Locking the Laundry Room

Started by AnnaD2 • 4 replies • 1392 views

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AnnaD2 (Florida)
Posts: 960

Posted:

Robert and I were straying from someone else's post. Robert I DO appreciate your concern for my safety....trust me I worry about my safety, too. I giggled when you said I was a relatively "new" poster on this site. I guess my 860+ plus posts are small compared to your 4000+ posts.

Anyway---I was talking about how I have to unlock our community laundry room every morning. The other board members rotate locking it back up at night. This has been a chore we've carried on for years. The laundry room hours are 8:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. We've tried to find numerous solutions so we don't have to continue doing this. Only a handful of people use the laundry because most people have washers and driers in their homes. It's an amenity we do not want to get rid of.

We cannot give keys to the room to individuals to use because the room ALSO houses the swimming pool restrooms. That room must be unlocked during the pool hours (8:00 a.m. until dusk). Robert, you mentioned a "combination" lock---what exactly did you mean by that? We've tried to see if we could get some type of "timer" lock and come up with nothing. Any ideas would be appreciated.

DonnaS (Tennessee)
Posts: 5,671

Posted:

Dear Anna,

That's is a job that a male should be doing at that early hour. Not that a man wouldn't get attacked but you definitely should not be out there alone at that hour.

You can purchase a lock like hotel rooms have which use a card for entry but would that solve any problems? Cards get lost or fogotten and stolen. I have no solution.

DanielH1 (California)
Posts: 482

Posted:

Maybe a remote lock, like a car door remote, that you can just stick out a window and point at the laundry room.

RobertR1 (South Carolina)
Posts: 5,164

Posted:

Anna,
There are combination locks that will fit something like a front door or laundry room door. They install pretty much the same way a regular dead bolt lock is installed. Instead of a key, they have a series of buttons similar to telephone buttons. You punch in the numbers and turn the lock and you can open the door. Your problem seems to be that you only want the door to be open at certain undefined time, you can actually get electronic lock that you can program much like your thermostat.

But I suspect none of this is any help, so my next suggestion is to change boy friends and get one that will come over and do the unlocking. Anyway to move the washer and dryer, like into your place and then you can invite in who you want and don't answer the door if someone you don't like wants to use them.

May I say, this is a strange arrangement anyway, who pays for electric and water and replacement of these items. Maybe you could get two boy friends and pay them, one for morning, one for night.

Don't hesitate to ask my help, I am always prepared to offer good sound advice.

JohnE7 (Florida)
Posts: 13

Posted:

Anna,

Locking and unlocking the door most likely will have to continue to be done manually by someone. Do you have any property management staff or security in your community? Perhaps the laundry hours can be changed to open later in the morning and or close earlier in the evening. I really don't see how an automated lock will work, what if someone is still inside or what if someone props the door open so it won't lock. The only way to know for sure the door will remain locked overnight is for someone to check that nobody is still inside and then lock the door.

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