If you’ve ever moved into a new house, lost your house keys, or had to terminate an angry employee, you have probably been in a situation where you’re considering changing your locks. Most people aren’t aware that instead of changing their locks, there is a much better, and often cheaper solution – rekeying them. Let the professionals at D&M Locksmith in Orange County to do it for you.
What is Rekeying a lock?
While “changing a lock” is quite self-explanatory, simply referring to changing an old lock with a new one, rekeying requires a bit of explanation. Rekeying a lock means to change the existing key of the lock to a different key, without replacing the lock itself. You keep the same lock; however, the old key will no longer operate it.
This is achieved by taking the lock apart and replacing the tumblers or key pins inside. Every series of tumblers or key pins in your lock correspond to a specific key, so when you replace those pins with different ones, you permanently set a new key that will now operate the lock. However complicated this may sound, it’s a straightforward procedure that shouldn’t take more than a few minutes given the right tools.
To rekey a lock, the locksmith has the lock’s existing matching key. Without this matching key, the only way to rekey the lock will be to pick it open. Although it’s usually not a hassle for a skilled locksmith, it will often incur additional charges, making it costlier than replacing the lock altogether.
Rekeying a lock doesn’t hurt the security of the lock, nor does it make it safer and more secure. One of the factors determining the security level of a lock is how many pins are inside of it. As long as the locksmith swaps the old five pins with five new ones, the lock will remain as secure as before. If you’re looking to secure your locks better, changing them to new and higher security ones will be the way to go.
Changing Keys for any lock
Due to the meager price of the key pins in the locks, rekeying is almost always cheaper than getting your locks changed. When rekeying your locks, you’re only being billed for the labor, whereas when you change your locks, you’re paying both for labor and the new lock.
One essential fact to bear in mind is that all locks come with a built-in option to be rekeyed, so you don’t have to wonder whether your locks can be rekeyed. However, the method of rekeying different locks is not always the same and often requires different tools.
Rekeying is not just used when you wish to retire an old key but also to match more than one lock to a single key. For example, if your house has several locks and each lock has a different key, which can be inconvenient, you may want to rekey the locks to all match the same key. Keep in mind that to match two locks or more for one key, the locks must be made by the same manufacturer or brand or share the same types of keyholes. If a key fits into one lock but won’t go into the other, it means their keyholes (or “keyways”) are different and cannot be matched.
