Change or rekey · Toronto
Lock Rekeying
The builder handed over your new home with a stack of identical keys, and you know the framing crew, the painters and the flooring installers all used a construction key during the build. The doors are brand new, but the key that opens them should be yours alone.
Call now · open 24/7(289) 806-2827In plain words
A rekeying visit follows a straightforward order. First the locksmith confirms you are entitled to change the locks, which for an owner is identification and for a tenant includes the landlord's agreement. Next comes a walk around the house to list every door to include, read the keyway on each cylinder and check its condition. The cylinders come out one at a time, are pinned to the new key and go back in. Every door is then tested with the new key and with the old one, spares are cut and tried in each lock, and you receive a note of what was done.
How the visit goesYour roommate moved out last weekend. Rent is settled, the room is empty, and the key is still on their ring. You trust them, but the lock on your front door should answer to the people who actually live here.
Lock Rekeying · Toronto
How the visit goes
- 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.
- 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.
- 3
Handing keys out with a little method
Rekeying gives you a clean start on who holds a key, and a few habits keep it clean. Give a key only to people who need one regularly, and know who they are. If a dog walker, a cleaner or a contractor needs access for a season, a lockbox with a code you can change afterwards is simpler than a key you have to ask for back. Tag spares with a colour or a number rather than the address. When a key does leave your control, a lost ring, a departing tenant, a relationship that has ended, that is the trigger to rekey again, and the next visit is simpler because the doors are already on one system.
In the van
- Graded bottom pin kit
- Retaining clip tool
- Reset tool for user-rekeyable cylinders
- Cylinder shim
- Replacement cylinder for odd keyways
What affects the quote
- 1
How many cylinders are included
Each cylinder is removed, pinned and tested on its own, so a single deadbolt and a house with six exterior locks plus a shed and a gate are very different visits, and the quote follows the count.
- 2
Records, 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.
- 3
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.
Same fees day, night or weekend.
Lock Rekeying: questions
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.
My deadbolt says I can rekey it myself with a little tool. Should I?
You can, given a key that currently operates the lock, the maker's reset tool, the new key and the steps followed in order. Trouble tends to arrive when the old key is missing, when the new key belongs to a different keyway, or when a reset stalls halfway and the cylinder then accepts neither key. A locksmith carries the tool and the procedure, can check that the new key suits the rest of your doors, and can fit a standard cylinder if a forced reset has broken the mechanism.
What should I have ready before the locksmith arrives?
A list of the doors you want included, a working key for each lock if you have one, and a clear idea of whether you want everything on one key or some doors kept separate. Have your identification and something tying you to the address handy. If you rent, have your landlord's agreement ready to mention. Knowing roughly how many new keys the household needs saves a second trip to cut more.
Toronto, Ontario
Toronto information
- Town
- Toronto, Ontario
- In business
- 16 years
- Hours
- Open 24/7 · nights, weekends and holidays, same fees
- Phone
- (289) 806-2827
- Visits
- On-site assessment preferred. Request a visit or call.
What the census means at the door
58%
Older homes. About 58% of homes in Toronto were built in 1980 or earlier, according to the 2021 Census.
Older homes tend to have had many hands on their doors: owners, tenants, tradespeople, family. A locksmith visiting such a house pays attention to who holds keys now, and rekeying or a keyed-alike set often matters more than any new hardware.
23%
Single-detached houses make up about 23% of homes in Toronto (2021 Census).
Shared entrances mean fobs, intercoms and buzzers alongside conventional locks. A locksmith can service the mechanical side of those doors and advise on how the fob system and the cylinder work together when management asks.
Nearby
Open 24/7
Request a visit
The builder handed over your new home with a stack of identical keys, and you know the framing crew, the painters and the flooring installers all used a construction key during the build.
Call now · open 24/7(289) 806-2827- On-site assessment preferred
- Same fees day, night or weekend
- 16 years in business