Letting a relative or a tradesperson in without handing over the keys
Daily life in a house with a garden puts a lot of keys into circulation: the firm that comes to maintain the grounds, the tradesperson expected one morning, the grandparents collecting the children, the neighbour picking up the post during the holidays. The usual arrangements are familiar: a key under a pot by the service door, a pedestrian gate left open, a spare handed over for six months. An access right opened and then closed again remotely replaces those habits without a single key leaving the house.
The subject also comes up with rented property. On the edge of the university campus at Talence and Gradignan, and along the roads served by the tram, part of the housing stock is let furnished, with occupants coming and going and key handovers to organise. A motorised model that fixes onto the existing cylinder on the inside can be removed at the end of the tenancy without altering the door: that is the simplest route for a tenant, provided the landlord is told and the original parts are kept.
Between the router in the living room and the far end of the garden, the signal fades
Houses in the commune often sit in the middle of their plot, with a garage attached or detached, a utility room at the end of the corridor and a service door at the opposite end from the living space. Yet the router is rarely where the door to be fitted is. Across two blockwork walls and ten metres or so, a wireless link loses a great deal, and a badly placed bridge turns a decent product into a source of irritation. The best approach is to test the real range before buying.
A second point to watch: this kind of equipment changes how convenient the door is to use, not how strong it is. On an estate door whose cylinder and frame are thirty years old, the weak link stays exactly where it was. Finally, check the fallback the manufacturer provides for flat batteries or a power cut, and keep it accessible somewhere other than behind the gate: being stuck outside your own plot is a situation we come across regularly.
How does this service work?
Techniques, typical situations, standards and things to watch out for: it is all on our smart lock page. This page focuses on what the service involves in Villenave-d'Ornon.