Home Depot, Kwikset SmartKey & Me – Purchase & Installation
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In the Introduction to this series, I gave you some background information from my family’s experience and my professional life. I will paraphrase here with the main ideas followed by what they tell me.
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Facts about Kwikset & Me
Fact: Our front door has a Kwikset remote controlled dead latch which is 12 years old. It has worked well through the years and has enhanced our quality of life.
Meaning: We are the perfect candidate for an electronic lock. We like the convenience, trust in the technology, and we trust the Kwikset brand.
Fact: Our back door’s present handle style and dead latch work well for us with one drawback. Sometimes we find ourselves locked out of our home!
Meaning: We need to refine our concept, keeping the push down handle style which allows us to open the door with an elbow, but eliminating the lock out surprise.
Fact: I recently looked into modern dead latch keyless entry systems for a client, the type with a key pad in which you enter a code (remember — our ancient one is operated by a remote control key fob). While learning about them I also learned about criminals gaining entry to a home via a method called lock bumping.
Meaning: I need some first hand experience with touchpad keyless entry & I definitely need to learn more about lock bumping.
If you asked me a month ago, I would have told you I could neither afford the time to install new locks on my back door nor the money for the hardware, and as my client had decided not to go with the touchpad locks, my learning about them and lock bumping would have to wait.
Enter Kwikset SmartKey
Enter the Home Depot, Kwikset SmartKey lock Blogger Program whereby Building Moxie was offered a Home Depot gift card to purchase Kwikset SmartKey locks in return for writing (whatever we want) about them.
I decided I would take them up on their offer and make time for learning and making things better. Armed with a $150.00 gift card I marched into my local Home Depot. The store had a great selection of Kwikset products, so $148.15 later I emerged with these items:
Kwikset SmartKey Features
Everything about the Touchpad Keyless entry system promised to be smart. It came equipped with both SmartCode and SmartKey re-key technology. Smart in this instance meaning easy while losing nothing in the way of security. Also, the lock featured something called BumpGuard protection — against lock bumping.
I could not find an exterior push down handle without a lock so I went with a Bed and Bath handle figuring that the placement beneath the porch roof would give it ample protection from the elements. (I’ll take this chance on my own home but if I were installing this for a client I would contact Kwikset to be sure.)
I also bought the SmartKey re-key set which comes with the re-key tool, 4 identical keys for your people and 2 different identical keys, allowing entrance to your home while you are away — the idea being that you do not have to give out your family’s master key.
Kwikset SmartKey Installation (Lessons Learned)
Installation was easy for both lock and dead latch, but I did manage to screw up:
The dead latch determines the hand of you door automatically so if you skip this step you might be confounded. My pride was slightly wounded here as I learned that I do not (always) follow directions as closely as I think, but the fact is, I missed it, and you do not want to.
The biggest difference I noticed between the electronic mechanisms in the old lock on my front door, and in the new one installed on the back, was the size of the unit itself (the old one was much larger) and the new felt much sturdier.
Tomorrow we will get smart with codes and keys.
Links and Statement
The Home Depot partnered with bloggers such as me to help promote their KwikSet Lock product. As part of this promotion, I received compensation. They did not tell me what to purchase or what to say about the products. The Home Depot believes that consumers and bloggers are free to form their own opinions and share them in their own words. The Home Depot’s policies align with WOMMA Ethics Code, FTC guidelines and social media engagement recommendations.
