Sound familiar?Columbus
- The call
- The previous owners left a coffee tin of keys on the counter, some labelled, most not. The house is yours now, but you have no idea how many copies were cut over the years or who still has one in a drawer somewhere.
Three months of renovation are finally done. The kitchen looks wonderful, and along the way a general contractor, a tile installer, a plumber and an electrician each carried a key to your front door at one point or another.
In plain words
One key for the whole house is a common request and usually achievable. Cylinders that share the same keyway, the shaped channel the key slides into, can all be pinned to the same new combination, so the front door, back door and garage entry answer to a single key. Where a door carries a lock from a different family with its own keyway, that cylinder is swapped for a matching one rather than repinned, and then it joins the group. The locksmith checks each lock face before the work begins so you know exactly which doors will share the key.
Lock Rekeying · Columbus
How the visit goes
Scene 1
Deciding the key groups
Not every door in a home needs to answer to the same key, and the plan is written down before work starts. Most households want the exterior doors keyed alike so one key does everything. Some want exceptions: a basement suite on its own key, a home office or a storage room that visitors should not enter, a shed on a separate key that can be lent out without exposing the house. The locksmith sketches the groups with you, notes how many keys each group needs and who will hold them, and only then begins removing cylinders. Getting this straight first means no cylinder is pinned twice.
Scene 2
Bringing several doors onto one key
Keying doors alike is the same operation repeated with the same new key. Once the first cylinder is pinned and proven, the locksmith removes the second, follows the plug out, and loads bottom pins to the identical depths so the same key operates it, and so on around the house. Where a door carries a cylinder from a different keyway family, that cylinder is exchanged for a matching one in the same finish and then pinned to the house key. The result is one key on your ring that turns every exterior door, with the individual locks unchanged in appearance and function.
Scene 3
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.
In the van
- Reset tool for user-rekeyable cylinders
- Pinning tweezers and tray
- Cylinder shim
- Dry graphite or PTFE lubricant
- Plug follower
What shapes the quoteMount Carmel Locksmith Pros
- Interior 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.
- One 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.
- Restricted or high-security cylinders
- Patented keyways use controlled blanks and pins that cost more than standard ones, and their keys are produced from a controlled record instead of being copied, so a system of that kind is quoted differently from builder-grade hardware.
FeesSame any hour
Locksmith FAQ
Can the garage side door, shed and gate be included?
Yes, and they usually should be, because a side door into the garage is the opening most often forgotten and left on an old key. Any pin-tumbler cylinder on the property can be pinned to the house key if its keyway allows: the man-door into the garage, a shed, a keyed gate latch, and many padlocks. A mailbox lock is usually a small cam lock that is replaced rather than repinned. Mention every opening when you book so the right blanks and cylinders are in the van.
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.
Can all my doors be made to work with one key?
Usually, yes. Where the cylinders accept the same style of key blank, each can be pinned to one new combination, so a single key runs the front, back, side and garage doors. A lock from a different keyway family is brought into the group by exchanging its cylinder for a compatible one in the same finish. During the first walk around the property the locksmith reads every keyway and tells you up front which doors can be keyed alike.
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 InstallationHalf the evenings someone asks whether the back door got locked, and nobody is sure.
- Gate & Building Entry LocksBetween the front gate, the side gate and the one behind the shed, there are three different padlocks, three different keys, and…
- Mailbox Lock ReplacementThe property manager mentioned that half the compartments in the lobby's mailbox panel are original to the building and are…
Columbusinformation
DurhamOntario
Lock Rekeying · Oshawa
- Town
- Columbus, Durham
- In business
- 32 years
- Hours
- Open 24/7
- Nights, weekends and holidays, same fees
- Phone
- (289) 367-6857
- 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.
- 59 in 100 homes · older homes
- 56 in 100 homes · mixed housing
- About 59% of homes in Oshawa were built in 1980 or earlier, according to the 2021 Census.Older housing means older frames. Wood that has settled for years leaves strikes slightly out of line, so a bolt drags or needs a lift of the handle. A locksmith expects this and brings the shims, longer screws and strike plates to correct it.
- Single-detached houses make up about 56% of homes in Oshawa (2021 Census).In mixed neighbourhoods, a family may move from an apartment to a house or the other way around. A locksmith who knows both kinds of door can rekey the old place for the next occupant and set up the new one on the same visit.
Nearby
On-site assessment
Request a visit.
Three months of renovation are finally done.
(289) 367-6857, open 24/7.