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DavisvilleLock & Key Co.Open 24/7 (289) 217-4629
Close view of a satin-nickel deadbolt thumbturn and edge faceplate on a painted timber door. — Deadbolt Installation, Lawrence Park

Change or rekey · Lawrence Park

Deadbolt Installation

The bolt on the front door is keyed on both sides. Getting out at night means finding the key in the dark, and with a toddler in the house you have decided the inside should turn by hand.

In plain words

Replacing an existing deadbolt is usually a matter of matching rather than cutting. The locksmith measures the cross bore, the edge bore and the backset, checks the door thickness, and picks a bolt that drops into the holes you already have. Where the old lock was a builder-grade unit, the replacement can step up to a heavier grade with a hardened bolt, a free-turning collar around the cylinder and a low-profile face that gives a wrench nothing to grip. The old strike is checked against the new bolt's instructions, and where it calls for it, a reinforced strike and long screws go in while the door is already apart.

Sound familiar?Lawrence Park

The call
You moved in three weeks ago. The previous owner left a handful of keys, none labelled, and the bolt on the side door rattles in its housing. You would like every exterior door to bolt, and to know exactly who can open it.

NextHow the visit goes

Deadbolt Installation · Lawrence Park

How the visit goes

Person in a green cap holding a brushed-metal deadbolt against a dark door while a yellow drill rests below it. — Lawrence Park
  1. Scene 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. Scene 2

    Assembling the cylinder and thumb-turn

    The outside housing goes on first, with its tailpiece threaded through the slot in the bolt cam and its mounting posts through the matching holes. Any plastic alignment bracket that ships with the lock is used on a 54 mm bore and removed on a smaller one. The inside thumb-turn plate is set against the door and the two long tapered screws are driven through it into the outside housing, snug rather than crushed, so the housings pull tight to the door without distorting the mechanism. The locksmith turns the thumb-turn before the door is closed to confirm the bolt throws its full length and returns without a catch.

  3. Scene 3

    The rest of the door, tidied

    A deadbolt installation usually leaves the whole entry better than it found it. Hinge screws that were loose have been replaced with longer ones that bite into the framing, so the door hangs square. Weatherstrip that pinched the door has been trimmed and the latch below the new bolt has been checked against its own strike. The bore edges are clean, any shavings and steel filings have been vacuumed from the sill and the core, and the finish around the new hardware is unmarked. Open and close the door a few times over the next week and let the locksmith know if anything changes as the door settles.

In the van

  • Boring jig and 54 mm hole saw
  • Sharp chisel and mallet
  • 25 mm auger bit
  • Single-cylinder deadbolt
  • Strike box

What shapes the quoteDavisville Lock & Key Co.

Keying alike or a fresh key
Pinning the new cylinder to your existing key, or setting several doors to a new key, is bench work quoted per cylinder, plus the number of keys you ask to have cut.
Rental and building requirements
Matching a building's keyway, providing keys to a landlord or fitting a lock that a condominium corporation specifies can add hardware or bench work, each shown as its own item.
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.

FeesSame any hour

Have it ready

Before you call · 0 / 3

(289) 217-4629

Ask us anything about locks

Should I choose a single-cylinder or a double-cylinder deadbolt?

For any door people leave the house through, a single cylinder with an inside thumb-turn is the sensible choice, and provincial building rules for dwellings call for exit doors that open from inside without a key. Double-cylinder bolts are keyed on both faces and are sometimes proposed where glass is near the lock, but a captive thumb-turn, laminated glass, or a tested security-film system with its specified attachment, addresses that without a key on the inside.

What do backset and bore mean, and why does the locksmith ask?

Two measurements decide whether a deadbolt fits your door. Bore is the diameter of the big hole through the face, 54 mm on most current hardware. Backset is how far the centre of that hole sits from the door's edge, 60 mm or 70 mm on nearly all residential doors. A replacement must match both to use the existing holes, and a fresh installation is cut to match the knob below, so knowing them ahead puts the right hardware on the van.

Can I supply my own deadbolt?

Yes. Bring the box, the template and the instructions, and tell the locksmith the model beforehand so the bore and backset can be checked against your door. If the kit turns out to need a larger hole or a different faceplate than the door has, the locksmith adapts the door or suggests a matching model. Hardware bought online sometimes arrives set for a different door thickness, which is a small adjustment on site.

Lawrence Parkinformation

TorontoOntario

Deadbolt Installation · Toronto, Bedford Park, Davisville, North Toronto

Town
Lawrence Park, Toronto
In business
27 years
Hours
Open 24/7
Nights, weekends and holidays, same fees
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
  • About 58% of homes in Toronto were built in 1980 or earlier, according to the 2021 Census.Where housing is mostly older, many entries still have only a knob lock and no deadbolt at all. Adding one is a straightforward job on a solid wood door, and it is the single upgrade that changes most for a house of this kind.
  • Single-detached houses make up about 23% of homes in Toronto (2021 Census).In buildings, the suite door often has a closer and a heavy frame, and the deadbolt sits in a metal or metal-clad door. A locksmith fitting or rekeying one brings the tools and cylinders that suit that construction rather than a wooden house door.

Source: Statistics Canada, Census Profile

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On-site assessment

Request a visit.

The bolt on the front door is keyed on both sides.

(289) 217-4629, open 24/7.