Everybody down here has a hurricane list. Water, batteries, gas, shutters, propane. Almost nobody has locks on it — and then the storm passes and I spend the next two weeks on calls that were completely preventable.
The locks themselves aren't usually what fails. It's the hardware that only gets used once a year, the doors that swell, and the keys nobody can find at 6 AM the morning you're trying to close up and leave. Here's what I'd check now, in the calm part of the season, rather than the week a storm is named.
Accordion shutter and panel locks — the one everyone forgets
This is the number one call I get in the days before a storm, and it is always the same. Someone goes to close their accordion shutters for the first time since last season, and the lock won't turn, the key won't go in, or the key snaps off in the cylinder.
It makes sense when you think about what those locks live through. They're mounted outside, in salt air, baking in the sun, untouched for ten or eleven months at a stretch. The cylinders corrode from the inside. The pins seize. A key that turned fine last October is fighting a completely different lock this August.
The fix is genuinely simple, and you can do most of it yourself on a Saturday:
- Go close them now. All of them, all the way, this weekend. That single act tells you everything.
- Use a dry lubricant, not WD-40. This one matters. Oil-based sprays attract dust and salt and turn into a paste inside the cylinder that makes things worse in a few months. You want a graphite or dry PTFE lubricant made for locks.
- Don't force a stubborn key. A snapped key inside a shutter cylinder the day before a storm is a genuinely bad afternoon. If it doesn't turn with normal pressure, stop.
- Count your keys against your shutters. Most homes have more shutter locks than working keys, and nobody discovers this until it matters.
If a cylinder is already seized, it can usually be replaced or rekeyed cheaply — and it's a fifteen-minute job in July that becomes an emergency in September. Our hurricane shutter lock page covers what's involved.
Doors swell, and then they don't latch
South Florida humidity moves wood, and exterior doors in older homes move the most. What you'll notice first is that the door needs a shoulder to close, or the deadbolt goes most of the way and then stops. People start leaving the deadbolt off entirely because it's a fight — which means the door is now held by a knob latch, which is not security.
Usually this isn't a lock problem at all. It's alignment: the strike plate needs adjusting, the hinges have sagged a few millimeters, or the door needs a small amount taken off the edge. It's a cheap fix and it's the difference between a door that's actually locked and a door that looks locked.
Test it the honest way: close the door, throw the deadbolt with one finger, and see if it goes fully home without effort. If you have to lean on it, get it adjusted.
Smart locks and what happens when the power goes out
I install a lot of keypad and smart locks, and I like them — but there's a storm-specific thing worth understanding. Almost all residential smart locks run on their own batteries, so a power outage by itself doesn't lock you out. What does cause problems:
- Wi-Fi-dependent features stop working. Remote unlock from your phone, app notifications, and anything routed through your router are gone when the internet is. The keypad on the door still works. Know your code by memory, not just from the app.
- Batteries die at the worst time. Change them before the season, not when the low-battery chirp starts in August. Keep a spare set somewhere you can find in the dark.
- Know where your physical override key is. Nearly every smart lock has one. Most people have never used it and have no idea where it went after installation.
If you're choosing hardware for a coastal home, that's a slightly different conversation — salt air is hard on finishes and electronics both. Our guide to the best smart locks for South Florida homes goes into which ones hold up.
If you're evacuating
A few things that save real grief:
- Take a key with you, and leave one with someone local who isn't evacuating. If your home gets damaged, somebody may need to get in before you can get back.
- Photograph your doors and hardware before you leave. It takes two minutes and makes an insurance claim far easier if something gets forced or damaged.
- Lock the interior doors too if you have anything valuable behind them. Storm damage and the days after are when opportunistic break-ins happen.
- Don't leave a spare outside. Post-storm is exactly the wrong time for a key under a planter.
After it passes
Two things worth checking once you're back. First, any door that took water or wind may have shifted — re-test that every deadbolt throws cleanly, because a door that got racked in the frame will quietly stop locking properly. Second, if anything was forced or damaged, get it secured the same day rather than living with a door that "mostly closes."
And rinse the salt off your exterior hardware. Seriously. A quick fresh-water rinse and a dry lubricant on the shutter locks after a storm adds years to them.
I'm out across Palm Beach and Broward County seven days a week, 9 AM to 7 PM, and the pre-season shutter lock check is one of the easier things I do. If your shutters haven't been closed since last year, that's the one to handle this month — not the week a storm is in the Gulf.