Change who has a key without changing the locks

What the job involves

Lock Rekeying in Lawrence, MA

Rekeying keeps your existing locks and gives you new keys — usually the cheaper move after a move-in, a tenant change, or a lost key.

Rekeying versus replacing

Rekeying changes which key operates a lock without changing the lock. The cylinder comes apart, the small brass pins inside are swapped for a different combination of heights, and the lock is reassembled to match a new key. The hardware on the door is untouched — same finish, same fit, same holes.

Replacing means new hardware entirely. It is the right call when the lock is worn out, when the security grade is inadequate, or when you want a different type of lock than what is fitted. It is the wrong call, and an expensive one, when the only actual requirement is that an old key stops working.

For most situations — a new tenant, a move-in, a contractor who kept a key, a key lost somewhere unknown — rekeying does the entire job for a fraction of the cost. On a house with four exterior locks, the difference is usually substantial.

Keying alike, and why it is worth asking for

A house that has accumulated locks over decades often has three or four different keys for one building: one for the front, one for the back, one for the basement, one for the garage. They can all be rekeyed to a single key at the same visit, provided the cylinders are compatible brands.

This costs very little more than rekeying them separately, because the labor is already being spent opening each cylinder. It is worth asking for even when the reason for the visit is only one lock. Where cylinders are mismatched brands, swapping one to match is usually cheaper than living with two keys.

Landlords with multiple units in the same building often want the reverse — every unit distinct, with one master key that opens all of them. That is a master key system, and it is planned rather than improvised; the pinning has to be worked out across the whole building before any cylinder is touched.

When rekeying will not solve it

If the key turns stiffly or has to be jiggled, the lock is worn and rekeying will not fix that — it will produce a new key that also has to be jiggled. Worn cylinders should be replaced, and it is better to hear that before paying for a rekey.

If the door itself has dropped or the frame has shifted, the problem is alignment, not the lock. A latch that no longer lines up with the strike plate makes a perfectly good lock feel broken. That is a repair to the door, and often a fifteen-minute one.

And if the concern is someone who has had physical access to the property rather than just a key, rekeying the locks is only part of it. Windows, secondary doors, and any garage remote should be dealt with in the same visit or the exercise is decorative.