Rekeying keeps the lock you already own and changes which key opens it, which makes it the tidy answer to a lost key, a departed roommate or a staff change. Across Cherry Heights we rekey single doors, whole houses and small commercial buildings, and cut the new keys on the spot. We also come out to Community Beach, Tapleytown and Woodburn.
Locksmith services
This is the working list of services for Cherry Heights: the jobs a locksmith gets asked to do week in and week out. Lockouts and broken keys. Rekeys and lock changes. Deadbolts, high-security cylinders and smart locks. Commercial hardware and master key systems. Safe opening. And key cutting, house and vehicle alike.
Cherry Heights
Seized & Jammed Lock OpeningThe shop's lever handle goes down as usual, but the latch inside the mortise case never pulls back.
Lock RekeyingThe previous owners left a coffee tin of keys on the counter, some labelled, most not.
Vintage Mortise Lock ServiceThe knob flops loose on its spindle and never springs back to level.
Commercial RekeyingThe renovation is finished and the contractors have gone, along with the loaner keys they used for six weeks.
Master Key System DesignA self-storage operator wants the office, the tenant gate and the equipment shed on three different levels of access for staff…
Panic & Exit HardwareThe daycare wants the yard gate and the classroom door alarmed so a staff member hears the moment it opens, without turning…
Car Lockout ServiceThe rental van came with one key.
Transponder Key ProgrammingEvery key that ever opened the car is gone at once, one taken with a stolen bag, the spare misplaced months ago and never…
Vehicle Lock RepairAfter a cold night the driver's door key barely goes in, and when it finally seats it stops halfway and will not turn any further.Change or rekey
The right lock for a home is the one you will actually use every time. A bolt that is awkward gets left open.
High security
Getting past an ordinary lock is a skill many people have. Getting past a high security lock is loud, slow and uncertain, which is exactly the point.
Cherry Heights
People in Cherry Heights should understand what is on their door. So we explain in ordinary words: what grade of hardware you have, where the weak point is, and which change would actually make a difference. You get the reasoning, not just a recommendation, and then the decision is yours. Nobody is pushed into an upgrade they did not ask about.
— Cherry Heights Lock Services
Hours
Hamilton, Ontario
2021 census · what it means at the door
61%Older homes
About 61% of homes in Hamilton were built in 1980 or earlier, according to the 2021 Census.
Older doors are usually thicker and made of solid wood, which is good news. They take a deadbolt well, hold longer strike screws, and reward reinforcement. The locksmith measures the thickness and backset so new hardware fits without fresh holes.
56%
Single-detached houses make up about 56% of homes in Hamilton (2021 Census).
In areas of mixed housing, landlords may own a house here and a few units there. A locksmith can put all of it under one master system so the owner carries one key while each tenant's key opens only their own door.
Cherry Heights
Seized & Jammed Lock Opening
The shop's lever handle goes down as usual, but the latch inside the mortise case never pulls back. Staff are waiting on the sidewalk with their coffees, the door is locked, and the handle is simply moving air.
Seized & Jammed Lock OpeningOften, yes. A replacement cylinder in the same keyway can be pinned to the cuts on the key already on your ring, so the front and back doors stay on one key and nothing else in the house changes. If the old keyway is no longer made or the key is badly worn, the new cylinder comes with fresh keys and the other doors can be rekeyed to match in the same visit.
As many as you ask for, cut on site from the fresh pinning and tested in each door they should open; two or three is typical for a household. More can be cut later. When you do, bring one of the locksmith's originals to be copied rather than a copy of a copy, since every generation strays slightly from the intended depths. If any key is a restricted type, additional copies come from the record kept for that system rather than from a hardware store.
Yes. A bit key is cut to the lock rather than copied from another key: the locksmith chooses a blank of the right size and files the bit until it clears the wards and lifts the levers inside your case, testing as they go. A pin-tumbler cylinder on a later lock is decoded or rekeyed and keys cut to it. Bring any loose keys that came with the house, since one may be close enough to serve as a starting pattern.
They are gathered, tested at each rekeyed door to confirm they no longer work, and then cut through so they can never be used or copied. You can keep the pieces or the locksmith takes them away. Any old key that still operates a door you chose to leave unchanged is handed back and noted on the chart, so it is clear which keys remain live and which are scrap.
The current chart shows exactly which doors that level was designed to reach, which for a lost top-level master can mean the whole property rather than one group. Depending on how the key was lost and who else already holds that level, the usual options are repinning the affected cylinders and reissuing keys to the remaining holders; a restricted keyway lowers the odds of an unauthorized copy being cut but is not proof that one has not been made. Without a current chart, the first task is reconstructing that scope.
On-site assessment preferred
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Open 24/7 · same fees any hour
On-site assessment preferred · (289) 203-0966 · open 24/7
