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In the interest of making my main entrance comfortable for everybody to use, and more importantly to ensure that it was closed correctly all the time, I had a professional install a door closer. Basically if you open the door and let it go it swings closed quietly and gently closes and locks. Or you would hope. People turn around and push it closed or pull it closed despite in my entrance letter telling them no need to do that the door is self closing. When this happens after a couple of days, I need to make an adjustment on it because after a couple of days it goes out of the kind of alignment needs and either slams or doesn’t close at all.
I am actually happy even to make the adjustment, because the self-closing aspect it’s so valuable, when somebody uses it, it makes life really nice - no slamming of doors, no leaving the door open for 15 minutes while somebody takes a bag to their car and rearranges their trunk, etc.
I need to find a way to remind people that the door closes this way. I’ve been on this forum a long time, and many times said that when the host has issues with the guest, to see it from the guest’s perspective and not force an arcane rule or unnatural action on the guests.
I think my problem is that a door closer on a main door is unexpected. Usually, a private home does not have a door closer, except on things like screen doors. Nobody open the screen door with a screen door closer attached and then forces it closed… it is counterintuitive. It’s in their welcome text message, but I’m wondering if a sign on the door, even a humorous one, would work in this situation or would be an annoyance?
Funny sign on the inside? “Hey, wait! No need to push, pull, yank or shove me. I have a fancy self-closing mechanism for your convenience! Sincerely, The Door.”
I have a sign in the kitchen in my 2nd home that begins “Hi, I’m your counter” because a previous owner put in marble counters that stain if a drop of coffee isn’t wiped up promptly.
Why not try a small sign and see how it goes? Placing it seem like more of an issue, though. If placed on the inside of the door, I’d expect many if not most guests wouldn’t see the sign until it’s too late. It would probably cut down on the number of times any one guest forces the door closed, though.
If people do prop this door open for some reason, and it automatically locks, and then they let it shut, the deadbolt is sticking out, the door is not secured, and they might not notice. Is that correct? I have this dilemma. I have an auto lock which I cannot increase past 30 seconds. It has left a channel in the doorframe where the extended deadbolt has slammed so many times. People (children) sometimes do not pay attention, let it slam after having propped it open, and the deadbolt is extended. I need the auto lock, though, because they also forget to secure the door. I want a door closer to deal with the slamming, but I fear it will exacerbate the deadbolt issue.
No, this is a smartlock by Remote Lock, and it is a standard door lock. The open edge also features integration with airbnb so that it provides limited time codes for each guest. Deadbolts are not usable in airbnb main doors for the reasons you mention.
I’d try a sign, certainly can’t hurt. If the issue still persists, then I’d probably take it out altogether. I know as a guest I wouldn’t trust it, even if I knew it was there, only because I wasn’t familiar with it. I’d still probably test it once it’s closed. So that means I’d have to stand around and wait for it to close or maybe give it a little extra push to speed it up. I think you nailed it by saying it’s unexpected. It may be just too nice of a feature for a rental.
