Lock Rekey in San Fernando, CA

Why rekey instead of living with keys you can't account for?

A lock has no idea who is holding the key. The previous owner, an ex-roommate, a tenant who moved out last month, the contractor who kept your spare for a week, or a set that fell out of a bag somewhere: every one of those keys still opens your door until the lock itself changes. Rekeying is how you change it, and you do not have to rip out any hardware to do it.

Most people call us for a rekey when something has shifted and they want a clean slate. They just bought a house. They are finishing a move. A tenant left and nobody is sure how many copies exist. Someone lost a ring of keys with an address on the fob. Or there is no single event at all, and they simply realize they have no idea who has a key to their place. Any of those is a good reason.

In San Fernando, the question comes up a lot because of the housing itself. A city of small lots, older bungalows, small apartment buildings and storefronts means a lot of doors that have passed through several hands over the years. Many of them still carry original or decades-old hardware that works fine. Rekeying lets you keep that working hardware and still start fresh with who can open it.

What does lock rekeying actually involve?

Most house and apartment locks are pin tumbler cylinders. Inside each one is a stack of small spring-loaded pins of different lengths. The right key lifts every pin to exactly the same height, which lets the cylinder turn. A wrong key leaves at least one pin out of place and the lock stays shut.

Rekeying means we open the cylinder, swap the pins for a set that matches a new key cut, and put it back together. The old key no longer lines up with the pins, so it will not turn. The handle, the deadbolt body, the finish and the latch stay as they are. From the outside nothing looks different. What changed is who has access.

Rekeying is also how we make several locks work with one key. If you have a front deadbolt, a back door knob and a side gate, and you are tired of carrying three keys, we can rekey them to match, a setup often called keyed alike. That is what people usually mean by wanting to rekey all house locks.

It is not always the right answer. If a lock is worn out, loose, sticking, damaged, or a style you want to upgrade, rekeying only puts new pins in a tired lock. In that case lock replacement makes more sense, and we will tell you so at the door instead of rekeying something that should not be kept. If you are still deciding, our page on changing locks lays out the difference in more detail. A few locks also cannot be rekeyed because of damage or unusual keyways, and we check that on inspection before we promise anything.

How does a house rekey work, step by step?

Here is how a typical house or home lock rekey goes from the first phone call to the last test of the key.

1. You call (213) 577-1366, any hour. Tell us what kind of property it is, roughly how many locks are involved, whether they are knobs, deadbolts or both, and whether you want them all on one key.
2. We come to you in a mobile van. If you would rather bring loose cylinders to our storefront at 10740 Wilshire Blvd in Westwood, say so on the phone and we will plan around that.
3. We look at each lock before touching it. We check that it turns smoothly, that the latch and strike line up, that nothing is loose or broken, and that the lock is a good candidate to be rekeyed.
4. We rekey each cylinder to the new key pattern and cut the new keys. If you want everything on one key, we set it up that way.
5. We test every lock with the new key and confirm that the old key no longer works. We do not leave until you have seen that for yourself.
6. We hand over the keys and tell you which lock each one opens if it is not all one key. If you need more copies, we cut them on the spot with our key duplication service, which is cheaper to do while we are there than to figure out later.

When should you rekey locks after moving, buying, or losing keys?

There is no wrong time to rekey, but some situations make it close to a standard step. Here are the ones we hear about most.

If you have not tried it, the sensible default for any property that has changed hands is to rekey before you rely on the doors.

• Rekey locks after moving: whether you are moving into a rental or your own place, you do not know how many copies of the old keys exist. Rekeying first means the only keys that work are the ones you were handed.
• Rekey locks after buying a house: sellers, agents, previous tenants, repair crews and family members may all have had keys over the years. A rekey on the first day makes the closing date mean something.
• Rekey locks after a tenant moves out: if you own a rental, a rekey between tenants is routine. It takes the old tenant's key out of play without the cost of new hardware at every door.
• Rekey locks after losing keys: if the keys disappeared somewhere you cannot trace, or they had your address attached, changing the pins is the safe response. If you are also locked out at the same time, see our house lockout service, and we can often handle the entry and the rekey in one visit.
• After a breakup, a falling-out with a roommate, or a worker who had a key: any time someone you no longer want inside still has a key, rekeying closes that gap.

What about apartment lock rekey and tenant turnover rekey?

Near the San Fernando Mall and the Civic Center area, many buildings are small apartment buildings rather than large complexes. That tends to mean owners and small property managers handling their own turnover, often with a handful of units and a limited key box. An apartment lock rekey between tenants is the simplest way to keep control of that without replacing hardware every time.

A tenant turnover rekey usually covers the unit's entry deadbolt and knob, and sometimes a mailbox, a patio door or a storage closet. We can set the unit's locks to one key, and if you manage several units, we can talk through whether a master key system fits your building so you can open every unit with one key while each tenant holds only their own.

If you own or manage rentals and want a standing arrangement for vacancies, our page for landlords covers how we work with property owners. As a tenant, check your lease and ask your landlord before changing any locks yourself. Who authorizes and pays for a rekey depends on your rental agreement.

Do you do commercial rekey and business lock rekey?

Yes. A commercial lock rekey works on the same principle as a house rekey, but the reasons are different. Staff turn over. A manager leaves. A business changes hands. Someone's keys go missing. In a storefront, every one of those events leaves a key out there that still opens your door after hours.

Along Maclay Avenue, Truman Street and San Fernando Road, plenty of storefronts have the original lock sitting in the door long after anyone could say who had a copy. A business lock rekey changes who can get in without a new set of doors or a full hardware project. Where a business has several doors, such as front, back, office and storage, we can set up different keys, or a master arrangement where managers hold one key that opens everything and staff hold only what they need.

If a rekey exposes a lock that is failing, a door that does not latch, or hardware that is past its life, we will say so, and the better next step might be storefront lock repair instead of a rekey on its own.

How much does lock rekeying cost in San Fernando?

We do not quote prices on a web page, because the honest answer depends on the job. Rekeying is usually the more economical route compared with replacing locks, since you keep the hardware and only pay for the work on the cylinders. But these things move the cost up or down:

Once you describe your doors on the phone, we can give you a realistic idea of what applies to your situation, and the final number is clear before we start work.

• How many cylinders: a single back door is a smaller job than a whole house, an entire apartment building, or a row of storefront doors.
• The type of locks: standard residential knobs and deadbolts are straightforward. Specialty, high-security or restricted keyway locks can take more work or may need different parts.
• Condition of the hardware: a worn or damaged lock may need repair or replacement alongside the rekey, which changes the scope.
• Keyed alike or separate keys: matching every lock to one key takes planning and may involve more cylinder work than leaving each lock on its own key.
• How many keys you need cut: extra copies for family members, tenants or employees add to the total.
• When you call: a visit in the middle of the night is handled differently from a scheduled daytime appointment, and we will tell you plainly how that works.
• Distance: San Fernando is about 23 miles from our Westwood base, and travel to the job is part of what we account for.

What should San Fernando homeowners know about rekeying older homes?

San Fernando is a compact city of about 2.4 square miles, and a large share of its housing is early-1900s bungalows, Spanish-style cottages and postwar homes on small lots. Around Las Palmas Park, Recreation Park and Pioneer Park, many of those homes still carry original door hardware. Rekeying older bungalows is one of the more common reasons people in this part of town call us, and it is often a good fit. You keep hardware that suits the house, and you change who can open it.

Older doors have their own quirks. Hot northeast-Valley summers make wood doors and frames swell, which can leave a deadbolt dragging against the strike. We look at that when we test every lock, because a rekeyed cylinder in a door that binds will still feel like a bad lock. A small adjustment sometimes fixes it, and sometimes the problem points toward lock repair instead.

Santa Ana wind events also push dust into exterior cylinders. A lock that has been sitting for years in a dusty exterior door can be gritty and stiff, and rekeying is a chance to clean and reset the cylinder while it is open. Winters are mild here with little corrosion risk, so rust is rarely the problem. Wear and dust usually are.

Security screen doors are a common retrofit on pre-war homes in 91340, and they often have their own lock and key. When people say they want their house rekeyed, we ask about the screen door, the back door and any side gate so that nothing is left on the old key. For the main entry, an older single-cylinder setup may also be worth a conversation about upgrading, which we cover under deadbolt installation if it comes up.

For rentals and small buildings near the downtown mall and the Civic Center area, the same logic applies. For businesses along the Maclay Avenue corridor and the Truman Street and San Fernando Road corridor, a rekey is often the quickest way to deal with a former employee's key. Whichever it is, we handle the work as one company from the first call, whether you are on the east side near the Sylmar/San Fernando Metrolink Station or on the other side of the city.

Why call Wilshire Lock & Key for a rekey?

We have been in business since 1987, and rekeying is the kind of work that rewards experience. The job looks simple and is easy to get subtly wrong: a pin out of order, a cylinder put back with a worn spring, a key cut that is close but not exact. David, the owner and lead technician, oversees the work, and we care that every lock turns cleanly with the new key before we leave.

We are one company. When you call (213) 577-1366, you reach us, not a dispatch middleman who hands the job to whoever is available. We have a storefront at 10740 Wilshire Blvd in Westwood and mobile service vans that cover 140 cities across Los Angeles and Ventura counties, including San Fernando. We answer the phone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, year-round.

One more thing worth knowing: California requires locksmith companies to hold a BSIS LCO license, and you should ask any locksmith for it before they work on your locks. That goes for us too. A good locksmith will not mind being asked, and neither will we.

Need more than a rekey? Our team can also handle mobile locksmith calls where you cannot get to us, and we will point you to the right service if your situation is bigger than the lock in front of you.

More locksmith help in San Fernando

• Change Locks in San Fernando
• Deadbolt Installation in San Fernando
• Gate Lock Repair in San Fernando
• High Security Locks in San Fernando
• Key Duplication in San Fernando
• Lock Installation in San Fernando
• All services in San Fernando

Lock Rekey near San Fernando

• Sylmar
• Mission Hills
• Pacoima
• Arleta
• North Hills
• Granada Hills