High security · London
High Security Locks
The restricted keys you bought years ago are no longer restricted; the locksmith mentioned the patent has run out and blanks are sold openly. Your key control quietly stopped being control.
High Security Locks
In plain words
High security locks are cylinders and deadbolts designed to defeat the methods used against ordinary doors. Inside the cylinder a second locking mechanism, usually a sidebar released by finger pins or rotating pins, has to be satisfied at the same time as the normal pin stack, which is what stops picking and bumping. Hardened steel inserts stop drill bits. The bolt is thicker and carries a hardened pin against sawing, and a reinforced strike ties the lock into the wall framing. Just as important, the key is cut on a patented blank that only an authorised person can have copied, so your key count stays known.
How the visit goesThe restricted keys you bought years ago are no longer restricted; the locksmith mentioned the patent has run out and blanks are sold openly. Your key control quietly stopped being control.
London
How the visit goes
What the door is protecting
The assessment starts with a question rather than a tape measure: what is behind this door, and what has made you think about it now? A front door on a family home, a stockroom with prescription drugs and a server closet in an office carry different risks and deserve different levels of hardware. The locksmith also asks who has keys today and how sure you are of that count. Those answers decide whether the right answer is a graded deadbolt with a controlled key, a laboratory-rated cylinder in a heavy lock body, or a small keyed system across several doors. Spending goes where the risk actually sits.
Setting up controlled keys
The key system is registered to you before the first key is cut. The locksmith records the system, the authorised signatories and the number of keys issued, and hands you the authorisation card or online validation details. Every key is cut from code rather than copied, because the angled cuts or side milling must be exact for the sidebar to release. Extra keys later are ordered by an authorised person and logged, and blanks are not sold outside the manufacturer's network. This is what makes a key stop being a thing anyone can duplicate at a kiosk.
Ordering keys the right way
Extra keys are now a small procedure rather than an errand. An authorised person contacts the locksmith, the request is checked against the system record, and the key is cut from code so it works as cleanly as the first. New keys are numbered and added to the register. Businesses often issue keys against a signature and collect them when someone leaves, which the register makes simple. Homeowners typically keep two or three spare keys and hold onto the authorisation card. A key cut from a worn copy would not release the sidebar properly, which is one more reason the code route is the only route.
High Security Locks
In the van
- Box strike
- Key control authorisation card
- Wrap-around door reinforcer
- High-security cylinder
- Commercial mortise lock body
What affects the quote
Same fees day, night or weekend
1Distance and access
A rural property, a high-rise with loading dock rules or a site that must be visited outside trading hours affects travel and scheduling, and the quote says so plainly.
2Key control level
A patented keyway with authorisation cards covers most homes. Geographically exclusive keyways and signature-controlled systems for businesses carry registration and administration that show in the quote.
3Hinge and door edge work
Long hinge screws, a hinge-side security stud or repair to a chewed door edge are small items that add up on a door that has been forced before.
High Security Locks: questions
Can a high security cylinder be rekeyed later?
Yes. Like any pin tumbler it can be repinned to a new combination by a locksmith who holds the system, so a departed employee's key can be retired without replacing hardware. Some lines use interchangeable cores that swap in moments with a control key, which suits businesses with frequent turnover. Rekeying stays within your registered keyway, so the key control you paid for continues after the change.
Do high security locks need special maintenance?
Only light care. Use the dry lubricant the locksmith recommends once or twice a year, never oil, which gathers grit around the finger pins and sidebar. Keep the keyway free of debris and insert the key fully before turning. In winter, warm a resisting key in your hand or use a de-icer rather than forcing it. Check hinge and strike screws each season so the door stays aligned. Treated this way the cylinder lasts for decades.
What proof do I need to show before locks are changed?
The locksmith confirms that the person ordering the work is entitled to change the locks: the owner, a tenant with the landlord's agreement, or a property or facilities manager for a business. Photo identification and something linking you to the address usually settle it, and for a company a letter or a call to the named contact does the same. It protects you as much as anyone, since the same check stops someone else from changing your locks.
High Security Locks
High Security Locks near you
Homes and businesses in London tend to need the same handful of things from a locksmith, so that is how the list is arranged: emergency openings, changing or rekeying locks, stronger hardware for people who want it, commercial doors and access, and safes. Car keys sit at the end for the households that need them.