to put in the effort. I avoid internet connected things.

The older pre-rolling code remote opener protocols like some garage door openers use are not that great either. The difference is that an attacker has to be at your house in front of the garage door to execute an attack on the opener while an internet connected thing can be attacked from anywhere.

 

[Code54]

A lot of the new openers have battery backup. I find it a great feature - my shop does not have a backup generator but since the garage door opener does have the battery it still lets me get the truck in and out if the power is down for a bit. If I recall at the time then I bought the opener, it was about 10 bucks more for the one with the battery and it has been working great for 4-5 years now.

 

[EddieWalker]

I made the mistake of telling my wife where the key was hidden. One day she locked herself out and used the key. And then one day I locked myself out and the key wasn't there anymore. She doesn't remember what she did with it after using it.

If you are relying on a hidden key and you live with others, be sure to have TWO hidden keys. One for you and one for them to lose.

 

[Sigarms]

Hide a key and have a garage door keypad.
The last thing I would trust is the internet and an app.

If you would of read and comprehended what I written, I happen to agree with you.

I can still triangulate using a compass and topo map, let alone still be able to read a road map. That does not mean that I don't use my phone for GPS when needed when driving.

 

[Sigarms]

I made the mistake of telling my wife where the key was hidden. One day she locked herself out and used the key. And then one day I locked myself out and the key wasn't there anymore. She doesn't remember what she did with it after using it.

If you are relying on a hidden key and you live with others, be sure to have TWO hidden keys. One for you and one for them to lose.

Good idea Eddie.

I mentioned it was a VERY long story...

We both have one spare key hidden, but without going into the circumstances, it just so happens that we needed to find another location (after 15 years in one spot), and my wife brought that spare key indoors the week before she left (that's when I knew I was in doo doo when the key wasn't where it was supposed to be at and I remembered why). In 15 years living here, we only had to use that spare key 2 times. added the fact that in original location, it was kind of a pain in the butt to to get it, and then put it back. Ironic that this happened one week after we brought the spare key indoors and my wife wasn't home.

The whole situation revolved around a bunch of variables coming together that if one variable would of not happened, never would of been locked out in the first place.

When my wife and I go for a walk during the week, someone is generally always home, when both my wife and myself aren't home away from the house, the rule is if no one is outside, ALL the doors to the house remained locked (even living down a long driveway where you can't see the house from the road).

 

[MossRoad]

Last time we locked ourselves out of our house, I used a special set of skills developed in my youth to get back inside.

 

[k0ua]

Last time we locked ourselves out of our house, I used a special set of skills developed in my (misspent) youth to get back inside.

There, fixed if for ya.

 

[Steppenwolfe]

Last time we locked ourselves out of our house, I used a special set of skills developed in my youth to get back inside.

Yep... I've creeped through a few windows myself... :shocked:

 

[Sigarms]

You guys make me laugh (in a fun way)...

When I got locked out last night, first thing that went through my head is OK, how am I going to bust in? (in my younger years, I knew how to use a screwdriver, tree felling wedge, hammer and some flat sheet metal if by myself, but I wasn't going to bring that up in my original post :laughing: ). The added reality is it seems like houses made today are better made than 50 years ago per window construction, and I'm not a professional burglar, so the only option I saw was a forced entry, which, depending on the damage I could of caused, could of cost more than calling out a professional locksmith.

Lucky for me, my father has never brought up around out dinner table around my boys on how I use to break into his old house when I got locked out.

Ultimatley I'm not a fan of mobile apps for home use, but in this one instance, it really did help.

 

[Sigarms]

That's why I have hid-a-keys... I would be too worried that someone in India could also open my garage

In general, not to worried about only the garage door being able to be opened by someone else. Still more to go through after than if you're at that point of opening the garage door, you're still at forced entry in which case you would could of just bypassed the garage door all together and go to the front door.

 

[fried1765]

In general, not to worried about only the garage door being able to be opened by someone else. Still more to go through after than if you're at that point of opening the garage door, you're still at forced entry in which case you would could of just bypassed the garage door all together and go to the front door.

I still live in the house I grew up in.
For 80 years....unless leaving town for days, doors are never locked.

 

[Sigarms]

I still live in the house I grew up in.
For 80 years....unless leaving town for days, doors are never locked.

That's great.

As long as I've been alive, I've never had a house I lived in broken into. However, I will always lock the doors to my house when I leave the house to drive somewhere (no different than when I lived in a trailer in West Virginia or worked in DC).

Likewise, in 30 years as a civilian, I've never had to use a gun to protect my life, but in most cases I will always carry a firearm (legally of course).

That siad, for the last 15 years living where we are at now, I NEVER locked my car doors around the house as I don't leave anything valuable in them. So, if you were to open my wifes car and open the garage door to try and steel anything in our garage, generally speaking, it probably won't be worth your time

When my wife and I go for a walk late in the say, our boys (and my father) know the code to retrieve the shotguns on each floor. Old saying is "better safe than sorry".

I would probaly trust YOU, but I don't trust every living two legged creature out there no matter where I lived.

 

[aczlan]

I made the mistake of telling my wife where the key was hidden. One day she locked herself out and used the key. And then one day I locked myself out and the key wasn't there anymore. She doesn't remember what she did with it after using it.

If you are relying on a hidden key and you live with others, be sure to have TWO hidden keys. One for you and one for them to lose.

A guy at work had a problem with locking himself out (something about how the door hit the wall would make it lock), so he changed his lock set out for one of the ones with a keypad on it and now he just uses that.

Aaron Z