I have one similar to this mounted on a brick exterior wall in a remote location. It’s been handy when I’ve locked myself out of the house or there was a power outage.
Mom kept her spare house key in one of those metal boxes with a magnetic attachment on the bottom of an ancient metal trash can in the car port. Anyone that she trusted knew about it. It’s highly unlikely that a stranger would look there.
My spare is in the garage, in a box with a bunch of junk. I can tell someone where it is and how to recognize it, but it’s not obvious to people who don’t know.
@canidmajor Does your garage have a manual opener from the outside? Mine doesn’t. When the power is out, I can open it from inside of the garage by pulling on a lever, but not from outside.
There is a key hole on the outside of the garage door, but it wasn’t passed on when the house was purchased. The door locks were changed upon the sale, but come to think of it, the garage door lock wasn’t.
The walk-in door for the garage has an unlockable knob but it’s secured by a combination lock.
That way I can’t lock myself out of my house even when the garage is locked, and even if someone knew the key was in the garage, they’d have to break in and then spend a major amount of time trying to find it.
Put the dummy key under the mat, and the real key 3 inches up the rain spout with a magnet, if you have the cheaper vinyl ones, use self-sticking Velcro. If someone comes and tries the dummy key and it doesn’t work, they will not think there is a second key.
@Pied_Pfeffer:That’s a good point, I hadn’t thought about that. We lose power so rarely that it’s highly improbable, but it could happen. The garage has a pedestrian door, I should hide that key somewhere. Thanks! :-)
Ah, and there is the difference. My garage doesn’t have a pedestrian door. Plus, the power goes out, or threatens to, several times a year especially during tornado seasons and icy conditions.
I’m glad you mentioned it, though, as we have hurricanes here, and sometimes we are days without power. Like I said it’s rare to lose it, but it’s good to have another option.
I don’t have a garage or garbage bins. @Hypocrisy_Central s idea sounds quite good. Also, I have JWs living upstairs, a retired couple, and they see and hear everything. Better than watchdogs.
I move mine around. Anywhere on the ground is too common; under a rock, mat, brick. I have been known to tie it to a string and suspend it somewhere inside a hedge or flower bush.
I used to have a little resin squirrel figurine with a rectangular compartment in the base. About $6 from TJ Maxx or one of those stores. A locksmith who came to do some work here said, when I brought up the topic, “Don’t tell me. It’s a bad idea.” I guess keeping a spare key in any secret spot is a bad idea.