Exterior Entry Doors Keyed Alike?

last year

Our builder asked us if we wanted all the exterior doors keyed alike. Said many or most preferred different keys for certain doors... ?

We have a) front door, b) back patio door, c) attached garage entry door and d) detached workshop/garage.

We will rarely use the front door and will rarely lock the attached garage entry door. The only lock we'll likely use much w/ a key from outside is the detached workshop. No kids - just the 2 of us. Generally prefer to carry fewer keys.

I can't figure a use case for having anything keyed differently. Am I missing or not thinking of a use case?

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Comments (7)

PRO
Mark Bischak, Architect
last year
You can use as many keys as you want to get into your house, the thief will use a rock.
Mrs. S
last year
I would have them all keyed the same.

Many people where I live have number pads or fingerprint-recognition or otherwise "smart" locks on at least their front door, where they can allow a worker or other person to enter the home when the homeowner isn't there. But most would still have a way to open the house with a key, if the battery in the lock device failed, or whatnot.

With just one family in a single family house, I can't think of a great reason to have different keys for different entrances, but in any event, it's inexpensive to have one lock re-keyed in the future.
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sushipup2
last year
I'd probably have the detached workshop keyed differently, but same for the house entries.
chispa
last year
One reason to have one lock keyed differently would be if you use a dog walker or house sitter.
Mrs. S
last year
last modified: last year
Respectfully chispa, how does having a differently-keyed-lock make sense with a house sitter/dog walker? You are giving the person a key to your house: so either you trust them or you don't, but why have a different key for that person, and you are allowing them to enter through one door but not the other ones? Furthermore, you are consigning yourself to having 2 keys on your keychain, instead of one.
lharpie
last year
Makes no sense to me. we rekeyed everything to be the same. we do have a touchpad lock on a side door that we can use different codes for different people (ie use temporarily). i’d go that route if your concerned about giving key out.
chispa
last year
Mrs. S, because, if needed, you can block them from your house by re-keying just one lock and not every lock in the house. Plenty of people can become untrustworthy for a number of reasons. If you use a secondary door, then no need for the owner to carry that key every day.

In our previous house we had 5 doors. The side garage door was keyed differently. We never carried that key, since we could use 4 other doors. If we needed a dog walker we would have given them the key to that side garage door.

Of course, you can also allow or block access with an alarm system and giving them a guest code that you can block at any time.

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Comments (7)

Mark Bischak, Architect

Mrs. S

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