Good to know

This is more common than people expect, especially in older houses and at the change of seasons. A door that has swollen, sagged on its hinges or been pushed out of square by thick weatherstripping can pin the bolt against the strike so it will not draw back even with the right key. The locksmith relieves the pressure to free the bolt, then adjusts the strike, hinges or seal so the door closes and locks without a shoulder. Home Lockout Service

Entry comes first and repairs second. Once authority is confirmed the door is opened, staff go in and start their routine, and the locksmith turns to the cause: extracting a broken key, rekeying for a lost one, re-springing a deadlatch or lifting a dropped door. Anything that can wait for a quieter hour, such as rekeying interior doors, is offered as a return visit so the shop floor is not blocked while it trades. Business Lockout Service

In most cases yes, and it is tested in front of you with a key that fits. The inspection after extraction is where the honest answer lives: if the pins, springs and cap are sound and the keyway is clean, the cylinder goes back into service with a fresh key. If wear or damage caused the break, that is explained and a rekey or new cylinder is offered as a separate choice. Broken Key Extraction

Aluminum storefront doors are attacked at the narrow stile, which bends under a pry bar, or at the hookbolt and glass. The locksmith straightens or replaces the damaged section where possible, fits a new narrow-stile deadbolt or hookbolt with its strike, and adds a latch guard or anti-pry astragal along the meeting edge so a bar has no purchase. Cores are rekeyed and codes reviewed. The inside release stays a single motion so the exit route is unchanged. Break-In Damage Lock Repair

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. Lock Rekeying

Not when it is done for that door. Steel-clad doors are cut with a fine-toothed hole saw run slowly through the skin, guided by a jig so the saw cannot skate on the smooth face, and finished from both sides so each skin stays clean. Fibreglass is scored first so the surface does not chip. Shavings are vacuumed from the foam core, and the edge is finished with a collar or plate suited to the stile inside. Deadbolt Installation

It is yours. Some people keep a sound old cylinder as a spare or move a decent deadbolt to a shed or garage door, and the locksmith can rekey it to the house key for that purpose. Worn or damaged hardware is taken away for recycling if you prefer. Either way, the old keys should be gathered up and discarded so nobody confuses them with the new set. Lock Replacement & Upgrade

Springs, first and foremost: the latch spring, the hub spring that returns the knob, and the small springs on the deadbolt levers. After that, the spindle and knob set screws, a hub whose square has worn round, a worn deadbolt lever or follower, and on later locks the cylinder set screw or the cylinder itself. Bolts, cases and trim are almost always kept, cleaned and refitted rather than replaced. Vintage Mortise Lock Service

Often, yes, particularly for a mechanical lock, where a worn wheel pack, drive cam or spindle can be replaced individually within the existing lock body. An electronic lock's circuit board and keypad are less often repairable in place and are more commonly swapped for a comparable or higher-rated replacement unit that fits the same cutout. Safe Opening & Combination Change

Anchoring leaves small holes at the anchor points, sized to the bolts being used, and on a finished floor these sit under the safe itself where they are never seen again. On tile, the risk of cracking nearby tiles is real enough that an alternative fastening point or a different spot in the room is often chosen instead of drilling straight through the tile itself. Safe Installation & Servicing

Nothing is beyond a laboratory with unlimited time, so the honest measure is minutes, not absolutes. Rated cylinders are tested to resist skilled picking and impressioning for a set period, and drilling and forcing for another. In the real world that matters because someone at a door has seconds, not a workbench. The sidebar and false grooves in the pins give a picker nothing reliable to feel, and the hardened inserts stop a bit, which is why these attacks move on to easier doors. High Security Locks

Yes. The narrow stile of a storefront door houses a screw-in mortise cylinder secured from the edge, and it unthreads, is repinned and screws back in like any other. What the locksmith watches is the cam: it has to suit the hook or deadbolt mechanism inside the door and sit at the correct depth, or the bolt throws short. Weather-facing cylinders showing salt wear are pointed out so you can decide on replacement. Commercial Rekeying

The current chart shows exactly which doors that level was designed to reach, which for a lost top-level master can mean the whole property rather than one group. Depending on how the key was lost and who else already holds that level, the usual options are repinning the affected cylinders and reissuing keys to the remaining holders; a restricted keyway lowers the odds of an unauthorized copy being cut but is not proof that one has not been made. Without a current chart, the first task is reconstructing that scope. Master Key System Design

Yes, with extra care taken specifically because it is an exit. A magnetic lock on an exit door is paired with a request-to-exit device and wired into the fire alarm system so it releases automatically the instant an alarm activates, and the door is confirmed to open with one motion from the inside at all times. An electric strike on an exit door generally needs no additional egress hardware. Access Control Installation

Yes. A request-to-exit switch is wired to signal the access-control panel that the pushpad or crossbar was actuated. Telling that apart from a forced or propped door usually means pairing it with a door-position contact and the panel's own logic, since the switch on its own only reports that the hardware was used. It sits alongside the mechanical device without changing how the crossbar or touchpad works, so the door still releases under a push even if the access-control system loses power. Panic & Exit Hardware

Those tools suited cars from decades ago with simple rods inside the door. A modern door is packed with wiring, window regulators, speaker leads and side-airbag sensors, and a blind tool fishing among them can cut a harness or set off a fault. Coat hangers also tear seals and scratch glass. Purpose-made wedges, padded reach tools and keyway-specific picks do the job from outside the door's workings, which is why locksmiths carry them instead. Car Lockout Service

The year, make and model, and the VIN if you can read it through the windshield or from the permit. Whether any working key exists. Whether the car starts with a turned key or a push button, and what buttons the old fob had. Where the car is parked and whether it is locked. Your photo identification and the vehicle permit, or lease or fleet paperwork. With those, the right parts are in the van on the first trip. Car Key Replacement

Sometimes, when both vehicles share a compatible lock family and immobilizer system, most often two vehicles from the same manufacturer and a similar era. Sharing a keyway is not enough on its own: the two locks also need a bitting that satisfies both, or one vehicle's cylinders get rekeyed to match, and the transponder has to be capable of authorization on both immobilizers. Where they do not line up, the practical answer is two separate keys carried together on one ring. Spare Car Key Duplication

Often, yes, once the vehicle's identification number, model year and trim are known, since those details narrow down which fob part is actually compatible. Buying the wrong part number is a common reason a programming attempt goes nowhere, so confirming compatibility before ordering saves a returned part and a second visit. Key Fob Programming