Need to secure washer & dryer from neighbors. Do they make key locked ones?

[qliveur]

Is your neighbor an immature douche? If not, how about talking with him and seeing if he is willing to pay half the cost and responsibly share the washer and dryer?

It might be better in the long run, since you have to live with him.

Unless you're lucky, that shit never works.

In modern society, the apes outnumber the humans.

 

[God Mode]

Why do you even waste time with this nonsense? It is obvious that you want to simply kill this person.

 

[Sa7aN]

buy one of these
http://www.amazon.com/US-General-Bat.../dp/B001R6UIBC

have electrician install it onto the side of the 220v outlet. take key with you when not in use

 

[isekii]

Just put the coin op thing and charge like 5 bucks per wash and 5 bucks to dry.
It'll pay for itself and more in less than a year.

 

[PingSpike]

I would abandon this entire plan personally.

 

[Ghiddy]

There's a flaw with that thing.

As soon as your neighbour hears the washer going, he can run downstairs unplug the washer, take the volt bolt, plug the washer back in, and make the voltbolt disappear.

You then have to keep buying them.

Instead of screwing a couple of latches in, you could try using some superglue.

Solution: beat his ass. If he's doing shit like this simple deterrents like locks and shit are the least of my worries.

 

[Tsaico]

There's two different solutions here. Seems pretty cheap.

Never knew such a thing existed, now I do...

 

[Ghiddy]

I would abandon this entire plan personally.

Please share why.

 

[Jaepheth]

A true douche will wait for you to start a load of laundry, and then go down and replace your clothes with his.

 

[waggy]

wow..

its rather sad and amusing that you have to think of that..

 

[paperfist]

Man I wouldn't be drilling into a new washer and dryer. While the areas you'd have to drill into wouldn't effect it I bet your warranty would be null and void.

If you get stackables you might be able to find a cabinet to put them into and just lock that.

 

[BoomerD]

Build a room around the washer/dryer area and keep it locked.

Latches and the other "simple" fixes MIGHT keep him out of your equipment...but he MIGHT damage your equipment trying to bypass those simple locks. If he does...whatcha gonna do?

 

[richardycc]

add a power cord lock...no power, no wash n dryer.

 

[Jaepheth]

Get one of these and I can practically guarantee the other tenant won't be using it.

 

[Lithium381]

even better..............leave a bottle of detergent containing a dye of some sort near the washer. I bet this guy is so douchy, he would use it. His clothes would be ruined.....and he can't really hold you accountable, as he CHOSE to use your machine

in california you would likely be held liable for the damages

 

[hanoverphist]

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/AMERICAN-LOCK-Pin-Tumbler-Mail-Box-Lock-1JAD3?Pid=search

easy solution. ive never heard of a dryer that needed to be air tight. washers have to be water tight.

if it were only you and the neighbor, a friendly talk may be in order regardless of your solutions.

 

[JEDIYoda]

A true douche will wait for you to start a load of laundry, and then go down and replace your clothes with his.

actually a true douche will wait for you to start your laundry and then use a bottle of bleach to exact douchamania...

 

[waffleironhead]

just buy a commercial washer and dryer. profit?

 

[PingSpike]

Please share why.

Because if your neighbor is really that big of a douche and your landlord has basically bowed out any responsibility the whole thing is just going to go to shit no matter what.

Anyway, if you really want to go through with it what you need to do is use deception rather than brute force security. If you can find some kind of gigantic boiler or heater or other piece of industrial looking equipment that could reasonably be assumed to be noisy and that you can fit the washer inside of to hide that its even there you might be able to win. But you'll still have to hide your laundry activities from the mooch which is more trouble than its worth.

 

[DrPizza]

Okay, no one brought it up, but it should have been brought up immediately: How does putting coins in either cause them to break? I've had a lot of coins from pockets go through the laundry. They don't do anything, except rattle around in the dryer.

 

[Ghiddy]

Because if your neighbor is really that big of a douche and your landlord has basically bowed out any responsibility the whole thing is just going to go to shit no matter what.

Anyway, if you really want to go through with it what you need to do is use deception rather than brute force security. If you can find some kind of gigantic boiler or heater or other piece of industrial looking equipment that could reasonably be assumed to be noisy and that you can fit the washer inside of to hide that its even there you might be able to win. But you'll still have to hide your laundry activities from the mooch which is more trouble than its worth.

I agree with what you said, and with the other posters who point out that if he was really determined to fuck with me there's not much I could do to stop him. I am just taking the lock installation as an initial precaution. The lock is really just a deterrent. I don't know the extent of this tenant's douche-iness, and I don't have any reason to believe it will come to him sabotaging my stuff.

If it comes to that I will deal with that appropriately and legally. Most likely by having hidden cameras and then taking him to court for destruction of property, and probably getting him evicted for fucking with our stuff as well. I would also confront him non-violently and calmly if I suspected any foul play. Most people who do stupid shit like that are cowards and will back down when confronted. In the outlandish case that he wanted to get crazy i have no problem defending myself.

I just think it's a better idea overall to have a physical deterrent to other people using our washer & dryer than to have to try to play games with them if they decide to try to use it anyways after we ask them not to. This would also help prevent him from asking to use our units in an "emergency" or one-off case, and possibly also falling into the habit of using them when he thinks we wouldn't notice. I'd also be open to just sharing them with him if he gave a deposit of the full price of the units, in case he damaged them. I volunteer that offer, but that would be my stipulation if he brought it up.

 

[Ghiddy]

Okay, no one brought it up, but it should have been brought up immediately: How does putting coins in either cause them to break? I've had a lot of coins from pockets go through the laundry. They don't do anything, except rattle around in the dryer.

Good question. I'm not sure what the answer is. This is simply what the landlord told me. I don't see why the landlord would have any reason to lie about this. He said the coins or keys or something were jamming up the washer.

 

[Jaepheth]

Okay, no one brought it up, but it should have been brought up immediately: How does putting coins in either cause them to break? I've had a lot of coins from pockets go through the laundry. They don't do anything, except rattle around in the dryer.

The other tenant could be Yapese

 

[GotIssues]

Talk to him and see if he'll go halfsies on it. It's the best deterrent to behavior that will damage the unit, and you don't have to be a complete douche about the situation. If he's not interested, then later inform him that you are buying it and if he's still not interested in going in on it, then he can't use it and monitor it's usage. If he starts using it, restort to the simple VoltBolt or whatever to stop him from using it. He'll realize he got busted and cut it out. You don't have to be a douche to beat the douche.

I have no idea why someone who is renting is willing to put down the several hundred $'s into (relatively) permanent appliances. They aren't fun or easy to move, and at a rental property, you aren't likely to be there for the lifespan of the appliance. Honestly, it sounds to me like the landlord is just looking for an excuse so he doesn't have to put in a washer/dryer, and hoping to get a pair on the cheap when you leave.

 

[Ghiddy]

Talk to him and see if he'll go halfsies on it. It's the best deterrent to behavior that will damage the unit, and you don't have to be a complete douche about the situation. If he's not interested, then later inform him that you are buying it and if he's still not interested in going in on it, then he can't use it and monitor it's usage. If he starts using it, restort to the simple VoltBolt or whatever to stop him from using it. He'll realize he got busted and cut it out. You don't have to be a douche to beat the douche.

I have no idea why someone who is renting is willing to put down the several hundred $'s into (relatively) permanent appliances. They aren't fun or easy to move, and at a rental property, you aren't likely to be there for the lifespan of the appliance. Honestly, it sounds to me like the landlord is just looking for an excuse so he doesn't have to put in a washer/dryer, and hoping to get a pair on the cheap when you leave.

They aren't that permanent. I live in a big city and when I move out I could easily sell them to the landlord, next tenant, or to a stranger online. If I'm moving to somewhere else within the same city moving those along with all my other furniture would not really add much additional moving costs.

The convenience of having a washer dryer in the building as opposed to walking a few blocks to do laundry every weekend is worth it even if I couldn't sell them when I move out. Landlord will be paying the utilities for the dryer so I will save money overall after about 2 years vs. doing it at a coin op (the ones near me are expensive; i spend about $40/month on laundry). If counting my roomies too, it will repay itself after 1 year.