Hi all, I just recently purchased a 20 unit apartment building and am having some issues. Non of the issues are with the building itself, only its visitors. I keep getting property damage on the inside of the building by having people walk right through the front door. I am there most of the time, but I am in school and work at the same time. The only thing I can gather that would correct this problem would be to lock the door and have an intercom system installed to buzz each separate apartment from outside. If the tenant so chooses, I want him/her to be able to buzz the person into the building without walking down 3 flights of stairs to the main entrance. The building has no such system currently installed. I want to know how much a system like this could cost and what kind of systems there are. If I could, I'd like to get a wireless system (if they exist) but am unsure if the system would get confused and buzz the wrong apartment. Any help or thoughts are greatly appreciated.
I've never seen a wireless, but they may exist. I had a couple of doors change to a system like that with intercoms in three offices. All the wiring is low voltage. Impossible to give a price unless someone sees the job. Construction, apartment layout, and locations affect all of this. It can be done but I'd guess it could be from $2500 to $25,000.
Our system was installed by the same outfit that does our security alarms. They have the experience and expertise.
Cheap solution would be put a lock on front door, and either key it so the apartment keys can open it, or give each tenant a key and just plan on changing the keying yearly. Since about 3/4 of people have cell phones now, just put a sign up to tell people to call the person they are visiting to get let in. Tenant would still have to walk down, but so what? Buy a cheap security camera, and mount it in an armored bubble pointed at front door, with the recorder in the furnace room or some other secure space. Nothing like being on camera to make punks mind their manners.
They added a system like that to some cheap apartments I used to live in, after enclosing the formerly open entryways. It was a pain in the ass, and seldom worked correctly. And drunks and ex-boyfriends would just press all the buttons until somebody buzzed them in just to shut them up, so you still had all the night-time door pounders anyway.
aemeijers wrote in news:5tWdndZ7IsV9ZRTWnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:
This sounds like a good idea. I don't like having tenants buzz people in without seeing who it is. Their friends can call 5 minutes ahead to let them know they'll be there.
Of 20 apartments, how many are lived in by older, sick, or disabled people? Rather than walk down they are going to leave the door unlocked. Ever been on crutches? If so, how would you let people in, especially if they are coming to assist you? No, not a good idea at all.
New York City law enables the signatures of 70 or 80%, or some other high number, of tenants, to compel the installation of what you describe.
We had a building where there had been no vandalism but the little sofa and chair in the lobby had been stolen. They were nothing great, and no one ever sat on them, and it didn't really look bad without them, but still, and the new ll didnt' want to replace it. More important was the general problem of anyone walking in.
In order to get all the signatures needed, or at least mine, I had to promise that there would be no return buzzer. In a 48 unit building, it's too easy to just press buttons until someone lets you in. I don't know if the installer was told, but probably not, because the law didn't account for what I wanted, no return buzzer. So the whole system was installed by the landlord, and within a couple days, I cut the wires for the return buzzer. They were repaired once and I cut them again. After that things were peaceful.
The buzzers and the intercom still worked.
The two buildings, connected by a big hall at ground level, were 6 stories tall and each had an elevator. People on the first floor could walk over; people in the front two arpartments, 10 of them, could throw a key out the window if they wanted, everyone else could just come down. Security was more important than inconveniencing them. If they had regular visitors, nothing stopped them from making another key for a visitor.
The only remaining problem was people following in others who lived there. At the tenants meaning, I taught some of them to blame someone else. "I'm not allowed to let in people I don't know". It usually worked, and even furniture thieves didn't want to get noticed in a confrontation like that. I was there 5 more years and was back 17 years later, the most recent time, and it was still working as intended.
You can put let the tenants vote on the return buzzer, or you can let one or two votes against be sufficient not to have one, and if you have one, you can get rid of it whenever you want.
We had lots of old people in our building. This was 1976 and many of them had lived there since the building was built in 1930. Most were women in the 80's. Mrs. Rutlidge, Miss Hussy and Mrs. VanDyne, Mrs. Tieke, and others. They were particularly vulnerable to strangers wandering around the building.
In several years, no one ever left the door unlocked. I never found it unlocked or ever found anything that could be used to do so. The door was on a closer and the bolt was a slam lock.
Make arrangements with a neighbor, who can go downstairs or might even live downstairs, to let the person in**. If no one will be home during the day, the helper will have to come the previous evening when someone is home, to be given a key. **The neighbor doesn't even have to live in the same building. He could live down the block, or on the next street.
He could also allow specific people to have buzz-in power, if they are on crutches, for example, on their firm promise not to buzz strangers in.
It depends on the details of the op's situation. He wants the door locked for security. So the insecurity of letting 20 different people buzz people in has to be evaluated.
I should have given you credit, Ed, for calling attention to people who have a hard time with stairs. For one thing, he can be sure to install the return buzzer wire, just in case, even if he never or rarely connects it.
Maybe he could run some 20-conductor wire for that, to slow people down who would connect the return-buzzer themselves if there is only one wire left in the box, and that's it.
Probably best to include the tenants in the planning.
Ya have a point there, I guess. Even with a self-closing door with the unlock button disabled, people just prop the door open. So I guess the cheap first solution would to be to just go with the camera and recorder. If building has a common cable TV feed or roof antenna, you can even add a 'front door channel' to the building feed, pretty cheaply.
It would be useful if OP would tell us the age of the building, the city, and the style of construction. 20 units 3 stories sounds like an old urban building, which likely means masonry construction. It would be pretty annoying and labor-intensive to add a traditional wired door intercom to that, with most of the money being labor. If the phone wiring has been updated, perhaps the alarm company could borrow a spare pair from them to get to each unit. I have seen systems that actually dial the tenant's programmed number, and use it as the apartment end of the hookup- tenant punches a code on phone TT pad to unlock door. Or if there is central TV wiring, I have seen stuff that can ride that, too.
At this point, I'd say OP needs to have both local alarm system vendors come by for a visit, and listen to their pitches and ballpark estimates.
"Ed Pawlowski" wrote in news:K66dnfcBuNMKnxfWnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:
They should live on the ground floor. And yes, I've walked with a cane for about a year. I did all my errands on my own and it did take extra time. And yes, it was very painful walking, but I didn't ask for special favors.
The circuit that unlocks the front door when someone in the apartment presses a button. Usually the latch in the door buzzes, and it's known as buzzing someone in.
Ive stayed at an apt that handled this througn the telephone system. You could call from the door then get buzzed in all over the phone. Dont have a clue what this would cost. The big issue may be what its currently costing you in damages.
Do you have the front door locked, if not thats dumb since thefts will happen, an irate tenant you move out can come back and do damage, ive had it happen. My intercom broke but I use keyless locks, if a tenant moves I dont like or I have contractor issues I change the passcode. Just install locks without keys, I found a brand online for about 120 a lock that work well. In Chicago code is to have a secure building and probably intercom, at least get it secure let them use cell phones to comunicate with people wanting to get in. Without a secure building it doesnt take much to get make tenants feel unsecure and move.
Do you know who's causing the damage? If the damage is being caused by friends of the tenants or the tenants' dealers, then a buzz-in system will be a mere inconvenience.
Consider high-tech: A key-card door opener that logs all incoming users. That, coupled with CCTV and recordings should allow you to deduce the culprits. Once found, for a case of beer, you can have the shit beaten out of them.
It seems to me the first thing I'd probably do is install a few security cameras. Depending of course on the constraints of the building, the cost could be relatively modest. Having a prominent one that is visible from outside and focuses on the entry door would be one spot to cover. Another would be one that gets a good shoot facing the people as they walk into the building.
I don't know if such a thing exists, but from the other replies, I can imagine a system that would be an easy install for older buildings and solve most of the issues. Have an electronic door lock linked to a unit that's installed next to the door. Said unit would have a phone handset with keypad. To gain entry a person would enter the apt unit # that they want to visit. The unit would have the corresponding telephone # and call that unit via normal phone call. If the person is there and answers, then they could respond via pushing a touchtone button on their phone to unlock the door.
So, if I break a leg and live on the third floor, I should swap apartments with someone on the first until my leg heals in six or eight weeks. Why didn't I think of that? You are a genius.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.