Hands holding a lock cylinder and a ring of keys above a worn workbench with another cylinder and loose keys. — Lock Rekeying, Pickering Beach

Change or rekey · Pickering Beach

Lock Rekeying in Pickering Beach

Your roommate moved out last weekend. Rent is settled, the room is empty, and the key is still on their ring.

In plain words

Moving into a home is the moment most people first hear about rekeying, and it is the most sensible time to do it. A resale house has usually passed through owners, real estate agents, home inspectors, cleaners and trades, each of whom may have held a key at some point. Rekeying every exterior cylinder on move-in day means the only keys that work are the ones cut for you, and the same visit is a chance to put every door on one key so the coffee tin of mystery keys can go in the recycling.

Sound familiar?

The whole key ring went missing somewhere between the grocery store and the bus. You got back in with the spare, but a set of keys is out there, and you would sleep better knowing they open nothing.

How the visit goes

Lock Rekeying · Pickering Beach

How the visit goes

Illustrative locksmith scene — Pickering Beach

1
Doors that belong to someone else
A few openings around a home are not the occupant's to change, and sorting them out early avoids awkwardness later. In a condominium, the lobby, the garage, the locker room and the mailroom are the corporation's doors, and the suite door itself may need to remain on a system the building can access in an emergency. In a rental, the landlord has a say and must be given a key. A shared side entrance in a semi-detached or a duplex serves two households. The locksmith asks about each of these, confirms who needs to agree, and keeps them separate from the doors that are plainly yours.
2
Taking the cylinder out of the lock
Each type of lock releases its cylinder in its own way, and the locksmith works door by door, finishing one before opening the next, so every entry stays lockable throughout. On a knob or lever set, the handle comes off after a retaining clip or set screw is released, and the cylinder slides out of the handle. On a deadbolt, the interior thumb-turn and housing are removed and the cylinder is withdrawn from the outside body. On an older mortise lock, a small set screw on the door edge is backed out and the cylinder unthreads from the case. Nothing is pried or forced; the door and trim stay untouched throughout.
3
Living with one key for the house
If the visit brought your doors onto a single key, daily life gets a little simpler: one key opens the front door, the back, the garage's side entry and the shed, and the ring in your pocket shrinks to the car key and one for the house. Anyone you give a key to gets the same freedom, which is convenient for family and worth thinking about for anyone who should only reach one door; that is what a separate group is for. Keypads and smart locks keep their codes, and their override cylinder now takes the same key. If you add a door later, its cylinder can be pinned to match.

In the van

Cylinder shim
Replacement cylinder for odd keyways
Code cutter or key duplicator
Pinning tweezers and tray
Graded bottom pin kit

What affects the quote

1
Condition of the existing cylinders
A clean cylinder is repinned as it is. One with collapsed springs, a plug packed with old oil or a worn housing needs service or replacement while it is apart, and that shows separately.
2
Mismatched keyways needing a cylinder swap
Where one door's cylinder cannot take the key the other doors share, a compatible replacement cylinder is fitted and pinned to match, and that hardware appears as its own line in the quote.
3
Upgrades chosen during the visit
Some people take the opportunity to replace a double-cylinder deadbolt with a thumb-turn model, add a reinforced strike or move to a heavier deadbolt. None of it is needed to rekey; each is a separate line.

Same fees day, night or weekend.

Have it ready

Before you call · 0 / 3

Do you own the home, rent it, or manage it for someone else?
Is there a basement suite or office that should keep its own key?
Do you know the age of the locks or whether any is a restricted type?

(289) 275-3289

Lock Rekeying: questions

Advice · (289) 275-3289

My deadbolt says I can rekey it myself with a little tool. Should I?

You can, given a key that currently operates the lock, the maker's reset tool, the new key and the steps followed in order. Trouble tends to arrive when the old key is missing, when the new key belongs to a different keyway, or when a reset stalls halfway and the cylinder then accepts neither key. A locksmith carries the tool and the procedure, can check that the new key suits the rest of your doors, and can fit a standard cylinder if a forced reset has broken the mechanism.

Do the old keys really stop working?

Yes, at every cylinder that was rekeyed. Once the bottom pins are changed, a key cut to the old combination lifts them to the wrong heights and the plug will not turn. The locksmith proves this at each door by trying the old key after the new one, because any door missed from the list would still answer to the old key. That is also why the walk around the property at the start matters: every door meant to be included has to be on the list.

My house is older and has a mortise lock. Can that be rekeyed?

Yes. A mortise lock, the kind with a large case set into the edge of the door, uses a threaded cylinder held by a set screw reached from the door's edge. The cylinder unthreads, is pinned like any other and screws back in. Where a very old lock uses a bit key or a lever mechanism instead of a pin cylinder, the locksmith will explain the options, which may include fitting a modern cylinder into the existing case so the door keeps its original hardware.

Change or Rekey Locks

Lock Rekeying near you

Ajax

Durham, Ontario

Pickering Beach information

Town: Pickering Beach, Durham, Ontario
In business: 29 years
Hours: Open 24/7 · nights, weekends and holidays, same fees
Phone: (289) 275-3289
Work: lockouts, change or rekey, high security, commercial
Visits: On-site assessment preferred. Request a visit or call.

What the census means at the door

23%

Newer homes. About 23% of homes in Ajax were built in 1980 or earlier, according to the 2021 Census.

Households in newer homes are often keen on keypads, fobs and phone-controlled locks. Standard doors make installation straightforward, and the locksmith spends more of the visit setting codes and pairing devices than on carpentry.

65%

Mostly houses. Single-detached houses make up about 65% of homes in Ajax (2021 Census).

Where homes are mostly detached, patio and sliding doors deserve attention alongside the hinged ones. Auxiliary locks, pin locks and better latches for sliders are routine additions that a locksmith brings on the same visit as the front door work.

Source: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census of Population