Choosing the hardware is half of the security.
Locksmiths do more than get people out of awkward situations. They install, build and repair locks, along with vaults, safes and the rest of the safety hardware a building carries.
A brass Sargent cylinder, re-pinned and back in service the same day.
Locks change, so the knowledge has to keep moving.
Every profile on the board is another door, another cabinet, another piece of equipment.
A locksmith also advises on good quality security devices. Because security keeps becoming a larger concern, locksmiths have to keep learning the tools and keep maintaining them. It is possible to work around some of these problems on your own, or with another source of locksmith hardware, but the locksmith is the best informed, the most precise and the most competent route.
Maple Locksmith also carries out repairs at a genuinely competitive price, and we keep updating the skill behind the work so customers get the most proficient and trustworthy service the trade can offer.
There are four things worth thinking about before you choose hardware for a building. None of them is complicated, and all four are regularly overlooked.
Four things to weigh up before you buy
Every one of these comes up on real doors in Maple, and every one of them is cheaper to solve at the time of purchase than after a break-in.
A good lock in a soft frame is still a soft frame.
The strike plate and the screws behind it decide whether the door holds under a kick. The cylinder is only part of the answer.
Glass doors and sidelights
Plenty of residential doors carry glass panels or side lights, and those offer an intruder the chance to reach through broken glass and unlock the door from inside. Some homeowners and handymen respond by fitting double sided locks, keyed on both faces. That can be a dangerous mistake: it is a serious breach of fire and life safety codes, in some cases it will disqualify the house for insurance, and in a fire or any other emergency those locks turn the home into a trap.
Rental and resale property
For anyone planning to sell or rent out a property, protecting it is largely a matter of installing hardware that meets and operates as current building codes require. Commercial grade 2 locks generally meet the minimum code requirements and come in a range of functions and finishes. The selection is wide and the quality varies: some UL listed grade 2 products meet the minimum and nothing more, while other hardware is designed and built to higher standards, lasts longer and protects better.
How solid the doors and frames are
In many cases the frame around the door is made of soft wood, less than three quarters of an inch thick, and shimmed away from the real structural framing of the wall. Once it has been drilled for a lock and a handle, as little as three eighths of an inch of material can be left. Fitting the simple strike plate with the three quarter inch number 8 screws that come with most builder grade hardware does close to nothing to stop the door being forced open. A longer screw into structural timber costs almost nothing and changes the outcome.
How many entry points there are
Securing several doors can be as simple as fitting locks keyed alike so one key runs the building. But the other ways in have to be counted too: side doors, garage doors, basement walk-outs and ground floor windows all belong in the same conversation.
Hardware questions we hear a lot
Locking my door has become hard work and I have to force the key. It used to work fine, so what changed?
I have to shake the key to make it work. Is there a solution?
Can new locks be made to work with the keys I already carry?
Locked out? Need a locksmith? Call today.
One number reaches the locksmith directly, any hour of any day. You will know straight away how soon somebody can be at your door.