Livin’ It Up In Rat City: College Living and Home Locks
Ah, Allston. As a junior, I’ve had my fair share of crap living in the area of Boston appropriately dubbed ‘Rat City’. I’ve had plumbing issues, electric issues, and issues (luckily not any rat issues, but I have grown fond of hearing them fight to the death outside my bedroom window), and like every college student to have ever lived, I’ve locked myself out of my apartment. When this happened and left me to wait until someone else came through the door, get up to my porch and slither through my window into the living room, I realized how easy it would be to break into my apartment.
This led me down a rabbit hole of learning way too much about home security, residential locksmiths, and efficient locksmith services for me to ever continue operating under the assumption that I’m cool. But because we live in a city, and I’ve heard of too many of my friends getting robbed, I thought I’d share some helpful tips about home locks and security.
Changing Your Locks
So for those of you moving in apartments in Allston, there are so many people who come through these living spaces, it’s almost guaranteed many people still have keys to your apartment. If you’ve got the cash, it’s really best to get your landlord to change the locks. It can give you a whole lot of peace of mind, knowing you and your roommates are the only ones who have keys. There are two principal ways of doing this: you can rekey the lock, or you can replace the locks entirely.
The ANSI Rating
Sounds fancy, right? Apparently, locks are given ANSI ratings, Grade 1, Grade 2, or Grade 3. Grade 1 locks are provided by residential locksmiths, and most apartments have these. Grade 2 locks are a little more secure, and Grade 3 are used by commercial locksmiths. As college students, you probably don’t need any higher than Grade 1. Some people may be tempted to get Bluetooth or touch screen keys (if they had that much money to throw around), but beyond their trendiness, make sure they’re actually secure.
Getting to Know Your Local Residential Locksmith!
In the end, it’s probably most cost effective to just re-key your current locks. And once you get new locks, maintain them. You can use Teflon or other dry lubricants to get all the gunk out of your locks. If you copy a key that’s been used a bunch, it’s not very likely to work (this has happened to me), so make sure to keep an extra of the original key.
And hey, if you’ve stumbled across this blog, and you happen to live in Clearwater, Florida, ABC Locksmith Clearwater provides great commercial and residential services!