When you buy a new home, one of the first steps is to replace the existing locks on your front doors. It may be an intelligent decision to give your home a fresh start. You have no idea who still might have the key to your front door through the previous owner or even owners, so lock replacing is something you might want to do as soon as possible. Sometimes being too busy with moving, people postpone lock replacement because they think it will take them too long. You may not want to try changing door locks, especially if you don’t consider yourself a handyman or have no previous experience. Then give Sure Lock & Key, a call. We can either direct and advise you on how to do it yourself and if not, with over 35 years of experience, we can do it for you quickly and affordably.
Should I change the front door lock in a new house
Buying a home comes with many challenges, from choosing a lender and deciding on a down payment to filling out lots of paperwork and coordinating all the logistics involved in moving. Once you buy your new home, installing high-quality door locks should be one of your top priorities.
Installing door locks is not the first thing you might think about when it comes to a new home, and that makes logical sense. However, in time, paying attention to the main entrance locks is a necessity. Why is that? For starters, whoever sold your home might still have access to it and the keys to its locks. While they may be trustworthy, you never know who may have had the opportunity to duplicate the keys to your home. Not knowing how many keys to your home are outside can ruin your peace of mind and expose you to security risks. So after you buy a new home, take an inventory of all the locks that need to be replaced or rekeyed and begin replacing them with the most important ones going first. While interior door locks may wait till you’re less occupied with different tasks, those on your front and back doors should be changed immediately.
Why you should rekey a home
Changing the lock in a house is a reasonably self-explanatory concept, meaning simply replacing the old lock with a new one while rekeying requires some clarification. Rekeying the key means replacing the lock’s working key with another key without replacing the lock itself. You keep the same lock, but the old key will no longer work. This is done by separating the lock and replacing some of the parts inside. Each row of pins in the lock corresponds to a specific key, so by replacing those pins with others, you are essentially creating a new key that will now operate the lock. As complicated as it sounds, it’s a simple procedure that won’t take more than a few minutes with the right tools.
Why do you need to rekey the locks?
When your home is under construction, a master key system is a win-win for everyone. A crew has a fast and easy access to everywhere they need. However, once the construction is done, many people do not realize that it might happen that the master keys remain somewhere while you get unique keys. In this case, the someone apart from you and those with the granted access might open the lock. If you decide to go for rekeying, a locksmith will remove master pins, so the lock opens with only one key.
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Can a locksmith rekey old locks
Our answer – is definitely yes, even antique door locks! So, what happens when a locksmith rekeys your locks? We literally get rid of the current pins and springs in the cylinder, replacing them with new ones that won’t work with your old key.
That means that you don’t have to replace locks themselves, and instead, you may be assured that all of your locks work with the one new key you control. In addition, our professional locksmiths will thoroughly inspect your old locks’ condition and if there’s some worn or close to breakage parts, we will replace them.
Summing up
How do I change my front door lock? A wise solution is to hire a residential locksmith to solve your problem quickly and efficiently. While an interior door requires less attention, a front door cannot be neglected. This is certainly not the place to experiment. Such an action might lead to unpleasant surprises and consequences. In addition, since you are busy with moving, you may simply not have time to learn what to do, which includes finding the needed tools and the lock you will need to do the actual job.
