Smart Lock Installation in Augusta, GA

Will a smart lock fit your door?

Most smart deadbolts suit a modern door bored for a standard deadbolt. Augusta has plenty of older doors, since about a fifth of its homes predate 1960, and a door that old can have a mortise body cut into its edge instead. Two options are a retrofit that replaces only the inside thumbturn and keeps the existing deadbolt, or a smart lock made for mortise bodies.

Door fit matters too. A motorized bolt that drags against its strike works harder and drains batteries sooner, and a wooden door can swell enough in a humid summer to cause exactly that.

Renters and landlords

Renters are a slim majority of Augusta households (50.3 percent), and a smart lock counts as a lock change. Georgia's Landlord-Tenant Handbook says a lease will typically demand the landlord's consent to a lock change, and where the lease is silent the tenant hands over the new keys on moving out. With a smart lock, settle in writing what counts as the new key: a backup key, a code, or both.

Historic districts

In Summerville, Olde Town and Downtown, the city's local historic districts, the Historic Preservation Ordinance (Chapter 7-4) requires a Certificate of Appropriateness for a material change in exterior appearance (§ 7-4-16). The commission does not consider interior changes that leave exterior features untouched (§ 7-4-23). An inside-only retrofit leaves the outside of the door alone, but a keypad on the face of an original front door is worth raising with the commission's staff first. This is general information, not legal advice.

Heat, batteries and a backup key

NOAA describes hot, humid Georgia summers, and heat shortens battery life. A keypad on a door facing the afternoon sun takes more heat than one in shade, so watch the battery warning in summer and choose a lock with a physical key or external battery contacts. Keep the mechanical key somewhere you can reach from outside, such as with a neighbor, so a flat battery is not a lockout.

Details that help with an install

Photos of both faces of the current lock and the door edge, the smart lock model if you have one, whether you own or rent, and whether the house is in a local historic district. See smart lock installation, lock replacement and Augusta.