Lock change and rekeying in Rockville, MD

This page is about keys, not hardware. Your door is only as private as the list of people holding a key to it, and that list grows quietly: the previous owner, their agent, a contractor, the neighbour who watered the plants one summer. A lock change is how you shrink the list back to the people you actually chose.

Rekey or replace — the distinction that decides the price

Most of the time you do not need a new lock; you need a rekey. The cylinder is taken apart, the pins inside are swapped for a new set, and new keys are cut — same hardware on the door, but every old key now turns nothing. It is quicker and costs less than replacement.

Full replacement makes sense when the hardware itself is worn or dated, when you want a different type of lock, or when the existing cylinder is a format that cannot sensibly be repinned. We will tell you which side of the line your doors fall on before anything is taken apart.

While the locks are open, multiple doors can be keyed alike, so one key runs the front, back and side doors.

How the visit goes

1. You tell us how many doors, roughly what is on them, and why — moving in, a lost key, a departed tenant. The why changes the advice.
2. We say whether that points at a rekey or a replacement, and what it will cost, before the visit is booked.
3. Each cylinder is repinned on site, or swapped for new hardware where that was the plan.
4. New keys are cut, including however many spares you want while the cutter is out.
5. Every door is tested with the new keys — and, just as important, the old keys are tried and confirmed dead.

What we bring to a lock change

• Pinning kits for the common residential cylinder brands
• New deadbolts and knobsets, in case a lock turns out to be worth replacing rather than repinning
• Key blanks and a cutter, so the whole house can leave with fresh keys and spares
• The tools to key several locks alike, so one key can run every exterior door

When to call straight away

Some key situations should not wait for a convenient week: keys lost together with anything showing your address, a separation or dispute where someone unfriendly still holds a copy, or a tenant who left on bad terms. If the keys were taken in a burglary, the lock change is urgent and the damaged door itself may need attention in the same visit.

After the change

Decide where the spares live — a trusted neighbour or a lockbox beats the flowerpot everyone checks first. Keep a note of how many keys were cut and who got one; that number is what makes the next lock change ten years away instead of two. If any lock felt rough while it was apart, a repair now is cheaper than a lockout call later.