Residential Key-less Entry Lock

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Lock Change or Re-key?

There could be many reasons when a home or business owner decides to get new locks for his property. Examples such as employees leaving, tenants moving out, suspicious of a stranger that might got a hold of a key, and others. No matter what the reason could be, there are couple of option that can be done in these cases which are either changing the locks or re-key them. both options had their advantages and disadvantages that should be taken in consideration before deciding on the type of service with a professional locksmith.

Going back at least a hundred years, a re-key service came to life when a locksmith came up with the idea of a lock that was built using pins that can be changed inside the lock. Changing the pins inside the lock caused the original key that came with the lock to be useless. Nowadays, most locks in the market can be re-keyed without any issues with the exception of several specialty high security locks built with a mechanism that will not allow such change or tampering.

Normally, re-keying a lock is a much cheaper alternative for having a new lock installed as in addition to the labor, the cost of locks will add significantly to the cost of the job. Most locksmith technicians will be able to come to location and re-pin the lock for you without any issues while others give you the option to bring the lock to their shop and have the service done there. Before re-pinning the lock, a new key will be made to match the new combination inside the lock. Not only its much cheaper, but also takes much less time than changing the locks. These types of advantages become significant when multiple locks would need to be address such as a big house, or an apartment complex property.

The only significant disadvantage in having a lock re-keyed would be if the lock is suspected to be damaged. Re-keying the lock, normally won't repair any damage or wear that the lock had suffer during time. However, most locksmith technicians do offer lock repair services. Depending on the damage, in these cases, it might be cheaper to just change the locks.

Changing locks on the other hand should be considered if your home or business equipped with standard cheap locks and you are looking to add some security. In such case, re-keying the locks will be useless and getting a high security lock would be recommended. Installing new locks also bring you the peace of mind insuring you the lock will be free of defects and malfunctions. In addition, locks from the leading brands in the industry normally come with a warranty as well.

Aside from the price involving changing the locks, one of the disadvantages can be a compatibility with a specific type of door that is being used in your home or business. In these types of situations, some parts would need to be added or modification to the door would be in place in order to accommodate the new locks and especially if they are high security. These elements might get the price of installing a new lock even higher than expected in the first place.

Automotive Re-key Services

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Residential Re-key Service

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NorthWest Locksmith Boise (208) 946-4162

Schlage Lock Tip

During my many years as a locksmith technician there were many times where I was able to find a solution for a job just by thinking outside the box. There were many times I got stuck doing a job since I didn't have the right part or something went wrong which forced me to improvise in order to complete the job. Through experience I learned to always save parts from various jobs since I knew they may come useful later on. On other times, I found  that unrelated parts that I had saved for a certain job actually came useful for another.

Not too long ago I got a call from one of my customers who wanted me to re-key the lock on his front door. The lock he had was actually a Schlage high security lock that I installed few months before, but he lost once of the keys to it recently and wanted it re-keyed for his peace of mind. Being a returned customer, I accepted the job without any further questions and headed to his address.

Once I got to the customer's home, I started the removal process of the Schlage lock from the door. After the lock was removed, I took with me to the van in order to take it apart and start the re-key process. As I was taking the cylinder off to remove the pins, the cylinder cap retaining spring jumped right off and flew across the van. After few minutes of looking for the spring, I finally gave up and decided to start looking for a replacement. Unfortunately, I did not have any replacement with me, so I had to call another Boise Locksmith technician friend of mine to see if he can bail me out.

When I got my locksmith technician friend on the phone, he said he was to far away from me to come bring me some springs, but he also mentioned something else that I didn't know. Apparently, cylinder springs from a GM pining kit work as a replacement just as well as the original part. Luckily, I did have those with me. After grabbing a spring from the kit, I finished re-keying the cylinder, put the lock back together and re-installed it back on the door.

Key-Less Entry Lock System

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Commercial Locksmith Service in Boise

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Broken GM Glove Box Fix

I got a job from a locksmith company I work with to make a key to the trunk of an older GM vehicle. I was in a hurry that day and as I was taking the glove box lock apart to get the last 4 cuts of the key, I somehow broke the ears that retained the cylinder plug in the housing. That of course meant the cylinder plug would not stay in the lock housing. Looking for a way to solve the problem (I did not have another lock on the truck), I noticed that the back of the plug has a groove cut around it to accept the “ears” of the retainers.

I measured back on the housing where the back of the plug stops, and drilled a hole in the housing in line with the ridge on the plug. I then screwed a sheet-metal screw in the Housing and into the ridge of the plug. It’s the same principle as a set screw holding a mortise cylinder. I put the glove box back together collected my money and went on to the next job.