Sound familiar?Orchard
- The call
- The previous owners left a coffee tin of keys on the counter, some labelled, most not. The house is yours now, but you have no idea how many copies were cut over the years or who still has one in a drawer somewhere.
The previous owners left a coffee tin of keys on the counter, some labelled, most not. The house is yours now, but you have no idea how many copies were cut over the years or who still has one in a drawer somewhere.
In plain words
Rekeying is really about knowing who can open your door. Over the life of a home, keys are lent to trades, handed to neighbours for the holidays, given to a cleaner or a dog walker, and copied at the hardware store. Nobody keeps a list. Rekeying draws a line: from today, the only working keys are the ones counted into your hand. Good practice afterwards is simple, and a locksmith will suggest it: know how many keys exist, know who holds each one, tag them with a colour or code rather than the address, and rekey again whenever a key leaves your control.
Lock Rekeying · Orchard
How the visit goes
Scene 1
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.
Scene 2
Taking the cylinder out of the lock
Each type of lock releases its cylinder in its own way, and the locksmith works door by door, finishing one before opening the next, so every entry stays lockable throughout. On a knob or lever set, the handle comes off after a retaining clip or set screw is released, and the cylinder slides out of the handle. On a deadbolt, the interior thumb-turn and housing are removed and the cylinder is withdrawn from the outside body. On an older mortise lock, a small set screw on the door edge is backed out and the cylinder unthreads from the case. Nothing is pried or forced; the door and trim stay untouched throughout.
Scene 3
For landlords: the tenant's copies and the paperwork
After a rental unit is rekeyed, the incoming tenant receives their keys, the landlord keeps a copy as the tenancy rules expect, and the number issued is written on the move-in record so the count at move-out is easy to check. The former tenant's keys are retired. Where a building has several suites, the locksmith can keep each on its own key while the shared entry stays on a common one, and the note of which key belongs to which door becomes the start of a keying chart. That chart is what makes the next turnover a matter of one cylinder rather than a guessing game about who has what.
In the van
- Code cutter or key duplicator
- Key blanks
- Key tags and keying record
- Cylinder shim
- Plug follower
What shapes the quoteElizabeth Gardens Locksmith Pros
- No working key for a door
- When a cylinder must be shimmed, decoded or picked open before it can be repinned because no key exists for it, that extra step is included in the quote for that door.
- Several units in one building
- A landlord rekeying a duplex, a triplex or a small apartment building, with each suite on its own key and a common entry shared, has more cylinders and a keying chart to build, and the quote grows accordingly.
- Condition of the existing cylinders
- A clean cylinder is repinned as it is. One with collapsed springs, a plug packed with old oil or a worn housing needs service or replacement while it is apart, and that shows separately.
FeesSame any hour
Straight answers
My house is older and has a mortise lock. Can that be rekeyed?
Yes. A mortise lock, the kind with a large case set into the edge of the door, uses a threaded cylinder held by a set screw reached from the door's edge. The cylinder unthreads, is pinned like any other and screws back in. Where a very old lock uses a bit key or a lever mechanism instead of a pin cylinder, the locksmith will explain the options, which may include fitting a modern cylinder into the existing case so the door keeps its original hardware.
What is a restricted keyway, and does it change anything?
A restricted or patented keyway is one whose blanks are not sold to the public, so copies can only be cut by an authorized dealer from a record of who is allowed to have them. Rekeying such a cylinder is the same operation inside, but the new keys are cut from controlled blanks and the count is logged. The benefit is that a key cannot be duplicated at a kiosk without your knowledge, which makes the record of who holds one much easier to trust.
I rent. Can I have my locks rekeyed?
Yes, with your landlord's agreement, which is what the tenancy rules here expect before a tenant changes a lock. Most landlords are glad to consent when a key has gone missing or a former roommate has moved out, and the locksmith will want to hear that the landlord knows and will be holding one of the new keys. The rekey itself runs the same as for an owner, and a short note listing the doors done is handy to pass to the landlord.
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Orchardinformation
HaltonOntario
Lock Rekeying · Burlington, Dynes, Elizabeth Gardens, Longmoor, Port Nelson, Roseland, Strathcona Gardens
- Town
- Orchard, Halton
- In business
- 32 years
- Hours
- Open 24/7
- Nights, weekends and holidays, same fees
- Phone
- (289) 816-2265
- Visits
- On-site assessment preferred. Request a visit or call.
2021 census: what it means at the door
Every square is one home in a hundred.
- 47 in 100 homes · mixed ages
- 50 in 100 homes · mixed housing
- About 47% of homes in Burlington were built in 1980 or earlier, according to the 2021 Census.Older frames and newer frames fail in different ways. Settled wood pulls strikes out of line; new framing settles as it dries. A locksmith used to a mixed area recognises which he is looking at and adjusts accordingly.
- Single-detached houses make up about 50% of homes in Burlington (2021 Census).In an area with both houses and attached homes, the work varies by the door. A detached house wants all its exterior doors on one key; a suite door wants a cylinder that suits a metal frame and respects building rules. A locksmith carries parts for both.
On-site assessment
Request a visit.
The previous owners left a coffee tin of keys on the counter, some labelled, most not.
(289) 816-2265, open 24/7.