It’s a common practice for people to hide their spare house keys somewhere nearby or in front of their home for convenience, in the event of a lost or broken key. However, this isn’t always a wise strategy, as the common burglar already knows about many of these hiding spaces. As prepared by the security experts at SOS Locksmith, here’s a quick guide to some of the places one should never ever hide their keys.
Doormats
This is the go to key hiding location for keys. Never ever hide your key under a doormat – we can’t stress this enough. It’s so easy to lift and spot – not to mention it’s impossible to secure, and is right next to your door. Since over 25% of burglars utilize the front door to access homes, it should be clear that this hiding space is one that should never be used.
Rocks
People with front yards often hide keys under flat stones or inside fake rocks, which have become commonly utilized and mass marketed options for homeowners. It’s pretty easy, in our professional opinion, to tell the difference between a fake rock and a real one – making it extra easy for burglars to tell the difference. It’s one of the first places the average thief will look for, right after the doormat.
Wallets
Another awful idea. Since wallets are one of the most commonly lost items, hiding your keys inside them just makes it more likely that you will lose your ID card, cash, and house keys in one fell swoop. If a burglar gets your keys, and an ID (with your address on it) they can simply go straight to your home and walk back in.
Flowers
Similar to doormats and fake rocks, flower pots are commonly used to hold spare keys as an easily accessible, vaguely common element of home decor. Flowerpots won’t fool burglars, even if the key is placed inside the dirt rather than directly under it. After all, it would just take a simple drop to shatter the flowerpot so you can inspect it’s innards, so it’s never a good idea to hide a key inside them unless you have a group of 50 and specifically hide your key in a single one that blends in perfectly with the rest.
Doorways
Sometimes there’s a short ridge of space positioned on the top of the doorway, which people sometimes use to hide their keys on. This is, no offense if you use this space, a really stupid place to hide your keys for obvious reasons that we’ll still spell out. Hiding your key on the outside, on top of your door is only second-stupider to hiding your key inside the door’s lock, in open sight. It’s right there, and can be easily accessed with no encumbrance simply by reaching up, so it can be in the hands of any burglar who can reach it, or has a ladder.
Sprinkler Heads
For years, we’d consider this an alright hiding space, as it’s bizarre and specific enough to not be the first place a burglar would look when attempting to gain access into a home. Unlike fake rocks, fake sprinkler heads are pretty hard to spot. The majority of burglars would simply stroll on by the average sprinkler without paying specific attention to how it looks. However, since they have massively gained in popularity recently, burglars have also caught wind of their use, and will now check them out first.
