Change Locks in Canoga Park, CA

Why change your locks in the first place?

Changing locks sounds simple: the keys that worked yesterday stop working today, and the new keys are only in hands you chose. The reason you're doing it shapes the job, so it helps to name it before you call. Here are the situations we hear about most from Canoga Park customers.

Notice that most of these reasons are about who holds a key, not about the lock being broken. That matters, because it means many lock changes don't need new hardware at all. The answer to 'what should I do' is often smaller and more economical than people expect.

• You bought or moved into a place and have no idea how many keys are floating around from the previous owner, agents, cleaners and contractors.
• A tenant, roommate, ex-partner or worker moved out and never handed back a key.
• A key was lost or stolen, especially if it was on a ring with your address or in a bag that went missing.
• The lock is worn, sticking, loose or damaged, or someone tried to force the door.
• You want to upgrade to a sturdier deadbolt or a keypad or smart lock while the door is already being worked on.

Should you rekey or replace your locks?

This is the question behind almost every lock change, and it's the reason this page exists. We would rather walk you through it than push you toward the bigger job.

Rekeying means we change the internal pin arrangement of the lock you already have, so it works with a new key and your old keys stop working. The lock stays on the door. When the hardware is in decent shape, this is usually the more economical route, and it's the right call for most lock changes after a move or a tenant leaving. We cover the process in more detail on our lock rekey page.

Replacing means the old lock comes off and a new one goes on. That makes sense when the hardware itself is the problem, or when you want something different from what's there. Our lock replacement page goes deeper on that side.

Here's how we usually sort it out at the door:

• Rekey when the lock turns smoothly, the finish and parts are intact, and the only concern is who has a key.
• Replace when the lock is worn out, bent, cracked or loose, or when a break-in attempt left damage.
• Replace when the existing lock is a style you don't want, such as a basic knob lock on an entry door where you'd rather have a proper deadbolt.
• Replace when you want a higher-grade cylinder; our high-security locks page explains what that actually buys you.
• Rekey several doors to one key when convenience is the goal, so you carry one key instead of a ring of them.

How we change locks, step by step

There is no mystery to a lock change, and you should know what's happening on your own door. This is how a typical visit goes.

1. You call (213) 577-1366, day or night, and tell us how many doors are involved, why you want the change, and anything you can see about the locks, like a brand name or whether there's a deadbolt.
2. We come to you in a mobile van. At the door, we look at each lock: how it turns, whether the bolt lines up cleanly with the strike, how worn it is, and what kind of cylinder it is.
3. We tell you, door by door, whether we recommend rekeying or replacing, and explain what's driving the cost before any work starts. You decide.
4. We do the work. That means rekeying the cylinders, or removing the old hardware and fitting the new, and keying doors alike if you asked for that.
5. We test every lock with the new key, confirm the old key no longer works, and check that the door closes and the bolt throws fully.
6. We hand over the keys, cut extras if you need them through key duplication, and point out anything worth watching, like a door that's starting to rub.

What affects the cost of changing locks?

We don't quote numbers on a web page because the honest answer depends on your doors. We'll give you a clear figure once we know what you have. Here is what moves the cost up or down, so you can see why two homes on the same street can come out differently.

• How many locks are involved. Every cylinder is work, though doing several in one visit is more efficient than coming back.
• Rekey versus replace. Rekeying existing hardware is generally the lighter-cost option; new hardware adds the cost of the hardware itself.
• The grade and brand of hardware you choose, from standard residential deadbolts up through high-security and electronic locks.
• Whether the doors are in good shape. A door that's out of alignment may need a strike adjusted or a small repair on top of the lock work.
• Special or older hardware, like multipoint locks, unusual cylinders or discontinued models, which can take more effort to rekey or source.
• Keying choices: one key for all doors, extra copies, or restricted key systems.
• The time of day. Late-night and holiday calls take us out of our normal schedule, and we'll explain that plainly when you call.

Locksmith for new homeowners: changing locks after buying a house

If you just closed on a place in Canoga Park, changing the locks is one of the first things worth doing, and you can do it before the boxes are all unpacked. You don't know who got a copy of the key over the years: previous owners, relatives, a neighbor who watered the plants, a contractor, a real estate agent. A lock change fixes that in one visit.

Think beyond the front door. When we change locks for a new homeowner, we usually suggest walking through every way in:

• The front door and any secondary entry or side door.
• The back door and any sliding door with a latch or pin lock.
• The door between the garage and the house.
• Gates, sheds and other outbuildings that came with the property.
• Garage keypad codes or remotes, which are worth resetting or reprogramming too.

Locksmith after moving: add a deadbolt or go smart while we're there

A move is also a natural time to improve a door. If your entry door only has a spring latch, we can add a proper deadbolt; see our deadbolt installation page. If you'd like keypad entry so you can give a guest or a dog walker a code that you can later delete, take a look at smart lock installation.

Neither is required. If your existing locks are solid, rekeying them gets you most of the security benefit of a fresh start, and we'll say so.

Changing locks in Canoga Park: bungalows, tracts and apartment corridors

Canoga Park began as Owensmouth in 1912, and you can still see that history in the Owensmouth historic district, where early-20th-century bungalows sit near the core. Around them, most of the housing is 1940s-60s single-family tract homes. Those are the places where we see the most lock changes after a sale. Rekeying a 1950s tract home after a move-in or a tenant turnover is a regular type of call here, and it's usually a quick, economical job when the hardware is still sound. Homes that old have usually had a long line of owners and tenants, so the number of keys in circulation can be anyone's guess. If you're a landlord handling that turnover, our locksmith for landlords page covers how we handle multiple units.

Apartments are a different picture. Dense corridors along Sherman Way, Vanowen Street and Roscoe Boulevard hold older multifamily buildings that often use security screen doors and shared-entry hardware. Here the line matters: you can usually have the lock on your own unit door changed (check your lease and talk to your manager first), but shared entry hardware belongs to the building and has to go through management. If you end up locked out of your unit while sorting this out, that's a different call, covered on our apartment lockout page.

Newer townhome and mixed-use construction clusters near Westfield Topanga and the Sherman Way business district. Those homes tend to have newer hardware, so rekeying is often all that's needed after a purchase, unless you want to move up to keypad entry.

We work across the whole area, whether you're near Downtown Canoga Park on the Sherman Way corridor, around the Lanark Park area, along Topanga Canyon Boulevard or Roscoe Boulevard, or anywhere in ZIP codes 91303 and 91304. Our storefront is at 10740 Wilshire Blvd in Westwood, about 21 miles away, but the work happens at your door, because our vans come to you.

How Valley heat affects a lock change

The far West Valley gets long, hot summers with frequent triple-digit stretches, plus dry Santa Ana wind events in the fall. Wood doors and frames swell and shrink through those heat cycles, and over the years that can throw off the alignment between the deadbolt and the strike plate, especially in older homes.

This matters for a lock change because a brand-new lock won't fix a door that's out of alignment. If your key has been dragging or you've had to lift or push the door to get the deadbolt to throw, tell us. We check alignment on every door we work on, and sometimes the right fix is a small strike adjustment alongside the rekey, not a more expensive lock.

If the problem turns out to be a worn mechanism instead, we'll tell you that too and talk through replacing.

Why call Wilshire Lock & Key

We've been in business since 1987, and we serve 140 cities across Los Angeles and Ventura counties, Canoga Park among them. Here's what we think actually matters when you're choosing who to let work on your doors.

• One company. The person who answers (213) 577-1366 is part of Wilshire Lock & Key, not a call center passing your job to whoever's available.
• A real storefront at 10740 Wilshire Blvd in Westwood, plus mobile service vans that come to you.
• The phone is answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, year-round, including holidays.
• David, the owner and lead technician, oversees the work.
• We tell you whether to rekey or replace, even when rekeying is the smaller job.

What to ask any locksmith before they touch your door

California requires locksmith companies to hold a license from the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services (BSIS), called an LCO license. Ask any locksmith you're considering for their license number, and ask us too. A legitimate company will be glad to give it.

A few more questions are worth asking whoever you call: Will you tell me the full cost before you start? Will you rekey if the lock is fine, or do you always replace? Does the company have a physical address? And does the person who shows up work for the company on the phone?

If a locksmith says on the phone that every lock has to be drilled out or replaced before even seeing it, be wary. Sometimes that's true, but usually it takes a look first.

More locksmith help in Canoga Park

• Deadbolt Installation in Canoga Park
• Gate Lock Repair in Canoga Park
• High Security Locks in Canoga Park
• Key Duplication in Canoga Park
• Lock Installation in Canoga Park
• Lock Rekey in Canoga Park
• All services in Canoga Park

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