Replace or Rekey Your Door Lock?

Your front door is the gateway to your life, so to speak. It opens to your Ferndale and Metro Detroit home where you live with what is most valuable to you—your family and belongings. With such a responsibility, you need to be sure it is secure. If something affects that security in some manner, if your door lock is compromised, you need to evaluate what your strongest course of action will be. Will you replace the door lock or your entire door? Or do you simply rekey the lock? At Lockout Locksmiths our professional locksmiths can help you with this important decision.

Compromised Locks

Like everything else, door locks do not last forever. There are many ways your door lock, therefore your home security, can become compromised:

• Normal, daily wear and tear
• Age and outdated design
• Broken key in the lock
• Attempted break-in
• Lost or stolen door key
• Lock damage due to poor key quality
• Burglary
• Too many people with keys

Whether it is due to daily wear and tear or a recent burglary, there are times when it is necessary to change your home’s door lock. Maybe you only need to change the front door lock. Or maybe you need to change all your home’s locks. Or, yet again, maybe you need to replace your entire front door. Whether you decide to replace your door, replace your lock, or rekey your lock will depend on the situation. Our professionals offer some possible scenarios for each to provide you some guidance.

When You Should Replace Your Entire Door

Replacing your front door, or any door, can be a costly venture. Unless you are intent on remodeling or upgrading your security, you may not need to go this far if your door lock is compromised. Either replacing just the lock or even rekeying the lock may be feasible options in many cases.

Our locksmiths recommend you replace your entire door when the door itself and/or frame is damaged. If you are burgled, many times the housebreaker will kick in the front door to gain entry. In fact, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, the overwhelming number of forcible break-ins are committed via a door. Or if the thieves in their eagerness to destroy your lock harms the area surrounding it, we recommend replacing the door. These incidents can alter the structure of your door, making it less secure.

When You Should Replace Your Lock

Replacing your lock is much less involved than your entire door. However, it can also be a financial investment, especially if you are replacing more than one lock. In many cases, you may choose to rekey your lock instead. If you are planning a change, we recommend replacing your lock when you want to upgrade your security. Our professionals also recommend a replacement if your home was burgled, leaving the door intact but affecting the lock. A straightforward rekeying may still leave your lock compromised if components of the lock were impaired. The same holds true for an older or worn lock. A full replacement might be the more secure decision.

When You Should Rekey

Instead of replacing a lock, many times you can save this expense by alternatively rekeying the lock. Rekeying a lock is still changing elements of it, it simply is not replacing the entire mechanism. When our locksmiths rekey a lock, we replace the old lock pins, thereby making any corresponding keys useless and requiring a brand new key.

As long as your door lock is not damaged, you can rekey in most circumstances. Instances where rekeying makes sense over lock replacement are when you move into a new home, you lose a key or it is stolen, you want one key to open multiple doors in your home, or you want to prevent someone else access to your home who has a key.

Call Our Professional Locksmiths

To be sure of your decision or you want advice when it comes to changing your home’s door lock, call and speak with one of our Lockout Locksmiths today. We are the key to your home’s security.

Contact the experts!