Storefront glass doors, back doors that take deliveries, and an office suite with too many keys floating around all have simple fixes. We rekey, repair closers and pivots, install exit devices where a crowd must leave in one motion, and keep your key list manageable.
From the shop
Our habit is to explain as we go. You will hear why the strike is being moved, what the new pins do, and which of the three keys on the counter is the one that now opens everything. It slows the job by a few minutes and it means you leave the visit understanding your own door, which we think is part of the service.
— Country Hills Locksmith Services
Hours
Locksmith services
Here is the full range of what we do for houses, businesses and vehicles across Kitchener. Some jobs take one visit and a few tools; others are worth planning. Each page tells you which it is likely to be and how to prepare.
Lockouts
An emergency is whatever has stopped you getting in or being safe tonight. We confirm you belong there, open the door with as little disturbance as possible, and talk through what, if anything, should change afterwards.
Change or rekey
When a key is lost rather than stolen, the sensible response is usually a rekey rather than new hardware. When a lock is worn, it is the reverse.
High security
Layers, not a single product, are what make high security. A pick-resistant cylinder, a hardened deadbolt with a long throw, a strike screwed into the framing, hinges that cannot be pulled and a door that does not flex.
Commercial
We handle the commercial jobs that keep a premises running: getting staff in when the key is lost, changing the locks when someone leaves, setting up keys so managers reach every room, fitting exit hardware, adding keypads, and opening or installing safes.
Kitchener
Lock Rekeying
One key for the front door, another for the back, a third for the side door into the garage, and a fourth for the shed. You stand on the step every evening flipping through them in the dark, trying each one until something turns.
Lock RekeyingUsuallyUpgrade the deadbolt within the building's rules.
WhyMost buildings allow a better lock in the same finish; we check with management first.
UsuallyHave the mailbox lock replaced through management.
WhyLobby mail units belong to the building, so we arrange it with the property manager.
UsuallyRekey the suite lock.
WhyThe cylinder is re-pinned so only your new keys work; any building access key is preserved.
UsuallyHigh Security Locks
WhyThe service begins with a conversation about what the door protects and what worries you, then a close look at the door as a whole: the cylinder, the bolt, the strike, the frame, the hinges and any glass nearby.
UsuallyCommercial Rekeying
WhyFor most business doors, rekeying is the sensible middle path between doing nothing and buying new hardware.
UsuallyMaster Key System Design
WhyMaster key system design is the work of turning a property's separate locks into one coherent hierarchy: a change key for an individual door, a sub-master over a department or floor, and one top-level master reserved…
Open 24/7
Steel-clad and fibreglass doors, the common insulated entry doors in newer subdivisions, take a deadbolt happily as long as they are cut for it properly. The skin is thin metal or resin over a foam core, often with a wood block at lock height, so the cross bore is made with a hole saw suited to the…
1 of 3
Who comes and goes, whether you want codes or phone access, how the door is used in winter. The answers shape which lock suits you and how it should be set up.
2 of 3
We check the door alignment before mounting anything, because a smart lock needs a door that closes freely. Then we install, wire or pair it and set the first codes with you.
3 of 3
We walk through adding and removing codes, changing batteries and what to do if the electronics ever sulk. You leave able to manage it yourself.
Waterloo, Ontario
2021 census · what it means at the door
49%Homes of every age
About 49% of homes in Kitchener were built in 1980 or earlier, according to the 2021 Census.
Older frames and newer frames fail in different ways. Settled wood pulls strikes out of line; new framing settles as it dries. A locksmith used to a mixed area recognises which he is looking at and adjusts accordingly.
48%
Single-detached houses make up about 48% of homes in Kitchener (2021 Census).
Where housing is mixed, the same street can hold a solid wood front door, a steel townhouse door and a metal-clad suite door. A locksmith fits each with hardware suited to its construction, so every neighbour ends up with a door that locks properly.
For any door people leave the house through, a single cylinder with an inside thumb-turn is the sensible choice, and provincial building rules for dwellings call for exit doors that open from inside without a key. Double-cylinder bolts are keyed on both faces and are sometimes proposed where glass is near the lock, but a captive thumb-turn, laminated glass, or a tested security-film system with its specified attachment, addresses that without a key on the inside.
Two measurements decide whether a deadbolt fits your door. Bore is the diameter of the big hole through the face, 54 mm on most current hardware. Backset is how far the centre of that hole sits from the door's edge, 60 mm or 70 mm on nearly all residential doors. A replacement must match both to use the existing holes, and a fresh installation is cut to match the knob below, so knowing them ahead puts the right hardware on the van.
The new bolt will only lock as smoothly as the door and frame let it, so the locksmith deals with the cause as part of the installation. A door that has sagged on loose hinges gets longer hinge screws or a shim, thick weatherstrip is trimmed, and the strike is set from the bolt's actual position with the door closed. The pocket is bored deep enough for a full throw. Afterwards the bolt should slide with fingertip effort.
Bumping uses a specially cut key that is struck while under light turning pressure, bouncing the pins to the shear line for an instant so an ordinary cylinder opens. It works on many standard pin tumblers. A high security cylinder needs its sidebar released by separately positioned finger or rotating pins at the same moment, and a bump key cannot set those, so the plug stays locked. It is one of the clearest advantages of the upgrade.
On-site assessment preferred
Start with a phone call. Let's fix that lock.
Open 24/7 · same fees any hour
On-site assessment preferred · (226) 806-0633 · open 24/7
