High Security Locks in Burbank, CA

What makes a lock high security and not just a better lock?

A standard house-key cylinder is built to be affordable and to work smoothly for years. That is a reasonable goal, but it also means loose tolerances, simple pins, and a keyway that any hardware store can copy in a minute. A high security lock is built around a different goal: making the cylinder slow, noisy, and difficult to defeat without the correct key.

In practice that comes from a handful of design choices:

When you search for high security locks, pick-resistant locks, or bump-resistant locks, you are really looking at one family of products described from different angles. The right one for a given door depends on what you are protecting and who you are protecting it from, and that is what we work out with you before anything is installed.

• Security pins, such as spool and serrated pins, that bind and give false feedback when someone tries to pick the lock
• A second locking element, often a sidebar or a separate set of pins, so that lining up the main pins alone does not open the cylinder
• Hardened steel inserts that resist drilling at the points where attackers usually start
• Tighter manufacturing tolerances, which leave less room for picks and bump keys to work
• A restricted keyway, meaning the key blanks are controlled by the manufacturer and are not sold over the counter

Why do Burbank homeowners and businesses ask for high security locks?

The reasons are usually practical rather than dramatic. A set of keys has been copied so many times that nobody knows how many exist. A tenant, roommate, contractor, or employee moved on and not every key came back. A break-in happened on someone else's street, and suddenly your own front door lock feels thin. Or a business wants to control who can make copies, so that a key cannot walk to a hardware store and return as a pocketful of duplicates.

Burbank gives each of those concerns room to show up. The city runs from older bungalows and postwar ranch homes to large controlled-access apartment complexes and offices that serve media companies, and each has a different weak point. A bungalow may have a decades-old cylinder. An office may have a key system that grew without anyone tracking it. A hillside house may have a side door nobody thinks about. We start from the actual weak point instead of selling the same upgrade to everyone.

How does high security lock installation work, step by step?

Whether our mobile van comes to you or you stop by our Westwood storefront at 10740 Wilshire Blvd, the process follows the same order.

1. Call (213) 577-1366. Tell us which door it is, what lock is on it now, and what is prompting the change. A lost key, a break-in, and a tenant turnover lead to different recommendations.
2. We look at the whole door. Before talking about cylinders we check the door material and thickness, the bore and backset, the strike plate, the frame, and the hinges. A strong cylinder in a weak door is money spent in the wrong place.
3. We recommend a cylinder and a level of key control. We explain what each option resists, what it does not, and what it means for getting extra keys later. If your situation only needs a rekey or a standard deadbolt, we say so.
4. We install the hardware. The old cylinder or lockset comes out, the new one goes in, and we check bolt throw, latch alignment, and how the door closes. If the strike plate or frame needs reinforcing, we handle that at the same visit when the parts are on hand.
5. We test every key. Each key you receive is tried in the lock repeatedly, and the bolt is operated from both sides, before we call the job finished.
6. We explain key control. You learn how copies of a restricted key are obtained for your lock, who can request them, and what to do if a key goes missing. When you need extra copies later, key duplication for a restricted keyway follows the manufacturer's rules, which is different from a quick trip to a kiosk.

Pick-resistant, bump-resistant, drill-resistant: what does each one actually do?

These terms get thrown around loosely, so here is what they mean on a real door and where they stop.

No lock is pick-proof, and anyone who says otherwise is selling something. The honest goal is to turn a job that takes seconds into one that takes skill, time, tools, and noise. For most break-ins, that is enough to make someone move on to an easier door.

Ratings help when you compare hardware. In the United States, door hardware is commonly graded under ANSI/BHMA standards, there is a separate BHMA standard for high security cylinders, and UL 437 tests key locks for resistance to picking, drilling, and other attacks. We read those markings on the hardware we recommend and can explain what a given rating does and does not cover.

• Pick-resistant: security pins and tight tolerances make manipulating the lock slower and more skilled. Picking becomes harder, not impossible.
• Bump-resistant: bumping uses a specially cut key and a light impact to jar the pins into line. Bump-resistant cylinders use different pin designs, sidebars, or other mechanisms so the jolt does not set the lock the way it does in a basic cylinder.
• Drill-resistant: hardened inserts and anti-drill pins make the quick approach of drilling out the cylinder much harder.
• Key-controlled: a restricted keyway stops unauthorized duplication. In rentals and offices, this is often the benefit that matters most day to day.

Is the lock enough? Doors, strike plates, and frames matter too

Most forced entries at residential doors come down to force, not skill: a kick that splits a frame around a short strike plate screw. A high security cylinder does nothing if the frame gives way first. So whenever we upgrade a lock we also look at the pieces around it.

If your door has no deadbolt at all, the first step is usually deadbolt installation with a high security cylinder fitted from the start. If you want keypad or app-based convenience, smart lock installation is a separate conversation, and we will tell you plainly where a mechanical high security cylinder still makes sense as the dependable backup.

• Strike plate and screws: long screws that reach the framing, not just the thin jamb
• Door and frame condition: hollow or damaged doors, cracked jambs, rot, or gaps along the latch edge
• Hinges and hinge-side screws, plus any glass panel or sidelight within reach of the lock
• The bolt itself: how far it throws into the frame and whether it is hardened

How much do high security locks cost in Burbank?

We do not put a number on a web page, because the phrase high security lock covers a very wide range of jobs. What we can do is tell you what moves the cost, so a quote makes sense when you get one.

The lighter-cost route depends on the problem. If your worry is only who holds old keys, rekeying the locks you already own can be the more economical answer. A high security upgrade earns its cost when the lock itself is the weak point or when you need to control who can copy keys. We will tell you which situation you are in, and the decision is yours.

• The cylinder itself: its grade, its resistance features, and how much key control comes with it. A registered restricted-key system sits in a different tier than a standard-keyway security cylinder.
• Number of doors, and whether they should be keyed alike so one key works throughout
• Type of hardware: deadbolt, rim lock, gate lock, or commercial lockset
• Door and frame preparation: drilling, reinforcement, strike replacement, or repairing earlier damage
• Extra keys, and what the manufacturer requires before it will cut them
• Timing: an after-hours emergency visit is scheduled differently from a planned daytime appointment, which can affect the quote

What do high security locks look like across Burbank neighborhoods?

Magnolia Park is full of 1920s to 1940s bungalows, and many older Burbank homes still carry original mid-century door hardware. On those doors, the question is whether the original lockset is worth keeping. Sometimes a worn cylinder can be replaced with a pick-resistant one while the lockset stays; sometimes the old body is too worn to trust. Vintage hardware rekeying is a common request on Magnolia Park bungalows, and a high security replacement is the step up when you want more than a new set of pins.

The postwar ranch homes across the flats and the hillside houses above Glenoaks Boulevard in the Verdugo foothills have different priorities. Hillside homes get more sun and wind exposure than the flats, and dry Santa Ana winds sweep down the foothills, so the finish on exterior hardware matters. Burbank is far enough inland that salt-air corrosion is not a concern, which is easier on locks than coastal areas. Valley summer heat does swell wooden doors, though, and a swollen door can make a new deadbolt bind or fail to throw fully. We check that the bolt moves freely and leave sensible clearance rather than fitting everything tight.

Downtown Burbank and the Media District have added mid-rise condos and large controlled-access apartment complexes. A condo owner may be able to put a restricted-key cylinder on their own unit door, but check your building rules before changing exterior hardware. Apartment lockouts in complexes near Downtown Burbank and the Chandler Bikeway are a different service from this one; this page is about the hardware you choose once you are back inside.

Around the Media District, we do office and gate access hardware work for media companies. Restricted keys suit that setting well, because an office manager can control who makes copies while crews, contractors, and temporary staff come and go. Along Magnolia Boulevard and San Fernando Boulevard, storefront doors often have narrow frames and hardware that limits which cylinders will fit, so we confirm the hardware type before anything is ordered.

Equestrian-zoned lots in the Rancho District can mean side gates, outbuildings, and secondary doors in addition to the front door. Keying several of those alike with high security cylinders can cut down the ring of keys you carry without lowering the protection on any single door.

We work across Burbank ZIP codes 91501, 91502, 91504, 91505, and 91506. Our storefront is in Westwood, about 16 miles away, and our mobile vans come to you.

What about commercial security locks and multi-door key control?

Commercial security locks use the same cylinder technology, but the problem is bigger: more doors, more people, more turnover. A business with many keys and no record of who holds them has a key-control problem before it has a lock problem. Restricted keyways help, and so does a plan.

A master key system lets different people open different doors at different levels of access, and restricted high security cylinders keep copies under control. If you want a record of who opened what, and the ability to cancel a lost credential without changing cylinders, access control installation goes further than any mechanical key can. Our commercial locksmith page covers the wider business side; here we are talking about the cylinders and key control underneath it.

On any business door we ask the practical questions first. Is the door aluminum, glass, wood, or steel? Does it have a panic device? Fire and egress rules limit what can be locked from which side, and we install within those rules.

Why call Wilshire Lock & Key for high security locks?

Choosing a lock is partly choosing who stands behind the installation. Here is what we can honestly tell you about us:

California requires locksmith companies to hold a BSIS LCO license. Ask any locksmith you are considering for theirs before they start work.

If you are locked out or a break-in has just damaged a door, say so on the call. That is an emergency locksmith situation first, and the high security upgrade can follow once the door is secure and you have had time to decide.

• We have been in business since 1987, serving 140 cities across Los Angeles and Ventura counties.
• We are one company with a storefront at 10740 Wilshire Blvd and our own mobile vans. Your call is not passed through a dispatch middleman.
• David, the owner and lead technician, oversees the work.
• The phone at (213) 577-1366 is answered 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all year.

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High Security Locks near Burbank

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