Sound familiar?Bedford Park
- The call
- The lever on the side door droops toward the floor and rattles in your hand. The latch no longer springs back on its own, so the door drifts open behind you unless you pull it shut and check it twice.
The brass handleset has gone blotchy and green where the winter salt reaches it, and the coating on the deadbolt is lifting in flakes. It still locks, but it looks tired beside the fresh paint on the door.
In plain words
A replacement lock has to fit holes that already exist, and that is where the visit begins. The locksmith measures the backset, the distance from the door edge to the centre of the bore, which on most doors is 60 or 70 millimetres, checks the cross-bore diameter and edge-bore size, notes door thickness and handing, and looks at the strike cut-out. Most residential hardware is made to these standard preparations, so the new lock usually drops into place with no new drilling. Where a mortise lock or a thick door departs from the norm, filler plates, extension kits or a careful new bore bring the door up to standard.
Lock Replacement & Upgrade · Bedford Park
How the visit goes
Scene 1
Function, and the way out
Each door has a job, and the hardware should match it. The main entrance needs a keyed deadbolt with an interior thumb-turn so anyone inside can leave without hunting for a key. A door with glass beside it is better served by a reinforced strike and glass protection than by a keyed cylinder on the inside. Interior doors may want passage, privacy or a keyed function, and a lever suits hands that find a knob awkward. Sorting function out first keeps looks from overriding how the door has to work.
Scene 2
Setting and reinforcing the strike
The strike side is where a replacement earns most of its value. With the door closed, the bolt is thrown and its mark checked against the pocket so the strike can be positioned to accept the full throw without rubbing. A shallow pocket is deepened until the bolt seats to its stop. Then a reinforced strike or a strike box is fitted using 75 millimetre screws that pass through the jamb and bite into the framing behind it, which is what stops a jamb splitting under a kick. Where an old forced entry has cracked the wood, it is glued and dowelled or a repair plate is fitted first.
Scene 3
An opening that is stronger, not just newer
Where the strike was reinforced, the improvement is mostly invisible and worth understanding. Long screws now tie the strike through the jamb into the framing, the pocket has been cut to take the whole bolt, and any split wood has been repaired. Together these make the frame the equal of the deadbolt, which is the part most break-ins defeat. The locksmith points out what changed so you can check it yourself: a bolt that seats fully with the door closed and a strike that stays put under a firm push. A twice-yearly look at those screws keeps it that way.
In the van
- Knob or lever entry set
- Key blanks and key cutter
- Handleset with matching deadbolt
- Adjustable latch or bolt
- Chisels, mallet and hand screwdrivers
What shapes the quoteDavisville Lock & Key Co.
- Patio and French door hardware
- Sliding door mortise locks, foot bolts and flush bolts for an inactive French door leaf are specialty items sized to the door, and they are quoted as their own line beside the entrance work.
- Smart lock setup
- Fitting a keypad or smart deadbolt includes programming codes, pairing to a phone or hub and calibrating the bolt, which is time on top of the mechanical installation and is named in the quote.
- Door material and thickness
- Wood, steel and fibreglass doors are drilled and fitted differently, and a door thicker than the standard 45 millimetres needs extension parts, so the door itself shapes part of the quote.
FeesSame any hour
Ask us anything about locks
Do I have to prove I own the home before you change a lock?
The locksmith will ask, and it is a sign of a careful trade. Photo identification with the address, a deed or property tax notice, or a mortgage or insurance document is plenty for an owner. Tenants show a lease and the landlord's consent; landlords show ownership and confirm the tenant will receive keys. It is a short step that protects everyone with a right to that door.
My door has glass beside it. Should I fit a deadbolt keyed on both sides?
A keyed interior cylinder means finding a key to get out, which is not what you want on a door people use every day. The steadier answer for a door with glass is a single-cylinder deadbolt with a thumb-turn, combined with a reinforced strike, a longer bolt and a security film or laminated glass in the sidelight.
Can you replace the lock on a sliding patio door or French doors?
Yes. Sliding doors take a replacement mortise hook lock sized to the rail, often with a keyed exterior, and benefit from a secondary foot bolt or a pin through the frames. French doors are secured by treating the inactive leaf properly with flush bolts into the head and sill, then fitting a deadbolt to the active leaf with a strike into that reinforced edge. Both are routine parts of a residential upgrade.
Change or Rekey Locks
- Deadbolt InstallationThe bolt on the front door is keyed on both sides.
- Vintage Mortise Lock ServiceThe knob flops loose on its spindle and never springs back to level.
- Smart Lock InstallationThe rental turns over every few months and each time you drive across town to swap keys, then wonder whether copies were made.
- Gate & Building Entry LocksThe driveway gate drags a groove into the gravel every time it swings, and the latch stopped catching weeks ago.
- Mailbox Lock ReplacementThe property manager mentioned that half the compartments in the lobby's mailbox panel are original to the building and are…
Bedford Parkinformation
TorontoOntario
Lock Replacement & Upgrade · Toronto, Davisville, Lawrence Park, North Toronto
- Town
- Bedford Park, Toronto
- In business
- 27 years
- Hours
- Open 24/7
- Nights, weekends and holidays, same fees
- Phone
- (289) 217-4629
- Visits
- On-site assessment preferred. Request a visit or call.
2021 census: what it means at the door
Every square is one home in a hundred.
- 58 in 100 homes · older homes
- 23 in 100 homes · mostly attached
- About 58% of homes in Toronto were built in 1980 or earlier, according to the 2021 Census.Layers of paint build up on older doors and frames, and a lock that seemed to fail is sometimes a latch glued shut by the last coat. Part of the visit in an older area is freeing hardware, cleaning the edges and checking the door swings true.
- Single-detached houses make up about 23% of homes in Toronto (2021 Census).Townhouse rows often share a keyway chosen by the builder. A locksmith can move a household onto a keyway of its own so a neighbour's key, or a key from the construction phase, no longer has any chance of fitting.
On-site assessment
Request a visit.
The brass handleset has gone blotchy and green where the winter salt reaches it, and the coating on the deadbolt is lifting in flakes.
(289) 217-4629, open 24/7.