Emergency Lockouts · Ajax
Lost Keys — Same-Visit Rekey
Your purse was taken from the back of a chair at a restaurant. The cards can be cancelled by phone tonight, but the house keys were in the side pocket beside a driver's licence that shows exactly where those keys fit.
Call now · open 24/7(289) 275-3289In plain words
A missing key is also the moment a household can stop carrying four. Because a rekey sets a fresh combination in every cylinder anyway, the locksmith can set the same combination in all of them, provided they share a keyway family, so the front door, back door, garage entry and side gate open with one key. Where a cylinder belongs to a different family, it can be swapped for one that matches during the same visit. The result is a single key on each ring, fewer copies to keep track of, and the certainty that the lost one operates none of them.
How the visit goesThe spare under the planter by the side door is gone. Everyone in the family swears they did not take it, the planter has clearly been shifted, and you have no idea how long ago that happened.
Lost Keys — Same-Visit Rekey · Ajax
How the visit goes
- 1
Rekey or replace, cylinder by cylinder
Rekeying suits hardware in sound condition, and most cylinders on a house qualify. The locksmith flags the exceptions while the list is being made: a plug worn oval by decades of use, a cylinder packed with salt and grit from a side door that faces the driveway, a knob lock so light it offers little resistance, or a keyway that no longer has blanks available. For those, a replacement cylinder or a complete new deadbolt keyed to match the rest is proposed as its own item, so you decide door by door. The aim is that every cylinder leaving the visit on a new key is one that will keep turning well for years.
- 2
Handling a restricted or high-security keyway
Restricted and patented keyways rekey in much the same way, with more parts and a little more care. A high-security cylinder's own elements, a sidebar's finger pins, a rotating element or another system-specific part, are reset to the new key's profile alongside the ordinary pins, and the finished plug is checked before refitting. Key blanks for these systems are issued through whatever authorised channel that system uses, a letter, a registered account, a dealer agreement, or sometimes a key card; bring whatever credential you were given. The reward is that copies of the new key can only be made through that same channel, one of the stronger kinds of key control a household can have.
- 3
Spares that live outside the house
A rekey is the natural moment to decide where the spare goes, because the one under the planter is the reason many of these calls happen. A key with a trusted neighbour or nearby relative is the simplest answer. A small combination lockbox fixed in a discreet spot, with the code shared only with the people on your list, is a step up and can be fitted before the locksmith leaves. For families with a keypad lock, a personal code for each member does the same job without a key at all. Whichever you pick, the spare is now a planned thing with a known home rather than a habit.
In the van
- Pin tweezers and shims
- Key gauge and decoder
- Top pins and cylinder springs
- Key blanks in common keyways
- Cylinder retaining-clip and cap tools
What affects the quote
- 1
Number of keys cut
New keys are cut on site and counted individually. Two for a couple or six for a household with teenagers and a sitter: name the number and the quote reflects it.
- 2
Entry as well as rekeying
If the lost key was your only key and you are locked out too, the door is opened first and that opening is quoted as its own step ahead of the rekey.
- 3
Outbuildings, gates and padlocks
Sheds, gates and detached garages often carry padlocks or light cylinders. Bringing them onto the house key may mean a new padlock of a matching keyway, quoted as a part.
Same fees day, night or weekend.
Lost Keys — Same-Visit Rekey: questions
How long does a whole-house rekey take?
Plan on an hour or two for a typical house with three or four cylinders, including the walk-through, identification, pinning, cutting and testing. Each additional cylinder adds a little, as does swapping a cylinder to bring a mismatched door onto the same key, resetting a homeowner-rekeyable lock or clearing a garage opener. The locksmith gives a realistic window on the phone once the list of doors is known.
The ring was stolen with my wallet and licence. What changes?
The priority. A stolen wallet gives the holder your address, and the ring gives them the key to it, so the rekey moves to the front of the queue and the locksmith says so when you call. The work itself is the same: every cylinder the key fitted is repinned and new keys are cut. It helps to list the doors on the phone so the right pin kits and blanks are on the van when it arrives.
Does rekeying weaken the lock?
No. On a conventional pin-tumbler cylinder, the housing, springs and top pins are untouched and only the bottom pins are exchanged for the same grade of part the lock left the factory with; a homeowner-rekeyable design is reset through its own procedure instead, and a high-security cylinder may also need its sidebar or finger-pin elements reset. If the locksmith notices worn parts, replacing them is offered as a separate step, leaving the lock stronger, not weaker.
Lockout Services
EmergencyHome Lockout ServiceThe key slides in and turns all the way round, but the bolt stays put.
EmergencyBusiness Lockout ServiceThe manager who holds the only set of office keys is on a plane.
EmergencyBroken Key ExtractionThat key had been bending a little for years, and you kept straightening it.
EmergencyBreak-In Damage Lock RepairThe shop's aluminum door has a bent meeting stile and the hookbolt is jammed half out.
EmergencySeized & Jammed Lock OpeningIt is the coldest morning of the winter and the key goes halfway into the side door and stops.
Lost Keys — Same-Visit Rekey near you
Durham, Ontario
Ajax information
- Town
- Ajax, Durham, Ontario
- In business
- 29 years
- Hours
- Open 24/7 · nights, weekends and holidays, same fees
- Phone
- (289) 275-3289
- 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.
New homes frequently come with strikes held by short screws into soft framing. Replacing them with longer screws that reach the stud is inexpensive work that adds real strength, and it is one of the first things a locksmith checks in a newer area.
65%
Mostly houses. Single-detached houses make up about 65% of homes in Ajax (2021 Census).
Families in houses hand keys to children, cleaners, dog walkers and neighbours. A locksmith can set up a keypad on the side door for the household and keep the front door on a conventional key, so access matches how the family actually comes and goes.
Nearby
Open 24/7
Request a visit
Your purse was taken from the back of a chair at a restaurant.
Call now · open 24/7(289) 275-3289- On-site assessment preferred
- Same fees day, night or weekend
- 29 years in business