Residential Locksmith Tips

We use keys every day to lock and keep our home, cars, and volts safe, and yet we hardly know anything about them. To top it off, losing one’s keys can be a very exasperating and inconvenient experience, especially if it happens during the weekend. It’s in moments like these that one wishes to at least have some fundamental knowledge about keys and how they work.

If you’ve been having similar thoughts about keys then you’ll find this article very interesting indeed. Read on as we divulge a few secrets from expert house repairs.

Why Do You Have to ‘Jiggle’ Your Keys In Order to Get the Lock to Work

This is an indication that the keys you are using are a poor copy of the original, or a copy of the copy. To fix this problem, you’ll have to find the locksmith which made the original key and get copies made from there. As a rule, you should always request your handyman services to only give you a key that has been copied from a ‘factory original’.

When Do You Need to Rekey Your Home

There are many scenarios that make it necessary to rekey a home, like when you’ve just moved into a new home and don’t want the old owner letting himself in without your permission, or when you find out that one of your teenagers has made a copy for a friend, or even when you’re just not sure how many of your home’s keys are floating around anymore.

An easier fix would be to just install a deadbolt known as the Kaba Simplex, right on the back door, so that you and your family can only gain access to the house through a secret password, and if the password happens to leak out, you could just as easily change it in no time.

Should You Rekey or Replace

The decision to rekey or replace your keys depends on your preferences. As a rule, there’s no need to rekey keys that are still in good working condition with little to no scratches, and it may not be feasible to rekey if the doors all use different key brands. Rather get new ones that are all uniform and less confusing. On the other hand, if you’ve got a front door whose keys are different from the other keys in the house, which are all the same, then there’s no need to rekey as there are still only a few keys to deal with.

Key Not Going Into the Lock

This is typically caused by foreign objects that are stuck in the keyhole, thus obstructing the key’s entryway or a key that’s bent out of place from being used for purposes other than those it was made for. The best thing to do in this instance is to either rekey or replace the key altogether.

Sliding Glass Door Safety

Most people wonder; is my sliding glass door as safe as it’s cracked out to be? Truth be told, glass doors are a security risk, but they can be secured by installing a lock pin or by placing a large dowel on the door tracks.

Lubricants to Use on a Door Lock

If a door won’t open after multiple attempts, there are certain lubricants that you can use to remedy the problem, and most handyman recommend opting for the WD-40 lubricant specifically.