Locksmith in Martindale HeightsLocksmith in Martindale Heights,on call around the clock

A little attention twice a year is enough. Follow your lock's own care instructions: many take a puff of dry graphite or PTFE lubricant worked in with the key, some a specified liquid product instead; general-purpose oils collect grit. Retire keys that have worn thin and cut fresh ones from a crisp original or the code. Snug up hinge and strike screws each spring and fall as the door moves with the humidity. A key that starts needing a wiggle is an early warning worth acting on.

Sometimes, and the visit answers it. A key that failed from its own fatigue in a clean, smooth cylinder says nothing against the lock. A key that broke because the pins were worn flat, the cap had loosened or the keyway was full of grit says the cylinder needs a service or a rekey. One that broke in a corroded, pitted plug is telling you the lock is due for replacement.

Treat it as two exposures. The house key is handled by rekeying every lock it fits. The remote is handled at the garage door opener: its memory is erased so every old remote stops working, and new remotes are programmed. If the car had your address on its paperwork, do both before anything else. A locksmith can rekey the doors and, on many openers, clear the remotes during the same visit or show you the learn button on the motor unit.

When the hardware itself is the weak point: a plug worn oval, a cylinder eaten by salt from a driveway-facing door, a light knob lock on an exterior door, a keyway with no blanks left in supply, or when you want a different style, a heavier deadbolt or a keypad. In those cases a new lock keyed to match the rest of the house is fitted in the same visit. Everything else is rekeyed.