Rekeying and Lock Changes in Phoenix

What Rekeying Changes and What It Keeps

Rekeying changes the small pins inside a lock’s cylinder so that a new key turns it and every old key stops working. The lock body, the bolt, the knob or lever and the finish all stay as they are. A lock change replaces the hardware itself: a new deadbolt, knob, lever or handleset, or a new cylinder in the lock you already have.

For a lock in good shape, rekeying is usually the simpler job, and several locks can be rekeyed to one key, so the front door, the back door and the door from the garage share it. Replacing makes sense when a lock is worn, damaged or light-duty, or when you want a different kind of lock altogether, and choosing the replacement comes down to the door, the people using it and whether you want a key or a code.

Rekey or Replace, Situation by Situation

In most cases the reason for the change settles the question:

Situation	Rekey fits?	Replace fits?	Why
Moved into a house or apartment	Yes, for sound locks	Only for a lock that is worn or not the kind you want	Earlier owners, tenants and contractors may still hold keys
A key is lost or stolen	Yes	Not for that reason alone	The missing key stops fitting, and the hardware stays
A tenant moves out	Yes, between leases	When a lock is worn or was damaged during the tenancy	The next tenant starts with keys no one else holds
The key sticks or binds	No: new pins in a worn plug still bind	Yes: a new cylinder or a new lock	The wear is in the metal, not in the pins
One key wanted for every door	Yes, when the locks share a keyway	For the locks whose keyway differs	Only cylinders that take the same key blank can be keyed alike
A keypad, smart lock or stronger deadbolt wanted	No	Yes	A different kind of lock means new hardware on the door

When a Rekey Is Not Enough

Rekeying only changes the pins. These signs mean the lock or its cylinder needs replacing:

• The key has to be jiggled, pulled out a little or pushed hard before it turns.
• The face of the cylinder is scarred, or the keyway looks chewed at its edges.
• Flakes of brass come out on the key.
• The knob, lever or deadbolt is loose on the door, and tightening its screws does not hold.
• The lock has been forced, kicked or drilled before.

A worn cylinder is the usual reason a rekey turns into a replacement. Once the plug and the keyway are worn, new pins sit on worn metal, and the new key binds just as the old one did. Fine desert dust speeds this up in Phoenix: it packs into the keyway, and every turn of the key grinds it against the pins. A cylinder shedding metal, or a key that has started to bend, should not wait, since that is how a key ends up snapped off in the lock.

Locks, Keyways and Keys on a Rekey Visit

Locksmith

• Every Lock on the ListEach exterior door’s deadbolt and handle, and any gate or side-door lock.
• The CylindersWear on the plug and keyway, and whether each cylinder can be rekeyed.
• The KeywaysWhether the locks take the same key blank, so one key can open all.
• The Bolt and LatchThat each bolt throws fully and each latch catches without a push.
• AfterwardsNew keys tried in every lock, and the old ones shown not to turn.

How a Lock Is Rekeyed, Step by Step

On the pin-tumbler locks found on most house doors, a rekey goes like this:

1. The cylinder comes out of the lock. On most deadbolts that means taking off the inside thumb-turn first; on a knob or lever, the handle comes off before the cylinder can be taken out.
2. With the working key turning the plug, a plug follower pushes the plug out of the cylinder, so the springs and top pins stay in their holes above it.
3. The old bottom pins are tipped out of the plug, and the new key goes in.
4. A new pin goes into each hole, its length chosen for the depth of the key cut beneath it, so the top of every pin sits exactly at the shear line, the gap between the plug and its housing.
5. The plug slides back in, the cylinder goes back into the lock, and the new key is tried with the door open and then closed.
6. The old keys are tried too, to make sure none of them still turns the lock.

Doors and Locks to Review After a Move or a Lost Key

After a move, or when a whole key ring goes missing, go around the property rather than stopping at the front door:

• The front door: the deadbolt, and the knob, lever or handleset under it
• The back and side doors, and a sliding patio door with a keyed handle
• The door from the garage into the house, and the garage’s side door
• A side gate in the block wall, if it has a keyed latch or a padlock
• Keypad and smart locks: change the codes and remove old users from the app, since a rekey does not touch them
• The garage door opener’s keypad code and remotes, which are reset at the opener itself
• Spare keys hidden outside, or left with neighbors, cleaners or a pet sitter

Count the keys you were handed against the locks you find. A door with no key at all, or a key that opens nothing, is worth sorting out while the locks are being rekeyed.

Rekeying Rental Units Between Tenants

For landlords and property managers, the usual reason to rekey is a change of tenants. On an apartment turnover, each unit’s cylinders are rekeyed so the last tenant’s keys, and any copies made from them, stop working, while the locks themselves stay. A lock that was damaged or has worn loose is replaced in the same round.

On a property with a master key system, rekeying a unit means pinning its new cylinder to the master as well, so the manager’s key keeps working while the tenant’s changes. That takes the system’s key chart, the record of which cuts belong to which door. Without one, master-keyed cylinders can still be rekeyed, but setting the system up again is a bigger job.

Cylinders, Keys and the Price of a Rekey

The price comes from what is on the doors and what you want from them:

• How many cylinders there are: a deadbolt and the knob under it are two
• Whether the locks share a keyway, or some cylinders need changing to take one key
• The condition of each cylinder, since a worn one is replaced rather than rekeyed
• Whether new locks are wanted, and which kind
• How many keys are cut
• A master key system, with more pins in each cylinder and a key chart to keep

When you book a visit, the number of doors and the kind of locks on them are the most useful things to mention.