Mine is in a combination locked shed in my backyard. Which sits over a sprinkler control box (round actually) buried in the ground with a cover visible in the shed. Inside the sprinkler control box is a realtor style lock box combination with the key inside.
If you’d lose a key that you are carrying on your person, why wouldn’t you “misplace” one that you have hidden around your home? It would be ill-advised for you to “hide” a key as someone who is watching you (and there’s always someone watching arrive and leave your home) would eventually see you retrieving and using it.
If you were in the US and had an attached garage I would advise you to keep a nailed to a wall or hanging from a peg well below eye level. That way it wouldn’t be seen by someone who broke into garage as few people look for items below eye level. Or taped inside a copy of an old magazine sitting on a shelf in that garage.
Again, hiding a key is always a poor practice as burglars are familiar with this practice and often look for the most obvious hiding places if they have enough time to do so instead of simply kicking open your door or breaking a window.
Observe
This is exactly why your keys should live in your pocket. If you get in the habit of always, always, always, without exception, always having your keys ON YOUR PERSON* at all times you will never have to worry about forgetting them. This is a policy that has served me well for over 30 years. My wife thinks it’s ridiculous, but guess who spends at least an hour a week hunting for keys and who doesn’t.
Also, what nevadaexile said.
*I don’t sleep with my keys, of course, but they are still in my pants pocket, and in the morning will go directly from yesterday’s pants to today’s pants.
I’ve done this. Wrap the key in aluminum foil (easy to unwrap when the time comes) and poke it into the dirt. Don’t use tape, it leaves sticky glue on the key. Bury it in a place that is not right next to your door. You can also find a crack up high outside of normal sight lines and stuff or wedge the key in there.
Or get one of the new electronic locks.
Better yet, if you have good relations with a near neighbor, store your key somewhere out of sight (like a high ledge or a nail under a porch), but at the neighbor’s house. Anyone looking for a hidden key for your house won’t think of that (unless they post on SDMB, of course).
Offer to do the reverse for the neighbor.
Cover the key using concrete or mortar. Seriously.
Even if you don’t own the building…Look very carefully all around the exterior of the building, especially down at the ground level, under window sills, etc… Find a spot where there is is a small indentation, a gap,(maybe between the wooden window sill and the wall, maybe between the wall and the asphalt paving, maybe at the bottom of a door frame), or even just a crack between two bricks.That’s where you hide the key.
Go to your local building supply/hardware store and buy a small bag of mortar/concrete, used for patching walls.(not the huge sacks!–a 1-pound bag)
Wrap the key in a plastic , mix up a handful of mortar or concrete, and plaster the key into the indented area. It only takes one handfull of concrete.
If you ever need the key, it’s pretty easy to get to–take a rock or a small hammer, knock one or two times on the cement, and it will chip away easily in flakes.
I agree with you 100% that you should do that and never venture outside without a key. But keys do break. Really it happens. It happened to me a couple of years ago. It was a 20+ year old key. I didn’t see anything wrong with it before it broke. There was no problem with any of the other keys on the ring. It just broke as I was locking the door. Fortunately, I hadn’t completed locking the door.
Other unfortunate accidents also happen. They seem unlikely, but they happen. My point is that you need some sort of a back up plan. I suppose one plan is smashing the window and crawling in, but personally I like having a less drastic option available.
Our spare key is hanging around the neck of our dog. It’s there on the collar with his license and rabies tags, hidden by his fur and guarded by his teeth.
Of course, we have to make sure to leave him out when we go away.
Any chance you’ll be cavity searched?
Do what I do: don’t lock your door!
Do you always wear a belt?
If so, wear a money belt with spare key inside.
Are we to assume you own, rather than rent, your home? Because if it’s the latter, couldn’t your landlord let you in in case of an emergency?
Some other options I have thought of, but haven’t really done.
This only works (well) if you have multiple doors - say a back door you don’t use much.
Let’s say someone gives you a spare key - if it’s a kwikset - use their key as your key (you can set it to any standard kwikset key). Now you have someone who has a spare key to your house (but doesn’t know it). It’s kind of a dick move, but not really. Certainly would be if you told anyone and have out copies of the key.
I don’t think I’d ever feel comfortable hiding the key on the property. All the suggestion to mix it up with the cement like mix was pretty good.
There are plenty of geocaches that last for a long time. I’ve seen ones stuck to parking signs that are camouflaged pretty good. Depending on the type of area you were in - maybe you’d have some relatively close (but not too close). I’d want more than one - as some are bound to be discovered.
I think there is at least one app now where you can get a key cut based off a picture. You need it on a white background to “prove” you have ownership of it. And they will cut the key. I think this might only be in New York - so if you don’t live there you are screwed, but other locksmiths probably can cut by code - so if you are close enough to a locksmith - just ask ahead of time if they can do it. Of course they need to be open.
PSA: I can’t stress enough how easy it is to mess up cutting keys - and how easy it is for REAL lock smiths to cut them correctly. Make sure you get any dupes made from an original if possible - and get it done at a lock smith - not Home Depot, Lowes, or some place like that. Then try each copy on each lock to make sure it works.
Nothing sucks like actually taking the time to be prepared - and then finding out it was cut wrong - or as happened to me - upside down (no I am not making that up).
Some stuff lock smiths charge you out the ass for, but if you actually bring something in to them - I’ve had very good luck and they have been reasonably priced.
Sometimes you do stupid things, like leave a friend’s place where you’ve visited for the weekend out of town and the friend goes to work early, but leaves you to find your way out by yourself later and instead of taking the right key off your keyring and hiding it in the bird feeder, you drive home for five hours and only discover the key you hid was your own house key when you can’t open your own front door.
Luckily, there was a key hidden in the shed.
I still have a key in the shed for this house, but it’s in a realtor’s lockbox that got left behind when I bought the house. I’m not sure where I’d put a key if I had no access to a yard or shed. I think maybe I’d put something decorative on the front of the house - a plaque on the wall or flower box on the front window or decorative trim around the front door or some kind of small architectural detail and find a way conceal a key in that.
7 doors to the outside, each with a keyed dead bolt.
14 keys needed. or 7, one for each set?
All keyed to one key?
What would you do?
Have an exterior outlet? If not fasten a dummy one to the outside wall of the house. You need the kind where the cover flips up.
Tape a key to the inside of the cover - it can’t be seen but is easy to remove when you need it.
Get a brass version (won’t corrode) and find a shrub nearby (if applicable). Bury key at base of shrub, on the side closest to the home.
Or replace the lock with a combination lock.
Where do you do this? Most banks will not rent a box without an account.
hide it anywhere you want, so long as it cannot be traced back to your house. nobody wants a key they do not know the address to.