Change or rekey · Fairmont
Lock Rekeying in Fairmont
Your basement tenant has given notice, and a new one arrives on the first. The lock on the separate entrance works perfectly well.
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 goesOne key for the front door, another for the back, a third for the side door into the garage, and a fourth for the shed. You stand on the step every evening flipping through them in the dark, trying each one until something turns.
Fairmont
How the visit goes
The condition of every cylinder
A cylinder about to be pinned to a new key should be worth pinning. The locksmith turns the existing key in each lock and feels for a plug that drags, soft springs, a wobbling cam or a keyway packed with grit and old oil. A cylinder in good order is rekeyed as it is. A worn one is cleaned and given fresh springs while it is apart, and one that has truly worn out is pointed out so you can choose a replacement rather than have new pins dropped into a tired lock. A bolt that binds against its strike gets noticed here too, so the strike can be adjusted while the locksmith is at the door.
When a cylinder is swapped instead of repinned
Sometimes the right move for a particular door is a new cylinder rather than new pins, and the locksmith says so before doing it. A cylinder with a keyway that cannot join the household key is replaced with one that can. A plug that has worn oval, springs that have collapsed, or a cylinder someone has already drilled is replaced because fresh pins would not fix its feel. In each case the replacement is pinned to the same new key as the rest of the house, so the swap is invisible in daily use. The old cylinder is handed to you or taken away as you prefer.
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
- Graded bottom pin kit
- Key blanks
- Replacement cylinder for odd keyways
- Key gauge
- Pinning tweezers and tray
What affects the quote
Same fees day, night or weekend
1Records, tags and labelled key sets
A homeowner needs a short note. A property manager may want a keying chart, tagged sets for each suite and a key-issuance log, which is more office work and is quoted as such.
2One key group or several
Keying every door alike is the simplest plan. Setting up separate keys for a basement suite, an office or a shed adds a group to pin and label, and the quote shows that as separate work.
3Mismatched keyways needing a cylinder swap
Where one door's cylinder cannot take the key the other doors share, a compatible replacement cylinder is fitted and pinned to match, and that hardware appears as its own line in the quote.
Lock Rekeying: questions
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 am a landlord. Should I rekey between tenants?
Many landlords do, and it removes the question of whether every copy came back. The locksmith rekeys the unit's cylinders so the incoming tenant holds the only working keys, cuts the copies you want, and notes the count for your move-in record. Because provincial tenancy rules expect the tenant to be handed replacement keys whenever a landlord changes a lock, the visit ends with keys for both of you and a clear list of which doors were done.
How many new keys will I get, and can I get more later?
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.
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 brass knob on the front door of your century home turns, but nothing happens on the other side.
- Smart Lock InstallationThe rental turns over every few months and each time you drive across town to swap keys, then…
Lock Rekeying near you
Whatever brought you to this page from Fairmont, whether it was a lockout, a lost key, a move, a break-in or simply a door that has annoyed you for months, one of the services below fits. Each is written to tell you what happens, what it involves, and what you have when the locksmith leaves.