Spare Key Storage In Kenner — Where To Keep It
A spare key under the mat or in a fake rock is the single worst thing you can do for your security — burglars check those spots first and it takes them seconds. A wall-mounted key safe with a changeable code, bolted into masonry rather than siding, is the sensible version. So is leaving a spare with a neighbour and nothing at all outside.
Everyone has a system. Under the mat. On the ledge above the door. Inside the grill. In the fake rock that looks like every other fake rock ever sold.
The problem with all of them is that they are the same handful of places, and the person you are worried about knows the list better than you do.
Where people actually hide keys
| Hiding place | How long it takes to find | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Under the doormat | Seconds | No |
| Fake rock | Seconds — they look wrong | No |
| Above the door frame | Seconds | No |
| Under a plant pot | Under a minute | No |
| In the meter box | Under a minute | No |
| Magnetic box under the car | Longer, but it is a known trick | Not really |
| Coded key safe bolted to masonry | It is not a hiding place | Yes |
| With a neighbour | Nothing outside to find | Best |
Key safes: which ones are worth it
A key safe is not the same as a lockbox estate agents hang on a door handle. Those are convenience devices and most can be defeated quickly.
What you want is a wall-mounted unit with a changeable code, and the mounting matters more than the box:
- Bolt it into brick or masonry, not vinyl siding or timber trim. A box mounted in siding comes off with a pry bar and takes the wall with it.
- Put it somewhere not visible from the street. Side wall or round the back. Its value is that nobody knows it exists.
- Change the code after anyone stops needing it — a cleaner, a contractor, an ex-tenant.
- Do not use 1234, your house number, or the year. House number is the one people genuinely use, on the box mounted next to the house number.
The Kenner problem with key safes
Salt air off the lake gets into the mechanism, and cheap key safes seize. We have opened plenty that were fine for two summers and then stopped turning — usually on the day somebody actually needed it.
If you are near Laketown or the lakefront, buy a stainless or marine-grade unit rather than the cheapest plated one, and put a smear of the same PTFE lubricant you use on the door locks into the dial once a year. More on why hardware suffers here in why locks fail faster in Louisiana humidity.
The alternative most people should choose
Give a spare to a neighbour you trust and put nothing outside at all. It costs nothing, it cannot be found because it is not there, and it has the useful side effect that somebody nearby can check the house if you are away.
The obvious limitation is that they have to be in. Which is why the second best option is a key safe and the worst option is the mat.
What about smart locks?
A keypad removes the whole question — there is no spare key to store because there is no key. You give a cleaner a code and delete it when they stop coming.
Two caveats for here. Weather sealing matters enormously on an exposed door in this climate, and you want a mechanical keyway or external power contacts as a fallback for dead batteries. Smart lock vs deadbolt covers it properly.
Storing keys for a rental or second property
Different problem. If you are handing keys to guests, cleaners and contractors on rotation, a key safe with a code you change between users is workable, but a keypad lock is better because there is no physical key to fail to come back.
For landlords with several units, the answer is usually a master key system rather than a collection of safes. Master key systems and locks after a tenant moves out.
If the spare has already gone missing
Then it is not a storage question any more. A key that is unaccounted for is exactly what rekeying is for — 15 to 25 minutes a cylinder, hardware stays on the door, every old key dead. Rekeying in Kenner, and ranges on the prices page.
We’ll say the bit that costs us money: if you have simply locked yourself out and the spare is inside, ring a neighbour before you ring us. Half the calls we get about spare keys end with somebody remembering the back door was open.