Your roommate moved out last weekend. Rent is settled, the room is empty, and the key is still on their ring.
What you keep after rekeying is almost everything. The deadbolt, the handle set, the finish that matches your door hardware, the strike plate and the holes in the door all stay exactly where they are, which matters on an older door where new hardware rarely lines up with old mortises. What changes is a handful of brass pins a few millimetres long inside each cylinder, and the key in your pocket. The work is done on site, one cylinder at a time, so the house is never left with an unsecured door, and worn springs or a sticky plug can be dealt with while the cylinder is already apart.
Sound familiar?Oakville
Lock Rekeying · Oakville
Scene 1
Rekeying decides who can enter a home, so the first check is about the person asking. A homeowner shows photo identification and something tying them to the property, such as a tax bill, a closing document or a utility statement. A property manager brings authorization from the owner. A tenant is asked whether the landlord has agreed to the change and will receive a copy of the new key, because tenancy rules here expect both sides to hold one. Where a unit is in a condominium, the locksmith asks whether the building has a rule about suite-door locks. None of this is an obstacle; it is the part of the job that protects the home being worked on.
Scene 2
Some residential deadbolts and handle sets are built so the owner can change the key with a small tool, a working key and the new key. They save a bench session, and they also go wrong in a particular way: without a working key of the correct type, or with a key from the wrong keyway, the reset stalls partway. The locksmith carries the reset tool and the reset procedure for these cylinders, confirms the keyway matches the new house key, and completes the change so the cylinder accepts the new key and rejects the old one. If the mechanism has been damaged by a forced reset, it is replaced with a standard cylinder and pinned to match.
Scene 3
A short record closes the job: which doors were rekeyed, whether any cylinder was replaced, how many keys were issued and to whom, and any door that was deliberately kept on its own key. For a homeowner it is a line in the house file that answers the question, years from now, of which key opens what. For a landlord it is the handover to give the incoming tenant and to keep for the next turnover. For a property manager it is the start of a proper keying chart. It also makes any later work simpler, since the next locksmith can see what system the house is on.
What shapes the quoteEnnisclare Park Locksmith Specialists
FeesSame any hour
As many as you ask for, cut on site from the fresh pinning and tested in each door they should open; two or three is typical for a household. More can be cut later. When you do, bring one of the locksmith's originals to be copied rather than a copy of a copy, since every generation strays slightly from the intended depths. If any key is a restricted type, additional copies come from the record kept for that system rather than from a hardware store.
Often the stiffness is grit, old oil and tired springs rather than real wear, and those are handled while the cylinder is on the bench: the plug is cleaned, new springs go in with the new pins, and a dry lubricant finishes it. If the plug has worn oval or the housing is damaged, the locksmith shows you and suggests a replacement cylinder pinned to the same key, rather than fresh pins in a lock that will keep dragging.
Yes, and it is common. A basement suite or in-law apartment often gets its own key so the tenant's key opens their door and nothing else, while your key opens the main house. A home office, a storage room or a shed can be kept separate for the same reason. The locksmith sets up the groups you want, pins each accordingly and tags the keys so the separate one is not mixed into the household set.
HaltonOntario
Lock Rekeying · Clearview, Ennisclare Park, Falgarwood
Every square is one home in a hundred.
On-site assessment preferred · (289) 815-4609, open 24/7
