Technician using a screwdriver on the deadbolt of an open blue-gray front door, with a tool bag and screw tray nearby. — Deadbolt Installation, Hamilton

Change or rekey · Hamilton

Deadbolt Installation in Hamilton

The door from the garage into the kitchen closes on a passage knob with no lock at all. Anyone who opens the garage is one turn of a handle from the house, and the insurance renewal form has a question about exactly that.

Call now · open 24/7(289) 203-2070

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In plain words

A deadbolt installation is also the moment to sort out keys. The new cylinder can be pinned to match the key you already use, so the household stays on one key, or set to a fresh key if you would rather retire whatever copies are in circulation. Many keypad and smart deadbolts fit the same standard bore as a mechanical one, so a door prepared today for a keyed bolt often accepts one later, though the exact model's bore and thickness still need checking. Either way you leave with keys that work in every door they are meant to, tested one by one.

Sound familiar?

The front door has a handsome lever and a keyed knob, and that is all. Nothing above it. When the door is shut, the only thing keeping it closed is a spring latch the width of a thumbnail, and you have started to notice.

How the visit goes

Deadbolt Installation · Hamilton

How the visit goes

Technician holding a yellow cordless drill with a thin bit beside the deadbolt and handle on a brown door. — Hamilton

1
Exit, fire and who lives here
The last part of the first look is about the people, not the door. The locksmith asks whether this is the door the household leaves through, whether children, older relatives or anyone with limited hand strength use it, and whether it is a rental where the landlord holds keys. A door that serves as a way out gets a thumb-turn planned for it, so nobody has to hunt for a key to leave. A lever thumb-turn is easier for small or stiff hands than a knurled one, and a rental may need a note to the building manager. None of this takes long, and it shapes which box comes off the van.
2
Marking and boring a fresh door
With the height agreed, the paper template is folded over the door edge and the two centres are marked: the cross bore on the face and the edge bore on the stile. A boring jig clamps over the door so the hole saw cannot wander, and the cross bore is cut from both faces to leave clean veneer or skin on each side. The edge bore is drilled with a 25 mm bit through the stile until it meets the larger hole. The locksmith then traces the bolt faceplate on the edge and chisels a shallow mortise so the plate sits flush, keeping the cut inside the lines so the edge stays sound.
3
A frame that now holds the bolt
Behind the new strike plate is the part of the job you cannot see and will never need to think about. The pocket has been bored deep enough for the bolt to seat fully, the plate has been let into the jamb so it sits flush, and the long screws reach through the jamb into the framing behind it. On a door that had been forced or had stripped screw holes, a full-length reinforcer may sit under the strike. If you press the jamb with your palm now, it does not flex. That stiffness is what a bolt needs to do its work, and it is the reason the installation took as long on the frame as on the door.

In the van

25 mm auger bit
Boring jig and 54 mm hole saw
Bolt faceplate or drive-in collar
Strike box
Jamb reinforcer

What affects the quote

1
Hardware supplied by you or by the locksmith
If you have already bought the lock, the quote covers labour and any adaptation of the door to that kit. Hardware supplied from the van is listed separately with its grade and finish.
2
Storm door or restricted clearance
A tight storm door, a narrow lock stile or a decorative panel at bolt height can require low-profile trim or a shifted position, which is settled and quoted at the assessment.
3
Glass near the lock
A captive thumb-turn, laminated glass, security film or a relocated bolt height each carry their own cost, and the choice you make about glass shapes that part of the quote.

Same fees day, night or weekend.

Have it ready

Before you call · 0 / 3

Would you like a keyed deadbolt, a keypad, or a smart lock you can control from a phone?
Do you want the new deadbolt to work on the same key as your other doors?
Have you already bought the hardware, and if so which model and does the template come with it?

(289) 203-2070

Deadbolt Installation: questions

Advice · (289) 203-2070

I rent. Can I have a deadbolt installed on my unit door?

You can, with a conversation first. Tenancy rules in this province expect a tenant to have the landlord's consent before changing locks and expect the landlord to hold a key, so ask in writing and share the plan. Many landlords welcome a proper bolt. The locksmith can key the new cylinder to the building's existing key where the keyway allows, and leave a note of the model and keys cut for the building manager.

Someone forced my door. Can the new deadbolt go into the same frame?

In most cases, yes. The locksmith examines the jamb for splits and stripped screw holes, glues and pins any cracked section, and fits a full-length jamb reinforcer under the strike so the new long screws bite into sound wood and the stud behind. A new pocket is bored to the correct depth. Where the jamb is beyond repair, replacing that section of frame is discussed before any lock goes on.

Will drilling a new deadbolt damage my steel or fibreglass door?

Not when it is done for that door. Steel-clad doors are cut with a fine-toothed hole saw run slowly through the skin, guided by a jig so the saw cannot skate on the smooth face, and finished from both sides so each skin stays clean. Fibreglass is scored first so the surface does not chip. Shavings are vacuumed from the foam core, and the edge is finished with a collar or plate suited to the stile inside.

Change or Rekey Locks

Deadbolt Installation near you

Freelton

Hamilton, Ontario

Hamilton information

Town: Hamilton, Ontario
In business: 22 years
Hours: Open 24/7 · nights, weekends and holidays, same fees
Phone: (289) 203-2070
Work: lockouts, change or rekey, high security, commercial
Visits: On-site assessment preferred. Request a visit or call.

What the census means at the door

61%

Older homes. About 61% of homes in Hamilton were built in 1980 or earlier, according to the 2021 Census.

Old brass keys wear thin, and a key that has bent for years finally lets go in a cold cylinder. In older housing stock this is a regular call, so the locksmith is ready to extract the piece, check the cylinder and cut a new key from the code.

56%

A mix of homes. Single-detached houses make up about 56% of homes in Hamilton (2021 Census).

Where houses and attached homes share an area, lockouts are as varied as the doors. A porch, a hallway or a shared vestibule each calls for a slightly different approach, and a locksmith used to all three arrives ready for whichever it is.

Source: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census of Population