Change or rekey · Kitchener
Vintage Mortise Lock Service
After a wet summer the entry door sits lower in its frame. The lock works perfectly when the door is open, but with it shut you have to lift the handle and shoulder the door to get the deadbolt to throw.
Vintage Mortise Lock Service
In plain words
Interior doors are as much a part of this work as the entry. Bedroom, bathroom and closet doors in an older home usually carry a lighter mortise latch with a privacy turn button, and after decades without lubrication they stop catching or the turn button seizes. These small cases are short jobs on the bench: a clean, a spring, a new turn button spindle where the old one has sheared. Sets of interior locks are often serviced in one visit, and a bit key can be cut that operates all of them, which is how they were originally supplied when the house was built.
How the visit goesThe key turns freely in the round cylinder on the door, all the way around and back, without the bolt shifting at all. The cylinder itself wobbles slightly when you press it, as if it has come loose inside the door.
Kitchener
How the visit goes
Reading the faceplate
Standing at the open door, the locksmith looks at the narrow brass or steel plate in the door edge. Its height, the spacing of its screws, any maker's stamp, and whether it shows one bolt or two tell a good deal about what is inside: a latch-only case for an interior door, a latch and deadbolt case for an entry, or a privacy function with a turn button. The distance from the door edge to the centre of the knob, the backset, is measured, along with the spindle size. These figures decide which springs, followers and, if it comes to that, which replacement case will fit, so they are written down before the lock is disturbed.
When a case is fitted new
If the old case could not be saved, the replacement is fitted to the door rather than the door to the replacement. A reproduction or modern mortise case matching the measured height, depth, backset, faceplate and hub is chosen with the goal of it dropping into the existing pocket; where a small difference remains, the pocket is trimmed with a chisel by the least amount that works, never bored out. The original knobs, escutcheons and strike are refitted wherever their spacing allows, and a new cylinder is keyed to match the rest of the house if wanted. The result reads as the original lock from either side of the door, with the reliability of a fresh mechanism.
Watching the door through the seasons
The lock is aligned to the door as it hangs today, and a solid wood door in an older home will move again. Through a humid summer it swells, through the heating season it shrinks, and each year the hinges settle a fraction. Twice a year, close the door and try the latch and bolt; if either has started to scrape or needs the door lifted, the strike wants a small adjustment or the hinge screws want snugging, which is a five-minute job. Doing that early keeps the rebuilt case from being strained, and it is the single habit that makes a vintage lock last another few decades without fuss.
Vintage Mortise Lock Service
In the van
- Cylinder set screw
- Reproduction mortise case
- Latch and hub springs
- Hub followers and lever packs
- Deadbolt lever springs
What affects the quote
Same fees day, night or weekend
1Strike and hinge work
Where the door has dropped or swelled, adjusting or moving the strike and tightening or packing hinges is part of the fix. It is small work but it is listed, so you see what was done to the door.
2Replacement case
A case that is cracked or worn through is replaced with a reproduction or modern mortise case sized to the pocket. The case itself, any trimming of the pocket and the refitting are itemised separately from a repair.
3Replacement cylinder
When a pin-tumbler cylinder is past rekeying, a new mortise cylinder of the right thread and cam is fitted. A standard cylinder and a high-security one are different hardware and are quoted as such.
Vintage Mortise Lock Service: questions
Can you make a key for a lock that has none?
Yes. A bit key is cut to the lock rather than copied from another key: the locksmith chooses a blank of the right size and files the bit until it clears the wards and lifts the levers inside your case, testing as they go. A pin-tumbler cylinder on a later lock is decoded or rekeyed and keys cut to it. Bring any loose keys that came with the house, since one may be close enough to serve as a starting pattern.
What exactly is a mortise lock?
It is a lock built as a flat rectangular case that sits inside a pocket cut into the edge of the door, rather than through a round hole bored across it. The case holds the latch, usually a deadbolt, the hub the knob spindle turns, and the springs. On the faces of the door you see the knobs, decorative plates and either a keyhole for a bit key or a round cylinder. Most doors built before the middle of the last century carry one.
Why does my knob turn without moving the latch?
Most often the square hole in the hub inside the case has rounded with age, or the spindle has worn, so the knob turns a good way before it grips. Loose knob set screws produce the same slack. Less often a latch spring has broken and the latch is simply sitting inside the door. All of these are corrected during service by replacing the spindle and screws, bushing or replacing the hub, or fitting a new spring.
Change or Rekey Locks
Vintage Mortise Lock Service near you
Use this list to find the lock service that fits your situation in Kitchener. Openings for lockouts. Rekeys and lock changes for new owners and departing tenants. Deadbolts and high-security hardware for people who want more from their door. Commercial hardware and master keys for businesses. Safes. Keys of every kind.