Change or rekey
Change or Rekey Locks
Residential work covers more than the front door. Garage side entries, walkout basements, patio sliders and gate latches are all common weak points, and a house is only as secure as its least considered door.
Which one do I need?
- The whole key ring went missing somewhere between the grocery store and the bus.Lock Rekeying
- The bolt on the front door is keyed on both sides.Deadbolt Installation
- Someone tried the back door while you were away.Lock Replacement & Upgrade
- The knob flops loose on its spindle and never springs back to level.Vintage Mortise Lock Service
- Your mother still lives on her own, and the personal support worker, the pharmacy delivery and two siblings all need to get in on different days.Smart Lock Installation
- A neighbour mentions, in passing, that the key from three tenants ago still lets him into the building's front door.Gate & Building Entry Locks
Change or Rekey Locks
New keys for the locks you have, or new locks where the hardware has worn out: rekeying, replacement, deadbolts, smart locks and older mortise hardware.
Lock Rekeying
Reading the keyway on each lock
Whether several doors can share one key depends on the cylinders, not the number of doors. Each lock has a keyway, the profile a key must match to enter the plug, and only cylinders with the same keyway can be pinned to the same key. The locksmith looks at the face of each cylinder and the profile of each existing key to sort the house into families.
Most homes carry one or two of the common residential keyways, sometimes with an odd one on a side door or a padlock. Anything from a different family is noted so you can decide whether to swap that cylinder for a matching one and bring the door onto the house key.