Let's talk doors

[popcorn]

Before moving to Spain I had never lived somewhere (or even seen in a home) where the door could not be unlocked from the inside without keys. Know what I'm saying? If you want to get out and the door is locked, if you don't have your keys you're locked IN your house.

I hate this evil door (we have one in this new apartment too) and try to always leave my keys in the door (inside) so I don't lose them. However, once, a couple years ago in Madrid I couldn't find my keys so I took DH's and, as usual, locked the door behind me. Well, turned out I then had both sets of keys in my purse and had locked DH in.

I live in fear of this happening again! Anyway, how are your doors? Have you even seen/had the kind of door I'm talking about?

[Cheesecake]

In our old house my set of keys for some reason didn't work from the inside, all others did, so I've been locked in here.
All houses I've lived in needed a key on the inside if locked from the outside, I've never trusted locks where that isn't the case. I've always had spare keys for guests though, so in the event that I would ever for some reason send my own keys with someone and the door gets locked, I'll jsut grab the spare keys.

So my advice is very very simple. Have a spare key made, store that somewhere in the house, only use it if you want to lend someone a spare key, or when you're locked in. We have 3 sets of spares I think in this house.

[Deleted]

OMG it's like that in Italy too! You just made me think of something that was buried in my memory! Isn't it weird that way?

And Yep here in NYC the door locks from the inside WITHOUT keys
The windows on the other hand are a ridiculous pain to open. They only slide so much which means that more than half of the window can never be opened. WTH?

[anna7602]

This is how our door is in France. (And how I think my door was in Madrid billions of years ago.) I don't lock the door behind me if someone is home- DH or guests. I don't want to inadvertently lock anyone in.

The bigger fear for me is that the door automatically semi-locks behind me. So, I have to "lock" it to make sure the deadbolt is on, but even if I don't "lock" it, I can't open the door again from the outside without my key. Does that make any sense? So far, I have only ever once pulled the door shut behind me without having a key on me, and luckily, friends were visiting and were in close vecinity to my house when I realized I couldn't get back in on my own. But, I am terrified of locking myself out on a regular day. I was especially afraid it would happen last weekend when DD and DH were away. There would have been no one at all in Paris to let me in!

[anna7602]

Jun 1, 2012 7:18:20 GMT -5 @jewels6711 said:

The windows on the other hand are a ridiculous pain to open. They only slide so much which means that more than half of the window can never be opened. WTH?

This is the case with our windows in NY. It's because the wood swells around the windows, or something like that. My super explained it to me once, but what I really wanted him to do was just open the window nice and wide!

It's a nice change in Paris to have windows that open like doors, instead of sliding up and down.

[swissmama]

Yes we have those doors too. And if the keys are in one side of the door (for example, leaving the keys in the lock on the inside so you don't lose them), you can't unlock it from the other side. I have to remember to pull the key out of the lock slightly so that DH can get in when he comes home.

One time DH was in a hurry in the morning, and locked the door from the outside, but for some unknown reason forgot to take the keys with him and left them in the door. When I tried to leave later I couldn't unlock the door to get out. I called DH and he had to come home from work to get the keys and let me out.

I have thought about how awful it would be if the door was locked and I lost my keys and there was a fire. Luckily we live on the first floor, but it still makes me nervous. (I am known to be paranoid about things that aren't likely to happen, though.)

[popcorn]

Jun 1, 2012 7:20:23 GMT -5 anna7602 said:

This is how our door is in France. (And how I think my door was in Madrid billions of years ago.) I don't lock the door behind me if someone is home- DH or guests. I don't want to inadvertently lock anyone in.

The bigger fear for me is that the door automatically semi-locks behind me. So, I have to "lock" it to make sure the deadbolt is on, but even if I don't "lock" it, I can't open the door again from the outside without my key. Does that make any sense? So far, I have only ever once pulled the door shut behind me without having a key on me, and luckily, friends were visiting and were in close vecinity to my house when I realized I couldn't get back in on my own. But, I am terrified of locking myself out on a regular day. I was especially afraid it would happen last weekend when DD and DH were away. There would have been no one at all in Paris to let me in!

I know exactly what you're saying! No doorknobs on the outside, so if you forget your keys your SOL. That's another reason I leave the keys in the door and the door locked on the inside -- so when I leave I remember to take my keys!

[popcorn]

Jun 1, 2012 7:25:14 GMT -5 swissmama said:

I have thought about how awful it would be if the door was locked and I lost my keys and there was a fire. Luckily we live on the first floor, but it still makes me nervous. (I am known to be paranoid about things that aren't likely to happen, though.)

I also think about this AND, because I am paranoid, what if someone breaks in, takes the keys out of the door from the inside where I left them and then I can't escape?!?!

I watch too many crime shows I think.

[Cheesecake]

Jun 1, 2012 7:51:19 GMT -5 popcorn said:

Jun 1, 2012 7:25:14 GMT -5 swissmama said:

I have thought about how awful it would be if the door was locked and I lost my keys and there was a fire. Luckily we live on the first floor, but it still makes me nervous. (I am known to be paranoid about things that aren't likely to happen, though.)

I also think about this AND, because I am paranoid, what if someone breaks in, takes the keys out of the door from the inside where I left them and then I can't escape?!?!

I watch too many crime shows I think.

And break-ins are exactly the reason I don't trust doors that don't do this. Burglars could just throw in a window and turn the knob from the inside and be in, even though you locked it from the outside when you left. That scares the crap out of me.

I have a sliding lock (no idea what it's actually called) which I can close from the inside so I don't actually lock the door with the key when I go to sleep. If someone would throw in a window when I'm in the house, it's harder to unlock that, plus I'd hear the glass breaking. From the inside it's pretty easy to slide open though. Makes me feel so much safer.

Thing is, I've been used to this since I was a little kid and I've only once forgotten my keys inside when I went outside (I was super excited about getting the call that my BFF had her baby, so I ran out to go buy her a gift to send and promptly realized both my keys and my bank card were still inside. Oops!) , and as said, DH locked me in once, but that was when we didn't know my key didn't work.

[allibally]

Jun 1, 2012 7:25:14 GMT -5 swissmama said:

Yes we have those doors too. And if the keys are in one side of the door (for example, leaving the keys in the lock on the inside so you don't lose them), you can't unlock it from the other side. I have to remember to pull the key out of the lock slightly so that DH can get in when he comes home.

This was how are door was in Zurich. Whenever I came inside I would immediately put my key in the door. That way in an emergency I could get out. But I always tried to take it out about a half hour before DH got home. Then stick his keys in the lock inside. I was always most worried about waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to find keys to get out. :/

[popcorn]

Jun 1, 2012 8:13:00 GMT -5 Cheesecake said:

Jun 1, 2012 7:51:19 GMT -5 popcorn said:

I also think about this AND, because I am paranoid, what if someone breaks in, takes the keys out of the door from the inside where I left them and then I can't escape?!?!

I watch too many crime shows I think.

And break-ins are exactly the reason I don't trust doors that don't do this. Burglars could just throw in a window and turn the knob from the inside and be in, even though you locked it from the outside when you left. That scares the crap out of me.

I have a sliding lock (no idea what it's actually called) which I can close from the inside so I don't actually lock the door with the key when I go to sleep. If someone would throw in a window when I'm in the house, it's harder to unlock that, plus I'd hear the glass breaking. From the inside it's pretty easy to slide open though. Makes me feel so much safer.

.

There's no window next to my door so that's not an issue. The only way a burglar could get in if the door is locked is through a window (unlikely as we are on a second storey) or picking the lock. I can see why the kind of door I have is good in a house where you may have windows on or next to the door, but in an apartment building where you don't have that issue I want to be able to get out without keys if need be!

[Deleted]

I haven't read the other reactions to this email but in the NL our doors were like that also. We had a front door with a mailbox slot in it so I would NEVER EVER leave my keys in the door lock or in our little mud room because thieves would take a hanger, go through the mailbox slot, and unlock your door with the key and steal all your stuff. We lived in a courtyard neighborhood (meaning the only way you would be able to get into our backyard was from out apartment and all the other apartments made an enclosed rectangle. Thieves would go in one person's apartment with the key trick, then go through all the other apartments via the courtyard area and use the same apartment to leave from so we were very conscious about keeping all of our doors locked at all times. We had our keys hung on a hook in our front hallway but they were not easy visable if you didn't know where we had them hung (so that if the thieves did break in through the courtyard they wouldn't be able to use our keys to get out of our apartment.

We had an extra set of keys stashed in a drawer and marked them with the words "Office Keys" in Dutch hoping that would outsmart a stupid thief

We didn't really have that much to steal but I was terrified of being home alone late at night and having someone in my apartment.

I would hear the mailbox slot open pop open a lot late at night and call the police. It was crazy how many thieves would boldly just walk up and down our streets. We were also on the ground floor so we probably had more access than someone higher up.

But luckily in amsterdam the only thing we ever had stolen about 4 times were our bikes!!! I wouldn't lock my bike to a rack in front of my apartment, just to itself and lean it again the wall. The police said that guys in trucks would just drive down the street looking for bikes like that and toss them in the back then take them somewhere and cut the lock then sell the bike.

My super awesome bakfiets had 4 locks and I ALWAYS tied it to something. Plus I brought a club type back from the US and used that on in. People would stare me up and down when I was locking it up but I loved it more than anything and didn't want to lose it

[oneslybookworm]

My dorm room in university had doors that only locked from outside and you were locked in without keys. It was a giant PITA! Here, the doors are the same...you can only lock from inside with a key...not cool. I get locked out quite often...sigh, the building manager hates me.

[popcorn]

Jun 1, 2012 9:45:09 GMT -5 @heyyall said:

I haven't read the other reactions to this email but in the NL our doors were like that also. We had a front door with a mailbox slot in it so I would NEVER EVER leave my keys in the door lock or in our little mud room because thieves would take a hanger, go through the mailbox slot, and unlock your door with the key and steal all your stuff.

We didn't really have that much to steal but I was terrified of being home alone late at night and having someone in my apartment.

I would hear the mailbox slot open pop open a lot late at night and call the police.

)

That settles it, I'm never moving there! Holy cow, that would scare the shit out of me -- hearing the mailbox slot open at night! I would probably tape it every night because (see above) I am paranoid enough already.

To clear things up we don't have a milbox slot OR windows on or near our door. It's just a solid door in a solid wall.

[Cheesecake]

Ahhh, this post now makes me miss the good old days where we didn't have to be afraid of burglars and my mom hung a little rope out the mailbox which we (well, anyone) could pull so we could open the semi-locked door from outside. Everyone did that when I was a kid 'because it would suck to have to keep answering the door all the time, and no-one but your kids and close friends will use it anyway".

Regarding the mailbox slot, every DIY store sells 'mailslot backs', which you attach to the door on the back of the slot, which will let mail through and fall into a bag or box or so, but trying to put a hanger through there to open the door/steal keys would be impossible. Since I have a window next to my door that won't do anything for us, but that's what a lot of people do to secure their mailbox.

[anna7602]

I don't have a mailbox in France! Our concierge just slides any mail that arrives for me under my door.

It has actually greatly improved the quality of my life to not have to go through a pound of junk mail every day. And now I can be extra happy I don't have to worry about someone stealing my house key through the mail slot!

[NomadicMama]

My fear is that I will lock myself out with LO inside. Our landlords are just around the corner, but they work, so of its during the day, I'm SOL. I am going to get a couple of sets of keys made. One that is tucked somewhere inside, one for a good friend and one last one just for peace of mind.

I do like that I can "super lock" the door and LO can not let himself out. It took me over a week to figure that out.

[bugabean]

I have never in my life seen a door like y'all are talking about. The deadbolt needs a key on either side, but the normal lock doesn't. And EVERYONE I know just leaves the key in the deadbolt 24/7.

The think I don't like about our door is that it locks every time it closes. I like having to consciously lock it with keys, which forces me to have my keys when I go.

We have a mail slot (although it isn't used for mail anymore) and it has a little awning over it to keep nefarious activities at bay.

[aMrsin09]

I'm trying to think of what we had in France. I know the deadbolt was a key on the inside, key on the outside.
I also know we never had to lock the door from the inside so I'm thinking it was one of those that was always locked and you just turn the knob to get out, but needed a key to get back in.