Lock replacement and lock changes

Changing a lock is the cheapest security decision anybody makes, and the one most often put off. It takes twenty minutes on most doors and it is the only way to be certain about who can walk in.

We replace locks on timber, composite, UPVC, aluminium and metal doors, across houses, flats, shops, offices and communal entrances, and we fit to the standard your insurer actually asks for rather than whatever happens to be on the van.

When people call us

• Change of tenancy: the single most common. Keys from previous tenants are rarely all returned, and "they seemed fine" is not a security policy.
• Lost or stolen keys, especially anything lost with an address attached.
• After a break-in or an attempt, where the cylinder has been snapped, bumped or drilled.
• Relationship breakdown or a departing employee: done discreetly and quickly, often the same day.
• Insurance requirement: commonly a BS3621 five-lever mortice on a timber door, or a kitemarked anti-snap cylinder.
• Worn or sticking locks that are one cold morning away from failing.

What we fit

• Anti-snap, anti-bump, anti-drill euro cylinders: the single biggest upgrade for a UPVC or composite door, and cheap relative to the risk.
• BS3621 five-lever mortice deadlocks: the standard most home insurers name for timber final exit doors.
• Nightlatches and rim cylinders, including BS-rated and double-locking versions.
• UPVC multipoint mechanisms: gearboxes, strips, hooks, keeps and handles.
• Communal and shared entrances, including restricted and patented key systems so keys cannot be copied at a kiosk.
• Keyed-alike suites so a property runs on one key instead of five.

Keyed alike, master keys and portfolios

If you manage more than one property, or a building with a communal door and several flats, a sensible key plan saves a great deal of time. We set up keyed-alike suites and simple master key systems so a managing agent holds one key rather than a bucket of them, while each tenant still only opens their own door.

For portfolios we keep a record of what is fitted where, so a replacement two years later is a phone call rather than a site visit. See landlords.

Cylinder sizing: the thing that goes wrong

A euro cylinder that projects more than a few millimetres past the handle plate is a cylinder that can be gripped and snapped. A huge number of doors we see are fitted with a cylinder that is simply too long, often by an installer who did not have the right size on the van.

We measure from the centre of the fixing screw to each face and fit the correct size. It costs the same and it removes the most common way a front door gets opened.

Questions we get asked about lock replacement