Sound familiar?Strathcona Gardens
- The call
- Every time you pull the key out of the side door it comes away gritty. The lock has been sticky since the salt trucks started running, and today it has gone from sticky to solid, with the bolt still thrown.
The shop's lever handle goes down as usual, but the latch inside the mortise case never pulls back. Staff are waiting on the sidewalk with their coffees, the door is locked, and the handle is simply moving air.
In plain words
Most seized locks can be saved, and keeping your existing hardware is the aim. A cylinder that has stopped turning is usually recoverable with cleaning and fresh internal parts. A failed tailpiece is a small component swapped without touching the rest of the lock. A bolt bound by the door needs adjustment, not new hardware. Replacement is the answer for a plug or shell that is worn, damaged or hollowed out by corrosion beyond what cleaning and parts can fix, and then the new cylinder is matched to your keyway and finish and, where possible, keyed to the key already in your pocket.
Seized & Jammed Lock Opening · Strathcona Gardens
How the visit goes
Scene 1
The key in your hand
Before blaming the lock, the locksmith looks at the key. A key that has been copied from another copy several times drifts away from the true cuts, a worn key no longer lifts the pins to the shear line, and a bent key binds before it is fully seated. If an original or a rarely used spare exists, it is tried; a lock that opens with the spare has told you the problem. Some cylinders also retain the key until the plug is returned to its neutral position, and a key that seems trapped may simply be a plug that has not come back. A fresh key cut from the code is a common outcome.
Scene 2
Thawing ice and clearing salt
Ice is melted, never chipped. A lock de-icer or gentle warmth on the cylinder face turns the frozen meltwater back to liquid so it can drain, and the key is then worked until the plug turns. Boiling water is kept well away, because it refreezes inside and can crack cold brass. Salt crust is flushed out with contact cleaner and the plug is dried thoroughly before any lubricant goes in, since salt and moisture sealed under lubricant keep corroding. The cylinder is then dressed with the lubricant specified for that product, applied once everything is dry. If the weatherstrip has frozen to the door, that bond is released and the seal wiped.
Scene 3
For a business: a door the staff can rely on
On a commercial door the handover includes the people who use it. Whoever opens in the morning is shown how the lever, key and cylinder now behave, and the exit side is demonstrated so everyone knows the door opens from inside with one motion. If the mortise case was serviced, the parts that were replaced are named so a future locksmith knows what is in there. A note of which keys were tested and who holds them supports whatever key control the business runs. Spare keys are checked in the lock before they go back in the safe.
In the van
- Cylinder springs, pins and cap
- Replacement tailpiece or cam
- Long hinge screws
- Electronic contact cleaner
- Replacement cylinder
What shapes the quoteElizabeth Gardens Locksmith Pros
- Type of lock on the door
- A residential deadbolt, a knob latch, a lever set, a mortise case in an older house and a high-security cylinder each take different tools and time to open and to service.
- When the call comes in
- An evening, weekend or holiday call for a jammed lock costs the same amount as a weekday one. The locksmith looks at what is actually jammed once on site, and the exact figure follows from that, not from the clock.
- Keying a new cylinder to your existing key
- Pinning a replacement cylinder to the key already on your ring, or rekeying other doors to match a new key, is extra work per cylinder and simplest to do in the same visit.
FeesSame any hour
Straight answers
Can a seized lock be opened without damaging it?
In most cases, yes. A bolt held by the door is freed by relieving the pressure on the door. A cylinder clogged with grit or ice is cleaned and thawed until it turns. A failed tailpiece is bypassed and replaced. The lock stays on the door with its finish and your existing keys. A plug or shell that is worn, damaged, or eaten through by corrosion or earlier forcing is what has to be replaced, and that is explained before any work starts.
Can an old mortise lock in a century home be serviced rather than replaced?
Often, and keeping the original hardware is usually worth trying first, since it fits the door and suits the house, though condition and the availability of matching parts decide whether a repair is realistic. The case comes out of the door edge, the decades of dust and hardened grease are cleaned away, a broken spring or worn hub is replaced with a matching part, and the contact surfaces get fresh grease. If a bit key or a cylinder has worn, a new key is cut or the cylinder rebuilt.
Should I spray something into the keyway while I wait?
Better not, unless it is a proper dry lock lubricant. Household oils, general penetrating sprays and hinge silicone thicken inside the cylinder and attract grit, so they buy a day and cost a service later. If the lock is frozen, a lock de-icer is fine; boiling water is not, since it refreezes deeper in. The most useful thing to do while waiting is to stop turning the key, so it does not bend or snap.
Lockout Services
- Business Lockout ServiceMinus eighteen with a wind, and the exterior cylinder on the shop door has frozen solid overnight after yesterday's slush.
- Broken Key ExtractionThat key had been bending a little for years, and you kept straightening it.
- Break-In Damage Lock RepairThey did not get in.
- Lost Keys — Same-Visit RekeyYou let a part-time employee go on Friday.
Strathcona Gardensinformation
HaltonOntario
Seized & Jammed Lock Opening · Burlington, Dynes, Elizabeth Gardens, Longmoor, Orchard, Port Nelson, Roseland
- Town
- Strathcona Gardens, 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.In an area of varied housing ages, rekeying is the one job that fits every door. Old cylinders and new ones both take fresh pins, so a household moving into either kind of home can start with keys that nobody else holds.
- Single-detached houses make up about 50% of homes in Burlington (2021 Census).Neighbourhoods of houses beside townhouses and low-rise buildings have a range of door constructions: solid wood, steel, fibreglass and metal-clad. A locksmith who works in such an area is used to fitting hardware to all of them without new holes.
On-site assessment
Request a visit.
The shop's lever handle goes down as usual, but the latch inside the mortise case never pulls back.
(289) 816-2265, open 24/7.