Change or rekey · Lakeview
Vintage Mortise Lock Service in Lakeview
The old skeleton key still fits the keyhole, but it now needs a jiggle, a lean on the door and a little luck before the bolt moves. Last week it took three tries.
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 old skeleton key still fits the keyhole, but it now needs a jiggle, a lean on the door and a little luck before the bolt moves. Last week it took three tries. You have one key and no idea where a second could come from.
Lakeview
How the visit goes
Which keys exist and who has them
The locksmith asks to see every key that goes with the door: the one that works, the ones that used to, and the bag of loose bit keys that came with the house. A worn original is still the most useful pattern for a new key, and a bent one explains why the lock has become temperamental. For a cylinder lock, a lost or stolen key is a reason to rekey while the case is out, and a key that only a former occupant holds is worth retiring. The count of keys wanted afterwards is settled now too, so the spares are cut while the lock is on the bench rather than on a return visit.
Inside the case on the bench
With the cover screws out, the case opens like a book: the latch bolt with its spring, the hub the spindle passes through, the deadbolt with its lever or tumblers, and the springs holding each in place. The locksmith notes what is broken, worn or merely stuck, then cleans the case with solvent and a brass brush until the old grease and rust are gone; old paint on the hardware is treated as a possible lead hazard and cleared with contained, lead-safe methods rather than dry brushing. Parts are cleaned individually, burrs are dressed off the bolts, and the hub square is checked against a fresh spindle to see whether it has rounded.
How to lubricate it, and how not to
A serviced mortise case wants very little. Once a year, a single drop of light lock oil into the latch and the bolt from the door edge, with the faceplate screws briefly backed off if needed, keeps the levers gliding. If the lock has a pin-tumbler cylinder, that cylinder gets dry graphite or a PTFE lubricant in the keyway instead, because oil in a cylinder gathers grit and stiffens the pins. General-purpose spray lubricants belong nowhere on this hardware; they flush out the little oil that should stay and leave a film that dust settles into. The locksmith will show you where the drop goes so you are not guessing.
Vintage Mortise Lock Service
In the van
- Dry graphite or PTFE lubricant
- Spindle and knob set screws
- Deadbolt lever springs
- Cylinder set screw
- Hardwood dowel and wood glue
What affects the quote
Same fees day, night or weekend
1Bit key or cylinder lock
A bit-key case has keys filed by hand on the bench, while a cylinder lock is rekeyed or fitted with a new cylinder on a key machine. The two take different time and materials, and the quote follows.
2Making 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.
3Parts that must be ordered
A reproduction case or an unusual cylinder size may have to be ordered to measurement, which means a second visit to fit it. The quote separates the first visit from the return.
Vintage Mortise Lock Service: questions
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.
The lock works with the door open but not when it is closed. Is the lock broken?
Almost certainly not. That pattern means the door has moved in its frame so the latch and bolt no longer meet the strike squarely. Solid wood doors in older houses swell in humid weather and settle on their hinges over the years. The service adjusts or shims the strike and tightens or packs the hinges so the bolt throws without lifting the door, and the lock itself is usually cleaned and lubricated at the same time.
Does a rented home need the landlord involved for this work?
Repairing a lock so it works as before is ordinary maintenance, but anything that changes who can open the door, such as a rekeyed cylinder or new keys, is something a tenant and landlord are expected to agree on and share keys for. The locksmith asks up front who should receive keys and can leave a note of what was done for the property manager, so both sides know what is on the door.
Change or Rekey Locks
- Deadbolt InstallationYou bought a keypad deadbolt online and pulled the old one off, only to find the hole in the door…
- Lock Replacement & UpgradeThe century home's original mortise lock takes a key the size of a spoon, sticks in humid weather…
- Smart Lock InstallationYou have just taken possession of the house and the previous owners handed over a keypad deadbolt…
Vintage Mortise Lock Service near you
Below, each lock and key service we offer in Lakeview gets its own page, with a description that assumes no prior knowledge. Start anywhere. Many customers arrive for a lockout and leave knowing exactly why the strike plate on the back door has bothered them for years.