Change or rekey · Hawkesville
Lock Rekeying in Hawkesville
Your roommate moved out last weekend. Rent is settled, the room is empty, and the key is still on their ring.
Lock Rekeying
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.
How the visit goesYour roommate moved out last weekend. Rent is settled, the room is empty, and the key is still on their ring. You trust them, but the lock on your front door should answer to the people who actually live here.
Hawkesville
How the visit goes
Counting the keys that are already out there
Part of planning a rekey is understanding why it is happening. The locksmith asks how many keys exist as far as you know, who has held one, and whether any went missing with something identifying the address. The answers do not change the pinning, but they shape the advice: whether a padlock or mailbox shares the same risk, whether a garage keypad code should change on the same visit, and how many new keys make sense to cut. It also helps to know whether any key is a restricted or patented type, since those are cut from a record rather than duplicated and may involve the original supplier.
Cutting the new key and gauging the depths
On this cylinder type, the new key comes first, then the pins to match it. The locksmith cuts a fresh key from a blank on a code cutter or duplicator, choosing a combination that is not close to the old one, and reads each cut with a key gauge to find its depth on the manufacturer's scale. Bottom pins of the matching lengths are picked from a graded pin kit and dropped into the plug chamber by chamber, so that when the new key is inserted every pin top sits exactly at the shear line. A key cut from a clean blank and pins matched to it by gauge is what gives a rekeyed lock that crisp, new feel.
The old keys are just metal now
Whatever was out in the world before today, the copy the contractor kept, the key the former roommate never returned, the ring that went missing on the bus, none of it turns a lock on your property any more. That is the whole point of the visit, and it is worth saying plainly because people sometimes keep worrying afterwards. If you still hold old keys, they can go in the metal recycling. There is no need to change the door hardware or your routine, but any keypad code known to someone whose access is ending should be deleted or changed separately, since rekeying the mechanical cylinder does not touch those codes.
Lock Rekeying
In the van
- Pinning tweezers and tray
- Key tags and keying record
- Graded bottom pin kit
- Cylinder shim
- Code cutter or key duplicator
What affects the quote
Same fees day, night or weekend
1Travel to the property
Every visit includes the drive. A home across town and a rural property at the end of a long road involve different travel time, and the quote reflects the trip as well as the bench work.
2Access to each door being rekeyed
A rekeying visit goes smoothly when every door is reachable without delay: an empty unit, a cleared hallway, or someone available to let the locksmith into each room. Locked common areas, tenants who are out, or furniture blocking a cylinder all add time the locksmith accounts for on site.
3Interior doors added to the plan
Bedroom, office or storage-room locks brought onto a key are lighter work than exterior deadbolts, but each is still a cylinder to pin and test, and the count includes them.
Lock Rekeying: questions
What happens to my old keys?
They become ordinary pieces of brass. Once the cylinders are pinned to the new combination, the old keys turn nothing on your property, so there is no security reason to keep or hide them. Hand them to the locksmith for disposal or drop them in the metal recycling. If a former roommate or contractor still has one, it no longer matters, which is the whole reason for the visit. Keep only the new set, counted and tagged.
Will my door hardware look any different afterwards?
No. The work happens inside the cylinder, so the bolt, handle, finish and strike plate stay exactly as they are, and nothing new is cut into the door. The only visible change is the key in your hand. If a cylinder does have to be replaced, because its keyway is incompatible with the others or it has worn out, the locksmith picks one in a matching finish so the door keeps a consistent look.
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.
Change or Rekey Locks
- Lock Replacement & UpgradeThe lever on the side door droops toward the floor and rattles in your hand.
- Vintage Mortise Lock ServiceThe key turns freely in the round cylinder on the door, all the way around and back, without the…
- Smart Lock InstallationHalf the evenings someone asks whether the back door got locked, and nobody is sure.
Lock Rekeying near you
One team handles every service on this page for Hawkesville, so a lockout can turn into a rekey, and a rekey into a properly set deadbolt, within the same visit if you want it. Each service is described separately below, but at the door they fit together as one piece of work.