Smart Lock Installation in Spokane, WA

Does your door suit a smart lock

Most smart deadbolts are made for a standard bored door: a round hole through the face and a smaller one into the edge. Houses built in recent decades, such as those that have gone up on Five Mile Prairie since about 2000, generally follow that pattern.

Older doors take more thought, and Spokane has many of them: homes built before 1940 make up more than a quarter of the city's housing. Many of those doors may still hold a mortise lock set into a pocket in the edge. For them, look for a smart lock made for mortise doors, or a retrofit model that replaces only the inside part of an existing deadbolt; otherwise the job means drilling new holes in an old door. A photo of the door edge settles the question before anything is bought.

Apartments and approvals

In a converted building, like the Browne's Addition mansions that became apartments, a smart lock on a unit door usually needs the landlord's approval, and the shared street door is the owner's decision.

State law is also changing for rentals. RCW 59.18.750, effective January 1, 2027, requires a landlord, if a tenant asks, to offer an alternative key that uses no biometric information or phone app, such as a key fob, key card, physical key or keypad code. This is general information, not legal advice.

Cold, batteries and a backup key

Battery-powered locks feel Spokane's snow season, which runs from November 15 to March 15. Alkaline cells lose capacity in the cold, so an exterior keypad, or a lock on a door to an unheated garage, may warn of low batteries sooner in winter. Snow that thaws and then turns back to ice can also cover a keypad.

• Change batteries in the fall, before snow season starts.
• Choose a model with a key cylinder or external battery contacts.
• Keep a working physical key on you or with someone nearby, for the day the batteries or the app fail.

In your request, include a photo of the door face and edge, the current lock, whether you want an app, a keypad or both, and whether you rent. The smart lock installation page describes the service, and lock replacement covers a change of hardware without electronics.