Choice City Lock Notes

Don't let the porch give you away Before a trip, ask a trusted neighbor to pick up mail and packages, because a pile on the porch tells passersby nobody is home. We are also on our Justacote listing . What a mobile locksmith brings to you A mobile locksmith carries key cutting and rekeying tools in the vehicle, so many rekeys and key copies can be handled right at your door. We describe how our mobile service works in our press release on PressReleasePoint . Give codes, not copies If a dog walker or house cleaner needs to get in, a keypad or smart lock lets you assign each person their own code and delete it when the job ends. Our details are also on our BizBangBoom listing .

Mask the hardware before you paint Remove or tape over the lockset before painting a door, since paint in the keyway or on the latch bolt can make it stick. We share photos and ideas on our Cosmos page . Give back and side doors the same attention Back and side doors often have weaker locks than the front door and sit out of view from the street, so check that they have a solid deadbolt too. You can also find us through our Zumvu profile . Reinforce the strike plate Many forced entries split the door frame rather than defeat the lock. A reinforced strike plate fastened with long screws that reach the wall framing makes the frame much harder to break. The Appropedia page on strike plate reinforcement walks through the idea in more detail.

Change smart lock batteries early Swap the batteries when the low-battery warning first appears instead of waiting for the lock to go dark, and know where your backup key is. You can find all our channels on our solo.to link page . Single or double cylinder? A double-cylinder deadbolt needs a key on both sides, which can slow you down if you have to get out in a hurry, so check local codes and keep the key close but out of reach from outside. We compare the two styles in our lock notes on pbworks about single vs double cylinder deadbolts . Know who has a key Keep a simple written list of everyone who holds a key to your home. When you can no longer account for every copy, that is a good time to rekey. More home security ideas are gathered in our Pearltrees collection . Choice City Locksmith is a mobile locksmith in Fort Collins, Colorado. Call (970) 803-1100.

Prep your locks before the cold sets in Before winter, add a little lock lubricant to exterior cylinders and tighten any loose hinge or strike plate screws so doors latch cleanly. The full list is in our fall readiness checklist of five lock checks . Listen to a lock that is complaining A key that needs jiggling, or a deadbolt that only throws when you push on the door, is an early warning sign worth fixing before it leaves you stuck outside. We cover more of these warning signs in our Telegraph piece on small lock problems that turn into lockouts . Choice City Locksmith is a mobile locksmith in Fort Collins, Colorado. Questions about locks or keys? Call (970) 803-1100.

A few small habits prevent most lockouts and key problems. Here are three we see often around Fort Collins. 1. A door that won't latch is usually alignment, not the lock Look for rub marks on the strike plate. They show which way the latch is missing, so the fix is often a small strike adjustment instead of a new lock. We wrote more about it here on 757pages . 2. Put every exterior lock on one key When you rekey, key the front, back and garage-entry doors alike. Fewer keys means fewer spares floating around. You can find Choice City Locksmith on A-Z Business Finder . 3. Lock the deadbolt even when you are home An unlocked door is the easiest way in, day or night. If the deadbolt is hard to throw, the strike usually needs adjusting. We are also listed in the ad-links directory . Choice City Locksmith is a mobile locksmith in Fort Collins, Colorado. Questions about locks or keys? Call (970) 803-1100.

You get the keys at closing and there is a small, easy-to-ignore question sitting on the doorstep: who else has a key to this house? The honest answer is that you have no idea. Previous owners keep spares. So do contractors, cleaners, dog walkers, the neighbour who watered the plants, and the teenager who moved out three years ago. None of them are villains. Keys just accumulate, and nobody keeps a list. Rekeying, in plain terms Inside a standard cylinder is a row of spring-loaded pin stacks. The cuts on your key push each stack to exactly the right height, the plug turns, the bolt moves. Rekeying swaps those pins for a different combination and cuts you a new key to match. The lock stays on the door. Every old key stops working the moment the job is done. It is usually the right answer after a move, because it is quick, it is cheap relative to new hardware, and it solves the actual problem, unknown keys in circulation, without touching anything else. When replacing is the better call ...