Change Locks in Van Nuys, CA

What does it mean to change the locks on your doors?

Change locks is a phrase that covers more than one job, and it helps to sort them out before anyone picks up a tool. Rekeying keeps the lock on your door but rebuilds its inside so the old keys stop working and a new key takes over. Replacing removes the hardware and puts new hardware in its place. Upgrading is replacing with a purpose: moving from a basic knob to a stronger deadbolt, a keypad, or a smart lock.

Which one you need depends on what is bothering you. If the worry is who might still hold a key, rekeying usually settles it. If the hardware itself is worn, loose, damaged, or failing, you are looking at replacement. If you want a different kind of security or convenience, that is an upgrade. We start with a few questions so you only pay for the work your doors actually need.

Many Van Nuys customers call us not sure which of the three they want. That is a normal place to start, and sorting it out is part of the job.

Rekey or replace locks: how do you decide?

Our honest starting point is that rekeying is often the first thing to consider. When a lock is sound, a lock rekey gives you new keys and retires the old ones without buying new hardware, which makes it usually the more economical route. But it only makes sense when the lock is worth keeping. Here is how we think it through at the door:

• Rekey when the lock turns smoothly, the finish is acceptable, the parts are intact, and your only goal is making old keys useless.
• Rekey when you want several doors to open with one key, as long as the hardware on each door can be set up that way.
• Replace when the key sticks, the bolt drags, the knob wobbles, or the lock was damaged in a break-in attempt. New keys will not cure worn parts. Our lock replacement page explains what that involves.
• Replace when the hardware is missing parts, cannot be rekeyed, or is simply not the level of protection you want on an entry door.
• Upgrade when a door has only a spring latch and no deadbolt, since a deadbolt installation adds a real bolt, or when you want keypad or app access, which is where smart lock installation comes in.

How do you change locks after buying a house or moving in?

The day you get the keys to a new home is the cleanest time to change the locks, and it is the main reason new homeowners call a locksmith. You do not know how many copies of the old keys are out there. Previous owners, their relatives, agents, contractors, cleaners, and former roommates may all have held one at some point, and nothing about a house tells you who still does.

Treat it as a whole-property job rather than just the front door. Walk the place and count everything that actually locks:

If you rent, the situation is a little different. Read your lease and talk to your landlord before changing anything, because many leases spell out who controls the locks. It is also worth asking whether the locks were rekeyed after the last tenant left. And if your key will not work on moving day, that is a lockout rather than a lock change, so our house lockout service can get you inside first.

• The front door knob and deadbolt, which are often two separate locks with two separate keys.
• Back, side, and patio doors.
• The door from the garage into the house, and any side door on the garage.
• Security screen doors that have their own lock.
• Gates, and mailbox locks if they are keyed.

How we change your locks, step by step

Mixed jobs are common. A solid deadbolt may be rekeyed while a worn knob on the same door is replaced, and that is fine. The steps look like this:

1. You call (213) 577-1366, at any hour. Tell us how many doors there are, what the locks look like, and why you want them changed. A quick description of each lock is enough to start.
2. We confirm the basics, including that you live at or manage the property, before any lock comes off a door.
3. We look at every door: the type of lock, its condition, whether the door closes squarely, and whether the bolt and strike plate line up.
4. We recommend rekeying, replacing, or a mix of both, and we talk through the cost before we begin. The decision is yours.
5. We do the work, then test each lock with the new key, with the door open and closed, several times, so a stiff bolt shows up now instead of at midnight.
6. We hand over the new keys and make sure you know which key fits which door. If you want spares, key duplication is easy to add while we are there.

What affects the cost of changing locks?

We will not put a number on a web page, because the honest answer depends on your doors. These are the things that move the cost up or down:

Whatever the final job looks like, you should hear the cost before the work starts, and the explanation should make sense to you. If it does not, ask more questions.

• How many locks and doors are involved.
• Whether you rekey or replace. With sound hardware, rekeying is usually the more economical route.
• The grade and brand of any new hardware, from basic sets to high-security cylinders.
• Keying choices, such as keyed-alike doors, extra copies, or restricted keys that cannot be copied at just any hardware store.
• The condition of the door itself: a door that has swollen, drifted out of square, or been drilled before may need extra work for a lock to work properly.
• When you call and where you are. Late-night calls and distance can play a part.

What does changing locks look like in Van Nuys?

Van Nuys is mostly postwar housing: 1940s and 1950s bungalow and ranch tracts across the flats, with 1960s to 1980s garden apartments and dingbat-style multifamily buildings along corridors like Sepulveda, Kester, and Victory. That mix shapes the lock-change calls here. In the houses, new owners across 91401, 91405, 91406, and 91411 often want every exterior door handled at once. In the apartments, the questions are different.

Rental turnover is the big one. Picture a garden apartment in the Kester Avenue area when a tenant moves out: rekeying the unit is a common way to make sure the previous tenant's keys stop working, and it is often more economical than swapping hardware on every door. Many older buildings in Van Nuys still have original knob-and-deadbolt sets. Those can be fine to rekey if they turn freely, but a set that has been used for decades may be better replaced. Owners who manage several units can read more about locksmith services for landlords.

Along the Sepulveda Boulevard and Van Nuys Boulevard corridors, denser blocks put many doors close together, and a lock change is often about one household wanting to be sure only its own keys work. Near the Van Nuys Civic Center, security screen doors are a common sight, and a proper lock change should include the screen door's lock too, since an old key could still open it.

Summer heat matters here as well. Interior San Fernando Valley temperatures run well above Westside temperatures, and heat can swell wood doors and frames until latches bind. If a new deadbolt feels tight in August, the cause may be the door and not the lock, so we check alignment before blaming the hardware. On the plus side, corrosion risk is low this far from the coast, so finish wear is less of a worry than it would be near the beach.

Van Nuys is about 12 miles from our Westwood storefront, and we come to you by van.

Why call Wilshire Lock & Key for a lock change?

We have been in business since 1987, working from a storefront at 10740 Wilshire Blvd in Westwood, with mobile locksmith vans that bring the work to your door. Here is what that means in practice:

Lock changes are quiet work. Done right, you will not think about them again, and that is the point.

• We are one company from the phone call to the finished job, not a dispatch service passing your call to a stranger.
• David, the owner and lead technician, oversees the work.
• The phone is answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, year-round, at (213) 577-1366.
• We serve 140 cities across Los Angeles and Ventura counties, and Van Nuys is within that regular service area.

How can you check a locksmith before they change your locks?

California requires locksmith companies to hold a BSIS LCO license. Ask any locksmith for it before work begins and verify it with the state. A real company will not mind the question. A few other warning signs are worth knowing:

• A company that will not tell you its name on the phone.
• A cost that changes once the technician is at your door.
• Pressure to drill or replace a lock that works fine.
• No explanation of why a rekey would not do when they push for replacement.

Ready to change your locks in Van Nuys?

Call (213) 577-1366 at any hour. It helps to have a few things ready: how many doors you want done, what kind of locks are on them now, whether you own or rent, and what prompted the change. If you are not sure whether to rekey or replace, just say so. That is exactly what we are here to work out with you.

More locksmith help in Van Nuys

• Deadbolt Installation in Van Nuys
• Gate Lock Repair in Van Nuys
• High Security Locks in Van Nuys
• Key Duplication in Van Nuys
• Lock Installation in Van Nuys
• Lock Rekey in Van Nuys
• All services in Van Nuys

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