Smart locks meet triple-deckers
Savin Hill and the Polish Triangle are triple-deckers and Victorian houses. Columbia Point and the Dorchester Avenue corridor have newer apartment complexes, and many of those use keypad or smart locks on unit doors. Two very different sets of problems in one ZIP code.
Common calls in 02125
- Keypad and smart lock troubleshooting in newer buildings
- Rekeying triple-decker units
- Lock changes for student rentals near UMass Boston
- Business lockouts around Uphams Corner
When a keypad goes dark
Dead batteries cause most "broken" keypad locks. Change them on a fixed date each year, New Year's Day is easy to remember, rather than waiting for the warning beep. And keep the mechanical override key somewhere you can reach from outside the door, not on the kitchen counter.
Student rentals
Leases near the campus turn over every year. Rekeying between tenants, or a keypad with a fresh code per lease, keeps former tenants out without a pile of new hardware.
Getting there
Access is generally easy, though Morrissey Boulevard crawls at rush hour. For newer complexes, give the building name.
Columbia Point apartments
The newer complexes near the JFK Library and UMass Boston often have key fobs for the main entrances and keyed or keypad unit doors. If a fob stops working, the building manages it. If the unit door fails, that's the locksmith's job. Knowing which system belongs to whom saves a wasted call. Students in shared units should keep the property office number in their phone along with a locksmith's. When a roommate moves out early, ask management whether the unit code or cylinder will be changed before the next person arrives.