Home locksmith: a walk through every lock and latch in your house

Begin at the front door

The front door usually carries two devices that people lump together as the lock. One is the latch, a spring loaded bolt with a slanted face that catches the frame when the door closes. The other is the deadbolt, a plain bar that moves only when you turn a key or a thumb turn. They do different jobs, and it helps to treat them separately.

The latch keeps the door shut against wind and casual pushing. It is not meant to resist a determined shove. The deadbolt is the real barrier. A good deadbolt extends into the frame by a useful distance and is held by a strike plate fixed with long screws that reach the wall stud behind the trim.

Look at the keyhole side of both. A key that sticks, a bolt that needs a lift or a push before it turns, and a latch that does not quite click are all signs of wear or misalignment. They are simple to deal with in daylight and a nuisance in the dark.

Start with sound and sight. Open the door slowly and listen for the latch. Does it click cleanly or scrape? Close the door and look at the gap around the edge. An even gap suggests a well hung door. An uneven gap suggests settling, and settling affects how a latch meets its strike.

Turn the deadbolt with the door open, then closed. A bolt that moves freely open but drags when the door is shut tells you the door and frame are out of line. That is a common cause of mysterious locking trouble, and it is solved by adjusting the strike or the hinges, not by replacing the lock.

The frame, the strike plate and the hinges

A lock is only as strong as what it fastens to. Run your hand around the door frame. Is the wood sound? Is the strike plate firmly in place? Are the screws short or loose? A short screw biting only into the thin frame trim gives the lock far less strength than one that reaches the structure.

The hinges matter too. Most front doors open inward, which puts the hinges inside, where they are protected. A door that opens outward exposes its hinge pins, and a locksmith can show you ways to secure them. If the door sags, rubs or leaves a gap, the lock will wear sooner and may stop catching.

The guide on deadbolts and door frames describes this in more detail, and is a good companion to this page. It explains how to check the frame without tools and what a gap of a certain width might mean for your door.

Wood frames take a beating from weather, and older houses in the valley and the mountains alike can show cracks around the strike. A cracked frame can be repaired or reinforced, and a locksmith can advise on what suits the door. In the mountain towns, where snow loads and freezing change the wood, check the frame again in spring.

Metal frames have a different problem: the strike can bend if the door has been kicked or slammed. A bent strike may still look fine from the front. Look from the edge and check that it sits flat.

The back door and the side doors

The back door is often the quietest and least observed way into a house, which is why its lock deserves as much attention as the front. Many back doors are glass or have a glass panel near the knob. A deadbolt on a door like that is only helpful if it cannot be reached by breaking the glass, so look at where the thumb turn sits.

Side doors, if you have them, tend to be the forgotten ones. They are used rarely, so their locks go untested. A latch that has never been used can corrode or stiffen. Test each lock at least twice a year, and make sure each key you hold really turns the lock it is meant for.

The guide on rear and side doors suggests an order for checking them at night, which is useful when you are tired and want a short list.

A back door that opens to a patio or a yard can be exposed to weather more than a front door. Rain and sun fade finishes and swell wood. A lock on a swollen door may bind, and it may feel tight even though it is fine. Plane or adjust the door rather than force the key.

Gates and fences count as part of the back door. A gate latch that cannot be locked, or a fence with a loose board, makes the door behind it a little easier to approach. Consider a small padlock or a keyed gate latch if you want the yard secured.

• Test the deadbolt on every exterior door at least twice a year.
• Confirm each key you hold fits the lock it is meant for.
• Check that thumb turns on glass doors cannot be reached through the glass.
• Look for loose screws on strike plates and hinges.

The garage and the door into the house

A garage has two entries that matter: the large door that opens for the car and the smaller door that leads into the house. The large door usually relies on an opener and a latch that can be fooled if the emergency release is reachable. The smaller door is often fitted with a plain knob and no deadbolt, which is a weak point.

Treat the door from the garage into the house as an exterior door. It deserves a deadbolt, a solid strike and a frame that is in good shape. If someone gains access to the garage, that door is the next barrier, and it is often the only one.

The guide on garage entry doors at night lists what to check and in what order. If your garage opener fails, keep a key to the small door somewhere reachable and not inside the garage.

Opener remotes bring their own habits. Many people leave a remote in the car, and a car that is broken into hands the thief a way into the garage. Take the remote with you or use a keypad. If you lose a remote, ask about resetting the opener so that the lost one no longer works.

The emergency release cord on a garage door is a small red handle, and it should not be reachable from outside through a gap. Check the top of the door for gaps and cover them. A locksmith can advise on this, or you can do it yourself.

Sliding doors and windows

Sliding glass doors have their own small latches, usually a hook at the handle and sometimes a pin or a bar. The factory latch is often modest. A simple bar in the track, cut to the right length, adds a lot of resistance. The track itself should be clean so that the door seats fully when closed.

Windows carry latches too. Look at the ones on the ground floor and those that face a fence or a hedge. A window that does not lock, or whose latch is loose, is a quiet invitation. A locksmith can fit additional window locks and show you how they work.

None of this is meant to turn your home into a fortress. A house that is a little harder to enter than the one next door is a house a person will pass over. The goal is steady improvement, one door or window at a time.

Patio doors benefit from a pin or a charley bar. The pin goes through the frames of the two panels. The bar sits in the track. Either one prevents the door being lifted or slid. Cut the bar so it is just shorter than the track, so it drops in without wedging.

If a window is painted shut, leave it. A window you cannot open is also a window nobody can open from outside, as long as the glass is intact. For windows used for ventilation, a small lock that allows a few inches of opening is a sensible compromise.

Interior locks that people forget

Inside the house there are locks on bedrooms, bathrooms, closets, offices and sometimes a safe room. Most are simple privacy locks that a small tool can open from the outside, which is intentional. They stop a door swinging open, not a determined person. If a child locks themselves in, the emergency release is usually a small hole in the knob.

Cabinet and cupboard locks, gun safe locks, filing cabinets and mailboxes are also within the locksmith's reach. Mailbox locks in particular wear out in the weather. A mailbox that cannot be opened is a smaller problem than a lockout, but one that can cause a missed delivery or a worse thing.

If you have valuables or papers in the house, ask what kind of lock holds them. A lockable drawer, a small safe or a lockbox may suit you better than relying on hiding places.

Mailboxes deserve a note because they hold more than junk. Bank cards, tax papers and medication can all arrive by post. A mailbox with a worn lock is an easy target. A locksmith can replace the lock or advise on a better box. Keep the key away from your house key ring so a single loss does not open both.

Padlocks on sheds and outbuildings are common in rural properties near Cottonwood, Palo Cedro and Millville. Shed locks live outdoors and suffer. A rusty padlock that needs force to open is ready to fail. Replace it before it jams.

Key control and who holds copies

Count your keys. How many exist for the front door? Who has them? A house used by a family, a tenant, a cleaner, a dog walker and a neighbor can quietly accumulate a dozen copies. Nobody intends harm, but every copy is a way in, and most people do not remember where all of them went.

If you cannot answer the question, consider rekeying. A locksmith changes the inside of the lock so that old keys no longer work and you get new ones. It is often done after a move, a breakup, a lost key or a long period of lending keys around.

A simple list helps. Write down each door, each key and who holds it. Update it when something changes. The list does not have to be fancy, and it makes later decisions much easier.

Landlords and tenants should talk about locks before anything changes. Rules vary by lease and by place. A tenant who rekeys without telling the owner may breach an agreement, and an owner who changes locks without notice may breach another. A short conversation or an email on record saves trouble.

If you are moving out, hand over every key and write down how many. If you are moving in, ask whether the locks have been changed since the last tenant. If the answer is no or unsure, consider the rekeying page.

When a lock fails

Locks fail in a few ordinary ways. A key may turn but not move the bolt. A bolt may be stuck halfway. A lock may spin without engaging anything. A latch may fail to catch. See broken lock repair for what a locksmith looks at in each case and how to describe the symptom.

Do not oil a lock heavily. A drop of the right lubricant in a clean keyway helps now and then, but a heavy squirt of the wrong product gathers dirt and makes a mess. If a key breaks off in the lock, stop and leave it. The guide on a key broken in a door lock explains why.

If a lock is worn out or the door needs a better one, installing new locks describes what to consider. A fresh, well fitted deadbolt in a sound frame is one of the most useful improvements for a small outlay of effort.

Wear shows up as small habits. You may find yourself lifting the door as you turn the key. You may begin to use two hands, or turn the key in a certain way. These adaptations hide a developing fault. When you notice yourself adapting, it is time to look at the lock.

Cold weather exposes these faults. A lock that is slightly stiff in summer can seize on a frosty morning. The guide on frozen locks is written about cars, but the principles of gentle warmth and patience apply to a door lock as well.

Late night at home

The usual night call is a lockout. You step out to take out the bins, the door clicks shut, and your keys are inside. Start with the checks on the emergency page: try every door, think of who has a spare and stay safe. Then read the guide on being locked out of your home late at night.

Night house lockout describes what the locksmith does and how to prepare. The team arrives in uniform in a branded van, and will ask for proof that you live there before opening. A driver license with a matching address, a utility bill or a lease can help.

If the lockout includes children, elderly relatives or a pet, say so in the request. The guides on being locked out with children and an elderly relative locked out at night give extra steps for those cases.

A final point on nights: do not hide a key in an obvious place. Under the mat, in a flowerpot and on top of the door frame are the first places anyone looks. A spare is better given to a trusted neighbor or relative, or kept in a small lockbox that a locksmith can mount in a sensible place.

When you hand out a spare, tell the person what it is for. A key given to a neighbor for emergencies should not become a key for borrowing the lawnmower.

A nightly routine and a yearly check

A short routine at bedtime catches most problems. Check the front door, the back door, the garage entry, any slider and the ground floor windows. The bedtime lock check routine gives a sequence that takes only a minute or two and needs no tools.

Once a year, do a longer check in daylight. Test each key in each lock. Tighten loose screws. Look at the weatherstripping and the door sweep. Replace batteries in any electronic lock. A locksmith can do this walk with you and point out things you would not notice.

Light is part of the plan too. The guide on well lit entries and motion lights describes how a bright doorway complements a good lock. Homes in Redding, Anderson and Shasta Lake can all benefit.

Common questions