High security · Toronto
High Security Locks
A colleague showed you a video of a lock being opened with a bump key in a few seconds. Then you went home and noticed your own deadbolt is the same style, bought at a hardware store a decade ago.
High Security Locks
In plain words
Most break-ins do not involve picking; they involve a boot, a pry bar or a key that should never have been copied. High security hardware answers all three. A deadbolt with a full one-inch throw and a hardened core resists sawing and kicking, a reinforced strike with three-inch screws keeps the jamb whole, and a patented keyway means a copy can only be made through the locksmith who holds your system. The pick, bump and drill resistance of the cylinder is the layer on top. The locksmith's job is to fit those layers to your particular door and your particular worries.
How the visit goesYou have lost count of how many people have had a key to your house over the years: cleaners, a contractor, a former partner, the previous owner's family. The lock still works, but you no longer know who else it works for.
Toronto
How the visit goes
Winter, weather and daily use
A door on a farmhouse porch, a condo corridor and a shop on a busy street each see different wear. The locksmith asks how the door behaves in cold weather, whether the key has ever frozen or stuck, how many times a day it is used and whether it slams behind people. High-security cylinders with sidebars and telescopic pins are precise mechanisms and appreciate a door that closes true and a keyway kept clean. The recommendation may include a weather cover for an exposed cylinder, a closer adjustment or a hinge repair so the new hardware lives a long life.
Reinforcing the strike and frame
The strike is where a forced door actually fails, so it gets serious attention. The stamped plate comes off and the pocket is deepened to accept a box strike or a long reinforced strike, fastened with three-inch screws that pass through the jamb into the wall framing. Stripped or split wood is filled and doweled first so the screws have something to hold. Where the frame is thin, a wrap-around reinforcer around the door edge and a full-length jamb plate are options. The result is a bolt that ties the door into the house rather than into a strip of trim.
Looking after a precision cylinder
High-security cylinders are finer mechanisms than the pin tumblers they replace, and a little care keeps them turning sweetly. Use only the dry lubricant the locksmith recommends, once or twice a year and sparingly, and never household oil, which gathers grit around the finger pins and sidebar. In cold weather, if the key resists, warm it in your hand or use a de-icer rather than forcing it. Insert the key fully before turning. Keep a spare key indoors so a bent or worn key is retired rather than pushed on. Treated this way, the cylinder outlasts the door around it.
High Security Locks
In the van
- Three-inch strike and hinge screws
- Hardened cylinder guard ring
- Pinning kit and plug follower
- Reinforced strike plate
- Key control authorisation card
What affects the quote
Same fees day, night or weekend
1Glass near the lock
Sidelights or glazed panels beside the deadbolt may call for a different function or extra hardware to keep the inside turn out of reach, always keeping easy exit in view.
2Mortise and older doors
An existing mortise pocket, a thick slab door or an unusual backset can mean a specific cylinder or an adapted preparation, which takes longer than a standard bore.
3Commercial lock bodies
Heavy-duty deadbolts, mortise locks, narrow-stile deadlocks and cylinder guards for storefront and warehouse doors are heavier hardware than residential deadbolts and priced as such.
High Security Locks: questions
Will the new cylinder fit my existing locks?
Usually. High security cylinders are made in the common formats: key-in-knob and lever, rim, mortise and interchangeable core, and many are designed to drop into popular residential and commercial locks. The locksmith identifies your format and confirms fit before ordering. Where a lock is an odd size or in poor shape, a matching lock body is fitted instead, and the door preparation is reused wherever it is standard.
What does key control mean in practice?
It means your key can only be copied through the locksmith who manages your system, after checking that the person asking is on your list of authorised names. Blanks for the keyway are not sold to hardware stores or kiosks while the patent lasts. Each key is numbered and recorded, so you know how many exist. For a home that ends the worry about old copies; for a business it turns a lost staff key into a known, manageable event.
What happens when the patent on my keys runs out?
The mechanical resistance of the cylinder does not change, but blanks may become openly available, so copy control weakens. Manufacturers issue new patented keyways as older ones expire, and the usual answer is to move to the next generation by changing cylinders and keys while keeping the lock bodies. Your locksmith notes the patent term at handover so the date is on the calendar rather than a surprise years later.
High Security Locks
High Security Locks near you
For a household in Toronto the common requests are a rekey after moving in, a lockout, a deadbolt that grinds, and a lock that finally needs replacing. For a business they are storefront hardware, staff key control and exit devices. Both lists, and a few less common jobs, are laid out here.