Smart Locks to help dumb husband?

So, as those who know me well/have known me for a while are quite aware, I'm quite scatterbrained. Call it light ADD, flat airheadedness, or any other name, but I can put my safety glasses up on my head and a minute later forget they're there and spend 15 minutes looking for them.

One of the things that I consistently have a problem with is remembering to lock the side/driveway door of our house. It's not wholly surprising I suppose- much of the time when I go out that door it should be left unlocked as it's how I get out to the garage and I'm frequently going back and forth (and don't always have my keys with me), so if I've been going in and out working on things and then head out to grab something from the parts store that I need, I won't think about whether the door is locked or not.

The problem is, this REALLY bothers my wife. It literally terrifies her to wake up (I'm frequently out of the house an hour or more before she gets up) and find that the house is unlocked and (quoting her) "Anyone could just walk in and rape and murder me!". It infuriates her that I can't just remember to lock the door and is one of the few things we ever fight about. To me, it's an irrational fear- we live in a rather safe neighborhood, we have a very large and intimidating looking-and-sounding dog who sleeps in the bedroom with us, and said door is behind a 6-foot-high wood fence that encloses our yard with a gate that I DO remember to lock when I go out of it- but admittedly with a few irrational fears of my own I don't really have room to talk, and it's very real to her.

Anyway- stupid amount of backstory aside-  I want to figure out a way to keep this from happening from here on out. I'm planning on putting up a laminated sign on the gate to remind me, but I'm also a big fan of technology to help solve problems. I saw a neat Kickstarter for a smart key device that would track whether you'd locked or unlocked a door last- but the problem with that is said door has a deadbolt and knob lock which turn both ways- so the key would think that I had locked and then unlocked (or vice versa) the door and nothing had changed.

So, the next thing would be replacing at least one of the locks (likely the deadbolt) with a Smart Lock that can be either checked and locked remotely and/or will automatically lock the door behind me after a short interval (and possibly also have some way to get back in without requiring a key, like a keypad or fingerprint sensor, for when I'm going back and forth and may not have the keys).

Has anyone had any experience with these and have any recommendations to help me out? Thanks!

How about a keypad lock.  Something like this, set to always lock, but if you know the code you will never be locked out.  

I put Schlage ones on my garage and house, they are awesome, no forgetting the keys, and it locks automatically after 30 seconds. Slightly annoying when going in and out all the time or if you leave the door open and slam it on the deadbolt, but a little brain re-training and your good to go.

The right way to do it is not to keep fighting it, but to remove the problem. For example: My wife sometimes forgets to bring her key when she leaves the house. Solution: We now have a key box with a code lock, hidden on one of the outside walls of our house. 

A. Update door/lock so it is always locked.

B. Make sure you can get your ADD ass back inside at all times.

I have one of those keypad locks on our front door.  It worked awesome for a while, very handy since you could just press the lock button when you left and you could still use a key if needed and setting codes for friends and family was nice.  You could even lock or unlock it remotely if you needed to.

It was connected to our alarm system so it could set the alarm automatically and send us notifications when it was locked or unlocked.

It runs off 4 AA batteries and for the first year or so it was great.  It didn't even use a lot of batteries.  Then something changed and it started chewing through batteries in a single day.  Schlage's support FAQ indicated that the solution was a replacement lock (I suspect the cheapy little motor is shorted across the diodes, but you have to dig pretty far into it to dig it out), so that's $100 down the drain.

Right now I'm working on replacing the motor and rigging up a solar charging solution using a set of Li-Ion batteries as I'm willing to spend $100 in parts to fix a design flaw rather than throw money at the same product with a similar eventual outcome.

For a door that is used less often or perhaps not subjected to the high heat and abuse that our front door sees it may be a longer lasting solution without hacking.

I'd likely only need to replace/augment* the deadbolt on the side door in question. I've considered a keypad solution and that may be a way to go with it, but I really like the idea (and I imagine she will as well) of being able to check the lock status and lock it remotely with our phones.

Having done some checking around, this (August Smart Lock Pro) is my current favorite option. Just replaces the inside of the deadbolt and keeps the standard key on the outside, works with Apple's HomeKit so integrates with our horde of iPhones/Touches nicely, can be set to auto-lock after an interval, and can even be unlocked/locked with my ubiquitous AppleWatch in theory even without having my phone (though if I'm wearing the watch and not actually carrying the phone, the phone is likely in bluetooth range just inside the door). Downside is it's a bit pricey- but it's not a price outside of what I'm willing to pay to solve this...

Here's a general ranty question on the subject:

We have had keyless entry on our cars for well over 25 years, and even button less entry (just grab the handle and it unlocks before you can pull) for like 5.

Why in the world do we all still fumble around with 150 (200? 300?) year old key technology on our house doors?

Realistically, you can explain to your wife that the lock currently on the door is nothing but a formality to any intruder who actually wanted to get in. Anybody can learn to pick standard door locks in 15 seconds or less.

Actually, maybe don't try that.

In reply to Robbie :

Yeah, I've pointed out that the door in question is mostly glass and that if someone REALLY wanted to get into the house that the locks on the door would not be any real impediment to doing so, and that anyone not deterred by getting past the locked gate/over the 6' fence would find a way in regardless. Unsurprisingly didn't change much. I don't worry too much because A) fairly safe neighborhood, B) tall fence, C) large imposing dog, and D) monitored alarm system on the house (though on the whole I don't enable it when I leave in the morning).

Skip the whamodyne internet homeowner jobby and go straight to the industrial stuff that costs 1/4 as much and that everyone uses.

RFID, keypad, or regular lock

The problem is remembering to lock the door, small thing to notice or remember.  When you go out, PROP THE DOOR OPEN. When you leave, you will notice an open door! 

Modern “smart” locks can also be programmed  to automatically lock after a delay. 

Robbie said:

Realistically, you can explain to your wife that the lock currently on the door is nothing but a formality to any intruder who actually wanted to get in. Anybody can learn to pick standard door locks in 15 seconds or less.

 

And smart locks can be hacked pretty easily in some cases

Robbie said:

Here's a general ranty question on the subject:

We have had keyless entry on our cars for well over 25 years, and even button less entry (just grab the handle and it unlocks before you can pull) for like 5.

Why in the world do we all still fumble around with 150 (200? 300?) year old key technology on our house doors?

Realistically, you can explain to your wife that the lock currently on the door is nothing but a formality to any intruder who actually wanted to get in. Anybody can learn to pick standard door locks in 15 seconds or less.

Actually, maybe don't try that.

Yeah unless you have some kind of steel reinforced door even without lock picks someone who's mind is set on rape or murder isn't going to be stopped period. My wife has the same fear and both of our putter doors open onto porches that have inner doors. At night she locks all 4 doors, I often leave them unlocked for days at a time on the night's she works

Well, to play devil's advocate...most of us men aren't really worried about being raped and probably don't understand a woman's perspective on that issue.  I would imagine that is one of the worst ways a woman could be violated and is probably a deep seated fear for most females so some attempts to help ease those fears are definitely worth the probably small effort required.  Logic is probably best left out of any conversations because any additional security shortfalls you point out in your logical discussion will just create more opportunities for fear to creep in...and potentially more issues to resolve.

So I would recommend buying a decent quality lock with features that will make SWMBO more comfortable and figure out how to deal with whatever inconvenience it causes you because "Happy Wife = Happy Life".  :)

In reply to Ashyukun (Robert) :

Your issue has nothing to do with security. Your issue has to do with communication. 

Whether you realize it or not, you are communicating to your wife that you do not love her or care enough about her physical safety to be willing to have a minor inconvenience. You are not creating a safe place for her. 

Don’t fool yourself into believing this is a minor bad habit on your part and that she is being unreasonable. This is a big issue, and you need to deal with it. 

I know you are dealing with it, but make sure you communicate to her how important it is. 

In reply to SVreX :

I don't think she's being unreasonable- while I don't share her view of the security of the situation, I do understand that it's very important to her and have been doing better. But unfortunately my short-term memory is very flaky and I'm trying to find ways to counteract that.

For now, I've put a sign up on the gate to remind me to at least check the locks when I'm leaving via it (which is essentially all the times that it happens), and she doesn't want me spending the money on a technological solution until seeing how well the low-tech solution works.

In reply to Ashyukun (Robert) :

Excellent. 

We had those keypad locks at the last house, and set it to automatically lock after 5 minutes for the lower garage door that we always forgot about.  It made the wife happy and it worked well for the 5 years we lived there.  I forget the brand but we bought 'em at Lowes.  Cost around $120 I think?

I have 2 of those keypad locks previously pictured on my house. Everyone in the family loves them. They can be programmed with 19 different codes, and are easy to reprogram. We have AirBnB guests, and I reprogram them for every guest.  About $125, IIRC. 

My daughter uses smarter ones to manage multiple AirBnB spaces. They can be programmed through her smartphone, send her notifications when anyone enters/ leaves, and allow her to lock/ unlock remotely for the plumber, etc. She loves them, but they are about $300 ea. 

John Welsh said:

How about a keypad lock.  Something like this, set to always lock, but if you know the code you will never be locked out.  

 

I have this exact keypad lock and I love it.  There is a knob inside that sets default to open or locked.  When you have it defaulted to open, its just that; both inside and outside levers will actuate the latch.  When you set it to lock default, the inside stays connected to the latch but the outside handle is disconnected.  Then when you enter the correct code, it connects the outside handle to the latch for 10 seconds allowing you to enter, then it automatically goes back to lock.

So far, battery life (9v) has been great.  It has been in for 1.5 years and shows no signs of slowing down.  I haven't used my house key for a year and a half

Another nice thing is that you can program up to four codes for different users.  That way you don't have to change your code in case you want to give temporary access to a friend or dogsitter or something.  I did that when I was having some basement work done.  I couldn't be there but I hadn't moved in yet (nothing to steal).  I just programed in a temporary code for the contractor and deleted it later.

I currently have a code programed for the dogsitter as well.

Easy to install, not dreadfully expensive, ticks the boxes.

In reply to Curtis :

That’s the same lock I have, but I can input 19 different codes. 

In reply to SVreX :

Maybe I'm misremembering.  Maybe I can too, but I only ever had three at one time.