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By Jack Beresford
Senior Reporter
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A homeowner had to come up with an unusual work-around after discovering a flaw in the electronic locking system installed on her front door.
The smart products of today are bringing homeowners ever closer to living the dream depicted in countless science fiction movies and TV shows, but some still crave more. In a survey of 2,000 U.S. adults conducted by OnePoll on behalf of ecobee, 32 percent of respondents said their dream is to have their entire home completely fitted out with smart products.
But advanced technology is not without its downside, as Jessica Seashore from North Carolina can attest. When she and her husband bought their first house in 2019, they were both eager to update a few things around the place, starting with a digital lock on the front door.
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"We wanted all keyless entry for our home," Seashore told Newsweek. That was all fine until 2020 when Hurricane Isaias hit the region and they quickly realized that their lock wasn't as water resistant as they thought.
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"I live in coastal North Carolina," Seashore said. "We have an overhang and small porch, so it is covered normally. However, the rain came in sideways with the wind we got and then next morning our lock would not work. The keypad wouldn't recognize that we were touching it."
The only saving grace was that Seashore and her husband were inside when they discovered the lock was not working, otherwise things might have been a little more complicated. The door does still have a keyhole, but the situation could have been tricky if they found themselves out of the house without the key.
As a result, Seashore and her partner have had to come up with a fairly primitive workaround in the event of extreme weather conditions.
"If we are having a tropical storm or hurricane I just cover it with plastic and tape," she said. "95 percent of the time it is uncovered and works as it should."
The issue might have gone ignored had Seashore not filmed a new video showing the work-around in action during Hurricane Helene.
"We were getting gusty wind and rain from the hurricane," she said. "I always put the plastic wrap on it for these storms and just happened to film a quick video doing it for fun. I thought it was going to get 200 views like most of my videos. However, it started taking off."
At the time of writing the video had been viewed 3.1 million views, with the viral success of the clip leaving Seashore a little confused and frustrated with many of those commenting assuming she bought a lock that wasn't water resistant to begin with.
"This one was supposed to be and checked all the boxes on paper, but when it came down to it, it wasn't," she said. "So many comments assume we didn't do our research, or they assume it's just sitting in the elements without a porch or any cover. In reality they have no idea from a five-second video."
Though hers may be an unfortunate situation brought about through no fault of her own, it might have some thinking twice before installing a similar system.
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