Change or rekey · Hamilton
Vintage Mortise Lock Service
The 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.
Call now · open 24/7(289) 203-2070In 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 interior bedroom doors on the second floor have the original mortise latches, and none of them close any more. The doors drift open, the small brass turn buttons do nothing, and the keyholes have been empty for as long as anyone can remember.
Vintage Mortise Lock Service · Hamilton
How the visit goes
- 1
How the knob and key actually behave
A short conversation with the hardware comes next. The knob is turned and released: does it return smartly, sag back, or not return at all? Is there free play before the latch moves? The key is tried in the deadbolt with the door open: does the bolt throw fully, catch part way, or ignore the key while the key turns? The thumb-turn gets the same test. Each answer points somewhere different inside the case, a latch spring, a hub spring, a worn hub square, a deadbolt lever, a cylinder cam, and the locksmith is building a short list of likely parts before the cover ever comes off.
- 2
Cutting a bit key to the lock
For a bit-key lock, keys are made to the case rather than copied from a pattern. A blank with the right bow, shank and bit size is chosen, then the bit is filed by hand to clear the wards inside the case and to lift each lever to the correct height. The key is tried, marked, filed again and tried again until it turns the bolt cleanly from both sides. A second key is made to match while the first is fresh. Where a working original exists, it is used as a guide and the new key is cut to it, and a worn original can itself be gently restored if the customer wants to keep using it.
- 3
A clear way out
If the entry door's deadbolt was keyed from both sides, the service leaves the inside operable without a key: a thumb-turn fitted to the bolt tail, or a knob function that releases the latch from inside. This is simply good sense for a door people use to leave the home, so nobody is stuck hunting for a key inside their own house. You are shown how the inside release works and asked to try it, and everyone in the household should know it too, especially anyone who grew up with the old habit of leaving the key in the door on the inside.
In the van
- Hardwood dowel and wood glue
- Hub followers and lever packs
- Dry graphite or PTFE lubricant
- Deadbolt lever springs
- Cylinder set screw
What affects the quote
- 1
Making the inside key-free
Fitting a thumb-turn or interior release to a deadbolt that was keyed on both sides is its own small item, and one most owners of an entry door choose to include.
- 2
Strike 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.
- 3
Number of locks in the visit
One entry lock is the simplest case. A whole floor of interior latches, or the front and back doors together, is a longer visit, and each case is quoted on its own so the total is easy to follow.
Same fees day, night or weekend.
Vintage Mortise Lock Service: questions
Do I need to prove I own the house before you work on the lock?
Yes, and it is a normal part of any lock or key work. Photo identification together with something that ties you to the address is enough. If you rent, the locksmith will ask who should receive the keys, because landlords and tenants in this province are expected to agree on lock changes and share keys. This check takes a moment and it protects every household the locksmith is asked to work for.
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.
My home is a designated heritage property. Does that change anything?
It reinforces the choice to service rather than replace. Where a property carries a heritage designation, changes affecting listed features can need extra sign-off, and original door hardware is occasionally among those features. A rebuilt mortise case with its original trim is preservation rather than alteration, and the locksmith's written record of what was retained and what was replaced is useful for your file.
Vintage Mortise Lock Service near you
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
- 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.
Nearby
Open 24/7
Request a visit
The key turns freely in the round cylinder on the door, all the way around and back, without the bolt shifting at all.
Call now · open 24/7(289) 203-2070- On-site assessment preferred
- Same fees day, night or weekend
- 22 years in business