Last week’s windstorm is a prime example of why it’s important to have a backup plan. When you think of losing power, you worry about not being able to heat your house, your phone dying, whether you have enough candles or batteries for flashlights, cooking meals and food spoiling, possibly pipes bursting. But have you thought about how you would get into your house?
Over the course of 48 hours, we received at least two dozen calls from people who couldn’t get into their houses because of a power outage. Most of those people primarily enter their homes through the garage. Unfortunately, when they lost power they couldn’t get into their garage. And they couldn’t get in through a different door because they didn’t have keys to the locks on those doors.
Technology is wonderfully convenient – when it’s working. Being able to hit a button on a remote or type in a code to access your house via the garage or using your phone’s Bluetooth to unlock the smart lock on your door saves you from having to carry your keys all the time. However, you can find yourself in trouble if the technology fails. Certainly this windstorm was an anomaly. However, power does go out from time to time, phone batteries die, wifi gets disconnected. You should have a backup plan just in case. Take a look at your doors. Is there one door that can be locked and unlocked manually? Most digital and smart locks have a keyhole. Do you have a key for all of the locks on that door? If the answer is no, take steps now to avoid becoming locked out because of a power failure. A small investment in time and money before an emergency occurs can save you a lot of money and stress in the future.
