Finding the perfect outdoor hiding spot for spare house keys is a delicate balance. It needs to be easy enough for the people who should have access (like kids and dogwalkers) to find it, yet stay-well hidden from unwanted intruders. Here’s a list of the best places to keep spare house keys – clever hiding spots that will be one of the best kept family secrets (along with grandma’s stuffing recipe – NOBODY is getting their hands on that….)
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Backstory
If you follow my blog, I usually write a section on what motivated writing a post. And 95% of the time it’s because something happened in our house….. and this post is no different.
When we go on vacation, we usually rely on one friend in particular to keep an eye out on our house (and our dog). But this time he was going on vacation the same time as us! (the nerve of him! ?).
So I reached out a two neighbors to see if they could keep an eye on the house, bring in any boxes, etc.. They were happy to help, they just needed a spare key. So off to the local hardware store I went to make copies, and it got me thinking about the logistics.
Should I each give them a set of house keys? Or should I make one set and keep it somewhere on our property that they could grab when they came over? And if so, where is the best place to keep spare house keys? Where would they be safe?
Ultimately, I decided to each gave them a set of house keys (aka #1 on my list of best places to keep spare house keys). But it got the ball rolling for researching and writing this post….
Where NOT to Hide Spare House Key
Before we dive into the best places to keep spare house keys, let’s quickly dive into where NOT to hide spare house keys.These places are so overused by homeowners and the first places were thieves look for your spare house key. According to some experts, here’s some of the worst places to hide your keys.
1. Under a Door Mat
Placing a spare key under your welcome mat is, well, welcoming thieves right into your home! It’s one on the first places burglar will look.
Yet, according to a survey by Eyewitness Surveillance, about 25% of homeowners admitted to stashing their spare key under the doormat of their front door.
Whoopsy… that 25% might want to re-think their hiding spot…
2. Top of the Door
I feel like I’ve seen a spare house key hidden in a door frame so many times in the movies (especially 80s movies) that this hiding place is so obvious. Thieves merely reach up and run their hands over the top of the door to feel for a key.
3. Porch Light
Sticking with ideas on where NOT to conceal spare keys near your front door is….inside or around the porch light. Sure some porch lights have lots of hidden nooks to hide a spare key, but it’s just an obvious place for burglars to check.
4. Under a Planter
Planters filled with flowers provide that eye-catching pop of color and curb appeal. But it also catches the eyes of thieves who will look for a spare key sitting prettily underneath the planter.
That being said, there is a creative way to use planters that makes it one of the best places to store spare house keys (see #11 below).
5. Rain Gutter
Hiding a spare key in a rain gutter is a bit more difficult for thieves to access (especially if a ladder is needed). But if a heavy rain hits, your key (even in a magnetic holder) might not stay in its spot, forcing you to search for a lost key.
6. Fake Rock
I list fake rocks last on the list of worst places to hide spare keys with hesitation. Why? Because fake rock key holders in theory are a great idea – if the rock actually look real. But a lot of the ones on the market are painfully fake looking. One of my neighbors had one, and when you walked by their home and saw it in their front yard, it was, well, obvious.
But I think a fake rock could be effective if it truly looked authentic. Or, if used in conjunction with another strategy to hide a spare key.
11 Best Places to Keep Spare House Keys
So if you shouldn’t store your spare house keys in the above places, where can you keep them? Lots of places. UNPREDICTABLE places. CREATIVE places. RANDOM places. That’s the key (pun intended) to thwart thieves from getting through your front door. Sorry, I couldn’t resist the pun… ?
1. Neighbor
One of the best places to keep spare keys is not actually on your property, but with a neighbor. A neighbor you trust, of course.
Leaving a spare key with your neighbor, especially when you are on vacation provides a set of eyes on your home to spot suspicious activity while you are away. And a neighbor with a key can also help when life goes sideways (oh, and it will) – like letting poor Fido out when you are unexpectedly delayed hours sitting in I-95 traffic trying to get home (true story).
To help your neighbor remember whose key it is, you might want to consider using a keychain that has your name on it. I’d personally use my first name so in the chance that the key is stolen, it isn’t obvious whose it is…
2. Neighbor Key Swap
While I love the strategy of giving spare keys to a neighbor, the downside is that when that spare key is needed, your neighbor has to actually be home to hand it over….
So if you trust your neighbor, but don’t want the hassle of needing them home, consider a hidden key swap. What does that mean?
It means it’s OK to use the worst places to hide spare keys, BUT with the wrong key. That obliviously fake rock in your front garden? It doesn’t contain your house key – it has your neighbors. And that spare key hidden over your neighbor’s front doorway? It goes to your front door, not theirs.
Imagine the surprise and confusion from thieves reveling in finding a spare key, only to realize it doesn’t work when they try to break in the front door. What are the chances they are going to realize it goes the front door NEXT door?
Clever, eh?
Sidenote: Just ensure there’s no information on the key that would connect it to your house…
3. Dryer Vent Hood
Another great place to stick spare house keys is up the dryer vent (if the vent design works). If your vent hood is magnetic, it’s simple. Just tuck a magnetic keytainer to the inside of the vent. If your vent is aluminum or plastic (i.e. not magnetic) merely glue a magnet to the inside of the dryer hood vent using hot glue so that the magnetic keytainer will stick.
4. Fake Sprinkler Head
If you have a sprinkler system (BTW – if so, I’m jealous…), try installing a fake sprinkler head in your yard. These sprinkler “hide-a-key” heads are reportedly made from genuine sprinkler system parts so it’s nearly impossible to distinguish from a actual working sprinkler head.
5. Thermometer
I love this ingenious place to store spare house keys because it has a dual purpose. Not only is there a discreet compartment to hide two keys, it’s a real working thermometer! Simply mount somewhere on your house, garage, or even a fence.
6. Tree
Live near the woods or have a lot of trees in your yard? If so, consider hammering a nail into one of these trees to hang the spare house key.
Note that if you have a LOT of trees, just remember which tree you used….. or perhaps mark the tree with some garden decor…
7. Grill
Originally I thought this was a best place to store a spare house key. This location was, uh, perhaps, where I, uh, may have been storing, uh, our spare house key. But once I found out that 17% of homeowners hid their spare house keys inside a grill, I realized that maybe burglars might be onto this not-so-secret hiding place.
So perhaps the grill is still a clever way to conceal spare house keys IF you don’t place it in an obvious place in or around the grill.
8. Doghouse
Let your fur baby work to protect your spare house keys. Find a spot either around or inside the doghouse to hide a key. Similar to the dryer vent option, you could glue a magnet to a wall of the doghouse to accommodate a magnetic keytainer.
For obvious safety reasons, just make sure that Fido can’t get to it.
9. Birdhouse
Same idea as a doghouse, but using a birdhouse. Admittedly, while thinking through this place to conceal a spare house key, at first I struggled with walking up to an occupied birdhouse to gather a spare key. One, would the birds freak out (especially if babies inside)? Two, what’s the chances your key hasn’t been pooped on?
Then I figured you could just screen the entrance to keep the birdhouse unoccupied. But that seems cruel to me to advertise an empty birdhouse to nature and not follow through…..
BUT after some research there seem to be a few birdhouses on the market that avoid these unpleasantries, including this cute one from Duncraft (reportedly made in the USA).
10. Garage Door Entry Pad
If you live in an old house (like I do), your garage might be detached from your home. And if your detached garage has a door entry pad, you might have a very clever spot to store a spare house key.
Most garage door entry pads require a 9-volt battery. And depending on the model you have, there might be just enough room to tape a key right behind that battery. (We didn’t…)
11. Planter
Remember in the beginning of this post where I mentioned that placing a spare key under a planter was obvious to thieves? Well, here’s where we get creative to make it more secure.
Place your spare key in a medicine bottle (or other small watertight container) and bury it INSIDE a potted plant. And if you want to mark the location (and keep your fingernails from getting dirty), place a garden accessory like a decorative stone or this decorative turtle or snail over it.
If you don’t want to DIY a solution, there are plant containers on the market with sealed containers for concealing your spare house keys.
Alternative
In today’s age of technology, I’d be remiss if I didn’t touch on key alternatives – smart locks.
Smart locks have access codes that replace physical keys. There’s no more carrying keys around with you. And it eliminates the need for finding the best place to store spare keys.
And you can give access codes to your kids, visitors, house sitters, housekeepers, etc (within reason of course to maintain a secure home…). Some smart locks even let you unlock the door remotely through an app, so you can let people into your home even when you are not there.
One of my neighbors has one and honestly, it worked like a dream when I needed to check on their cat while they were away on vacation.
The biggest downside of smart locks is their price. The average smart lock is around $200, which is a lot more expensive than a traditional lock with keys.
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