Frequently asked questions

For lock-outs, break-ins and anything left insecure we aim to be with you the same day across London and the Home Counties. For planned work: fire doors, an extinguisher contract, a full lock upgrade: we normally quote within a couple of days and book the work in for one to two weeks after you accept, or sooner if the diary allows. Tell us what has happened when you enquire and we will tell you honestly when we can be there.

No. Estimates are free. For most jobs we can price from a description and a few photographs; for fire door work, multi-site extinguisher contracts and anything structural we would rather come and look, which is also free.

Call-outs, lock-outs, lock changes, boarding up, are a London and Home Counties service, because response time is the whole point. Supply, installation and servicing work we take on nationwide: extinguisher contracts, fire door installations and multi-site security upgrades are all jobs we travel for. See areas we cover.

Yes. Ren-Lock is run by the family that does the work. The person who quotes your job is the person who turns up to do it, and the number you call is the number you will keep calling.

Yes, and most of the ones we service were not. We will record what you have, tell you what is still serviceable, what needs a refill and what has reached the end of its life. If something is fine, we say so. We are not in the business of condemning a good extinguisher.

It can. If a service is due in four months and we are on site anyway, or you want the whole building brought onto one date, we can commission early and reset the cycle. It saves a second visit and gives you one renewal date to diarise instead of six.

We do. Polished chrome, matte black, pink, and colour-matched finishes for shops, salons, restaurants and homes where a red cylinder on the wall ruins the room. They are the same certified extinguishers underneath. The finish is the only thing that changes. See custom fire extinguishers.

Only as a last resort. We pick, bypass or manipulate first: most doors open without damage. If a lock genuinely has to be drilled, usually because it has already failed internally or it is an anti-snap cylinder doing its job, we tell you before we start and we carry replacements so you are not left with a hole in the door.

That is usually the right order. We make the opening secure and weatherproof first, then come back with the right door, frame section or glass once it has been measured and ordered. Both visits can go on one invoice for an insurer.

Regularly. We itemise what was damaged, what was made safe and what was replaced, with photographs, so a claim handler can see the sequence. If your insurer needs the locks to meet BS3621 or a specific standard, say so when you enquire and we will fit to it.

Annually as standard, with a visual check by someone on site each month, which is a thirty-second look at the gauge and the pin, not a job for an engineer. Beyond the annual service, CO₂ units need an extended overhaul around ten years and water, foam and powder units around five, depending on the manufacturer.

It depends on how many units and where they are, which is why we price the site rather than the extinguisher. Small sites of a handful of units are a fixed call-out; multi-site portfolios we quote annually. Send a rough count and a postcode and you will get a number.

We tell you first, with the reason. Depending on what failed it is a refill, a part, or a replacement unit. Nothing is condemned without you seeing why, and we never remove a working extinguisher from a wall in order to sell you another one.

Yes. Home extinguishers are usually forgotten the longest, and a kitchen unit bought when the house was fitted out can easily be fifteen years old. We will service it, refill it or tell you honestly that it is past saving.

It depends on floor area, layout and what is in the building, and the honest answer is that nobody can tell you from a phone call. As a rule of thumb most premises need coverage on every floor and within a short walk of any exit, with a specific unit beside any particular risk such as a kitchen or a plant room. We will walk the site and tell you the number.

Yes: supply-only orders ship UK-wide. We will still tell you what type you want and where it should go, because an extinguisher in the wrong place is a cost rather than a protection.

Putting a new extinguisher into service: checking its pressure and seal on site, fitting it to its bracket, and labelling it with the date it entered service so the first annual service is due twelve months later. A unit that is never commissioned has no service history at all.

Yes, including the smaller powder units for vehicles, plant and boats, with the correct brackets so they stay put on the move.

On anything from a 2kg CO₂ upwards, refilling is normally cheaper, and on large powder and foam units it is much cheaper. On the smallest domestic units the two are close enough that a new one, with a fresh ten-year clock, is often the better value. We price both and let you choose.

Yes. Once the seal breaks the unit begins losing pressure, and a partly used extinguisher will not deliver a full discharge when you need one. Treat any activation, however brief, as a unit out of service.

Most are done the same day. Where a unit has to leave site we will usually return it within a few working days and can leave a loan extinguisher in the meantime.

Yes. You do not need an existing contract and we are happy to take on equipment someone else supplied. If it turns out to be past saving we will tell you before any charge is incurred.

Yes. What matters is that the extinguisher is a certified unit of the correct type, that it carries the right colour-coded label identifying its contents, and that it is correctly signed so people can find it. The body colour itself is not what makes it compliant. Our custom units keep the correct contents labelling throughout.

It will, on the same terms as a red one: correct type for the risk, correctly sited, correctly signed, in service and with a service record. We supply all of that with it.

Usually, yes. Send us the colour reference or a photograph of the wall and we will come back with what is achievable and what the lead time looks like.

No. They are serviced on exactly the same annual cycle, at the same price as any equivalent unit. The finish does not change the service.

They have a long service life and no pressure to lose, but they are single-use: once a blanket has been on a fire it goes in the bin and is replaced. We also check them at annual extinguisher visits for damage, contamination and whether the pull-tabs are still free.

1.0m × 1.0m covers a domestic pan fire. Step up to 1.2m if you cook on a large range or the kitchen is shared, and in an HMO we would fit 1.2m as standard.

On a small pan, yes. On a commercial fryer you want a wet chemical extinguisher as the primary response. The blanket is a secondary. We will specify both for a catering kitchen.

Yes, and we would rather fit them. Position is most of the value, and a blanket left on a worktop in its packet has never put a fire out.

There is usually a certification label or a colour-coded plug on the top or hinge edge of the leaf. If there is nothing there, the door is probably not rated, but the absence of a label alone is not proof either way, and plenty of genuine doors have been painted over or trimmed. We can look and tell you.

Only within the manufacturer's stated limits, which are small: typically a few millimetres from the bottom, sometimes nothing at all from the sides. A door that has been taken down to fit a sloping frame has usually lost its rating. The right answer is to correct the frame.

In the places that matter, yes: flat entrance doors, HMO bedroom doors, doors onto protected stairways and escape routes. We fit and adjust closers as part of the installation and re-check them at service visits.

Yes, and most of ours are. We work a floor or a flat at a time, make each opening secure before we leave at night, and schedule entrance doors so tenants are never without a lockable front door.

Not safely. An unrated lock case cut into a fire door creates a path for heat and smoke through the leaf, and the lock itself may distort and jam the door shut. Fire-rated locks with intumescent protection cost very little more and keep the door's rating intact.

A cylinder that is keyed outside and turns by hand inside, so you can always get out without hunting for a key. On a flat entrance door or any door on an escape route it is usually the right fitting. We fit anti-snap thumbturn cylinders so you do not lose security to gain escape.

Fit an electromagnetic hold-open linked to the alarm. The door stays open for daily use and releases automatically when the alarm sounds. It is the only honest answer to a door people will keep wedging, and far better than a wedge and a notice.

Yes, including push pads, touch bars and outside access devices, with the correct keeps and closers so the door latches properly when it swings back.

If you are responsible for a workplace, an HMO or any premises other than a single private home, you need signage that lets people find the escape routes and the firefighting equipment. The exact set depends on the building, and it is one of the first things a fire risk assessor will pick up on. We will tell you what is missing when we survey.

Yes: supply-only orders go out UK-wide, including signage packs and cabinets for sites with their own maintenance teams.

We do, including for yards, compounds, car parks and marinas, with the correct fixings for brick, block, steel or timber, and locks where the equipment is at risk of walking off.

Within reason, yes. The information and the pictograms have to stay legible and correct, but there is more choice in finish and mounting than most people realise.

Almost never. Most locks are opened by picking or bypass, which leaves the door and the lock working. Where damage is unavoidable we explain why before starting and carry replacement parts so the door is secure again the same visit.

If the keys are simply mislaid somewhere in the house, no. If they are lost in public, stolen, or lost with anything that identifies your address, change the locks. A cylinder change is quick and inexpensive, and it is the only way to know who can open your door.

Usually. A UPVC door that has dropped on its hinges or has a failed multipoint gearbox needs the mechanism manipulating rather than forcing. We carry common multipoint parts and can normally repair rather than replace the whole strip.

Yes, and you should expect it from anybody. We also ask you to show that the property is yours or that you have the right to be there: a tenancy agreement, a bill, anything reasonable. A locksmith who does not ask is a locksmith to worry about.

It depends on the door and the standard you need: a euro cylinder swap is the cheapest job we do, a BS3621 mortice on a timber door is more, and a failed UPVC multipoint strip more again. You get the price before we start. Send a photo of the door edge and the handle when you enquire and we can usually quote without visiting.

On a euro-profile door, yes, and that is usually all that is needed. The cylinder is the part that keys turn and the part that gets attacked. The mechanism inside the door only needs replacing if it has failed.

Most UK home policies ask for a five-lever mortice deadlock to BS3621 on final exit timber doors, and key-operated locks on accessible windows. Check your wording, and if it names a standard, tell us and we will fit to it and note it on the invoice.

Usually, across London and the Home Counties. Tenancy changes and post-break-in work we try hardest to fit in same-day, because an empty property with old keys in circulation is the worst combination there is.

Usually yes. The extraction itself rarely damages a healthy cylinder. Whether the lock then stays depends on why the key broke: if the mechanism is worn enough to snap a key, it is worth replacing while the door is open.

Often, if the broken piece plus the extracted section give us enough of the profile. Keep both halves and bring them out with you. It can save a lock change.

A failed multipoint gearbox. The handle is no longer driving the hooks. It usually needs the door opening by manipulation, then the gearbox or the whole strip replacing. We carry common sizes so it is normally one visit.

Because something is misaligned and the key is doing work it should not have to. A dropped door, a keep that is a few millimetres out, or a dry cylinder will all do it. We fix the cause, not just the symptom.

Carrying and using lock picks in the course of legitimate work is lawful. Using them to enter premises you have no right to enter is not, which is why any locksmith worth calling will ask you to prove the property is yours before opening it. We do.

No. A correctly picked lock works afterwards exactly as it did before. That is the entire point. Clumsy picking can scratch pins over many attempts, but a single entry does no meaningful harm.

No. Some high-security cylinders are genuinely resistant, and a lock that has already failed mechanically cannot be picked because there is nothing left to manipulate. We will tell you quickly rather than charging you for an hour of trying.

It is usually cheaper overall, because you are not buying a replacement lock on top of the call-out. The labour may take a little longer; the bill is normally smaller.

A cylinder engineered to break at a sacrificial point if attacked, so the attacker is left holding a stub and the lock still works. If your front door is UPVC or composite and the cylinder is more than a few years old, this is the upgrade to make. It is inexpensive.

Look at the door edge-on. If the cylinder projects more than about 3mm past the handle plate on either side, it can be gripped and snapped. Send us a photograph from the side and we will tell you.

Yes: bathroom privacy locks, office and stockroom locks, keyed-alike suites for commercial premises, and cupboard and cabinet locks.

Yes. Keyed-alike suites across a property, or a simple master system where a managing agent holds one key for several doors while each tenant only opens their own.

Most home policies require key-operated locks on accessible windows: ground floor, basement, and anything reachable from a flat roof, extension or boundary wall. Check your policy wording. If it names a requirement, tell us and we will fit to it.

Almost always the espagnolette strip inside the frame: a cam or a gearbox has worn or sheared, so the handle is no longer driving the bolts. It is a repair, not a new window.

Yes. Dual screws and discreet sash stops lock a sash securely and are barely visible, which matters on period windows and in conservation areas.

We do, including restrictors for flats above ground floor that limit the opening while still allowing the window to be opened fully for cleaning or escape by an adult.

One where the body comes up around the shackle so there is almost nothing to get bolt croppers or a bar onto. For gates, shutters, containers and anything on a boundary it is the only sensible choice.

Yes. Depending on the lock we will pick it, or cut it in the way that does least damage to the hasp and the gate, then fit a replacement on the spot.

Yes. Keyed-alike sets are standard for sites, allotments, yards and multi-gate properties, and we can add matching locks later to the same key.

A weatherproof or marine-grade body with a shielded keyway, plus a hasp that keeps the lock hanging downward so water drains out rather than sitting in the mechanism.

Across London and the Home Counties we aim to be with you the same day, and we prioritise anything left genuinely open: a forced front door, a smashed ground floor window, a shop unit that cannot be shut.

Usually, yes. Where a door has been destroyed we can fit a temporary lockable boarded door so you keep access and keep the property secure. Tell us when you call if the property is occupied or still trading.

Both. We come from a carpentry and building background, so the permanent repair, new leaf, frame section, glazing bead, ironmongery, is our own work rather than a job we hand on.

Yes. Commercial boarding is a large part of what we do, and most of it happens after a break-in in the small hours. We will secure the unit so it can trade the next morning.

Most can be repaired. A new section of jamb let into the damaged area, with the keep reinforced and through-fixed into the structure behind, is usually stronger than the original and far cheaper than a new frame. Badly split frames and kicked-through composite leaves are the exceptions.

Both, which is the point. One team covers entry, boarding, frame repair, new locks and the security upgrade, so there is no gap between trades and no argument about whose work failed.

Usually within a few days: long enough to get the right timber, glass or door section. Standard sizes can often be done next day.

We work to match existing mouldings, finishes and paint where we can, and we will tell you before we start where a visible difference is unavoidable.