Is DH U or am I paranoid? Locking doors at night

[Spiderpigspiderpig]

We live in a bungalow. Front door and back door are on the left of the building and are opposite each other... Hallway & kitchen between them. We have another external door at the back on far right handside of building in ds room. So 2 rear external doors & 1 front one. The one in ds room is closest to all of the other bedrooms.

Before be Dh prefers to lock all door and hang keys up in kitchen.

I prefer to lock doors but leave all keys in locks.

His argument is that a burgular will smash a window and reach the key, so it's not safe to do this.

My argument is that if there's a fire we'll be trapped in the house as we won't be able to get to keys. Our windows don't open enough to climb through.

Who is bu?

Don't leave keys in the locks, instead keep them out of sight somewhere nearby.
Also alarms/dogs/security lights/neighbourhood watch etc are not deterrents to the more determined thief as we found out to our cost when our cars were stolen (keys left in sight of a window; smash, grab, two cars gone in seconds). We later found a pole with a hook which they were presumably using to fish for keys in the area before getting lucky at our house.
Yes given the choice I'd rather be burgled than trapped in a burning building, but why does there have to be a choice?

Never leave keys in locks

We have a spare set of keys in our bedroom and then our actual keys live on a hook by the door

I would leave them in the door, if they are going to smash a window to get in then they could get through the window anyway - so the keys being there would be of no consequence! (If it is a narrow door window and they are going to smash it and make a racket doing so, what is to stop them smashing a lounge window and getting in? ).

We also live in a bungalow. We leave the keys in the door, but have door chains on as well.

Our keys are in the doors as well. I would choose burglary over not escaping from fire. I'd like to think that if a burglar was smashing a double glazed window, it would make quite a lot of noise.....

The fire thing is quite a biggie though...I don't really like to think how the upstairs of our house works if the stairs were on fire. I think, quite honestly, we would be trapped, apart from DS1 who has a door and a little balcony.

My FIL had his car stolen by someone who fished the keys through the latter of off a hook near the door, they also had a dog at the time who didn't appear to either be a deterrent or raise an alarm. The house keys were on the same hook - fortunate that they were only after the car.
We keep one set of house keys on the bedside table when DH goes to bed and the other is usually in my handbag near the front door - we should maybe make this a bit more accessible. That said, in a fire we would be straight out of the bedroom window as its on the ground floor.

Latter off = letter box, sorry!

Always leave keys in door while I'm at home. Too many stories of people being trapped in their houses and perishing because of security.

If anything ghastly were to happen to you and emergency services were called, they wouldn't be able to open doors with the keys in. They'd have to smash them down, which takes more time and leaves you with hefty costs while you recover from your gas poisoning or whatever.

DH is right. Why not hang keys in two places, both on your emergency exit routes?

I'd prefer burglary to fire, too.
We have one door you'd have to actually break to get at the key that lives in the lock. Another one, the key is always taken out of.
I am also very conscious that if something were to happen to dh or myself, if the keys were in every door, the DC's wouldn't be able to let themselves in to help us.
Each bedroom had a locked window. Each room has a key for it, fastened in a specific place, for escape in event of a fire.

I'm really surprised by the responses.

I think that in a fire, you'd be so worried / scared / vision impaired by smoke that you may forget where the keys are.

I would rather have my belongings stolen 100 times over than die such a horrible, frightening death in a fire.

So I'm with you OP. Some sensible suggestions on this thread though.

I keep keys in my bedroom at night (ground floor)
My theory is if I hear a burglar, straight out bedroom window and I have keys for the car
I had a power cut and was surprised how disorientating it was so smoke/fire would be even worse. Obviously make sure you have smoke alarms fitted too

The guys that safety proofed my house said in a fire, if you leave the key in the door it can either heat up so much that you can't touch it to turn it, or the heat can do something to the metal of the key and make it stick. So actually leaving the key in the door for a fire it worse. Have a set on your bedside table to grab and have a set near to a door with a large keyring so that if you drop it in a panic it's easier to pick up.

you can also zone your house alarm if that worried about burglars eg just to front door or front room

Thanks umbongo that's interesting.

hollin i've never reall thought about what I'd do if I heard an intruder in the house.

We don't have a house alarm.

ideal time toget one then!

To everyone saying "if a burglar is going to smash the window to get a key, they could smash a window to climb in"

A lot of burglars are a little bit more sophisticated! I know two people who were burgled because they left keys in locks - one in a door with a glass panel and one in a large window.

Burglar in both cases cut a very neat semi circle in the glass above the lock and reached through. No smashing, no noise, very neatly done.

Police said don't leave keys in the lock.

Yes but queen they are always in the same place.

You could blindfold me and cut off my air supply (simulation of smoke) and I would be able to grab it just by feel and it's so close to the door (but not within reach from burglars) that if I could get to the door I could get to the key.

spiderpig it might be because my window open out the way the insurance put them in the category as doors? (as in an exit)

We have a key box on the wall by the front door. Best solution I think.

Thanks good Ginky but would a guest know? Or a child?

Umbongo's comment is really interesting though, that makes sense when you say it

If I actually ever lock the door, which is only if dp isn't in the house for the night, I leave the keys in the door.

Other door is always locked but by bolts on the door rather than a key so no issue.

Our home insurance is invalid if we leave our keys in the door so the doors are always locked and the keys are on the key hook near the door. We also leave our keys near the door on purpose as my dad (ex police) said if a burglar could grab car keys easily then they'd be less likely to come into the main house to look for thing to steal.

Most burgles won't smash a window and faff about looking for keys- they'll go for the house with the window wide open or the unlocked door. If they're going to smash a window, they'll use that to go in.

Having experienced a house fire, my keys stay in the lock where I can get the door open in a panic. I know people go 'on but it's on the hook and close to the door'. Fine, how are you going to get it off the hook and into the lock when your hands are shaking, it's pitch black and your house is filled with smoke?

queen I don't have any children in the house as mine are grown up now so I can't comment on that (although I would have thought yes) but guests would.

They are really easy to find my daughter is autistic and finds things (like that) tough but she knows after only being shown twice (in the same day) so that makes me think that they are quite easily remembered.