Deadbolt
Posted on July 28, 2008 - Filed Under Business |
The names in the following true story have been changed to protect the guilty as sin innocent.
With the tenant moving into Project#1, some last minute tinkering was required. One item in particular was the back door. The hole for the door knob was gone. Rabid wood-peckers and crack-filled termites munched away the area to the point where the knob barely stayed in place. When I first purchased the home, all the deadbolts and door knobs were changed to the schlage lock. At that time, the degradation was not that bad. This would have been a problem sooner or later.
Having to replace the entire door was not something I wanted to do. But I didn’t want the tenant to move in sans doorknob. A wood door with a window costs around $200 (without installation). I prepared for the worst.
This guy I know, let’s call him Shifty, said he could do the door for me. He has done work for me before. On the cheap. I figured this was a no-brainer. The job was his and away he went. When complete, I asked him to re-install the doorknob which I had removed and placed on the counter next to the door.
He didn’t replace the door. Instead he replaced the section of door that was bad. And what a fine job he did. You would never know any work had been done.
“$50” he quoted me.
Giggling like a school girl, and relieved out of my skull, I paid him the $50. He saved me about $250. Who wouldn’t be giddy? Then that’s where the problem began.
“Your door knob no working.”
Then I noticed: the door knob was not the schlage door knob. It was some other door knob.
Clifford: This isn’t my door knob. Where’s my door knob?
Shifty: This it!
Clifford: All these locks work to this key. See? This key doesn’t fit in the door knob. This isn’t mine.
Shifty: Dunno, Mr Cleep. This is doorknob on the counter!
Why in the world would he steal my door knob? Makes no sense. He offered to buy me a replacement door knob. I declined. A new door knob ($30) would require a locksmith ($70) to re-key it to fit with the other locks.
But why steal the knob?
For fear of him having a key made that would work in all the locks, I replaced all the deadbolts with new ones. Bruce show-cased the Kwikset Smart Key the other day which I’m trying out. They advertise you can re-key all your locks within 30 seconds to new keys, without a locksmith. This seems perfect for rentals.
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