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Technician holding a key fob over a metal workbench with a rugged tablet and loose fobs, beside a gray SUV. — Rosebank

Plan ahead High security · Rosebank

High Security Locks in Rosebank

You jiggle the key a little and the old deadbolt opens even when the cut does not look quite right. If your worn key can do that, you wonder what a stranger with the right tools could do.

Call now · open 24/7(289) 275-9650

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In plain words

High security locks are cylinders and deadbolts designed to defeat the methods used against ordinary doors. Inside the cylinder a second locking mechanism, usually a sidebar released by finger pins or rotating pins, has to be satisfied at the same time as the normal pin stack, which is what stops picking and bumping. Hardened steel inserts stop drill bits. The bolt is thicker and carries a hardened pin against sawing, and a reinforced strike ties the lock into the wall framing. Just as important, the key is cut on a patented blank that only an authorised person can have copied, so your key count stays known.

Sound familiar?

The restricted keys you bought years ago are no longer restricted; the locksmith mentioned the patent has run out and blanks are sold openly. Your key control quietly stopped being control.

How the visit goes

High Security Locks · Rosebank

How the visit goes

Technician in a cap fitting a black mortise lock case into the edge of a wooden door beside an old knob plate. — Rosebank
  1. 1

    The bolt, the pocket and the strike

    A deadbolt is only as good as how far it reaches and what it reaches into. The locksmith measures the throw of the bolt with the door closed, checks that it fully extends without the door being lifted or pushed, and looks at the pocket it enters in the jamb. A shallow pocket, a stamped strike plate and screws barely longer than a thumbnail are the usual finding on a builder-grade door. Then the frame is examined for splits, soft wood and gaps behind the jamb, since a kick lands on the strike, not on the cylinder.

  2. 2

    Upgrading the cylinder in place

    Where the existing lock body is sound, the locksmith removes the ordinary cylinder and fits a high-security one of the same format, so your deadbolt or lever stays and only the working heart changes. The new cylinder brings a sidebar released by finger or rotating pins, hardened steel inserts in the path of a drill, and a keyway that accepts only the controlled blank. Keys are cut from code on a machine that handles the side bitting. The tailpiece or cam is matched so the bolt throws fully, then the cylinder is fixed with its set screw and tested with every key.

  3. 3

    A door that shuts like a vault door, quietly

    With a heavy bolt, a deep strike and long screws in the frame, the door feels different when you lock it: the bolt travels its full length and seats with a solid, quiet stop. That feel is your ongoing check. If the bolt ever starts to drag or you need to lift the door to lock it, the door or hinges have moved with the seasons and a small adjustment restores it. Wood doors swell in humid summers and shrink in dry winters; a glance at the hinge screws and the strike each spring and autumn keeps everything aligned.

In the van

  • Hardened cylinder guard ring
  • Pinning kit and plug follower
  • Patented key blanks
  • Commercial mortise lock body
  • Three-inch strike and hinge screws

What affects the quote

  1. 1

    Condition of the door itself

    A solid door that hangs true takes hardware straight away. A dropped, swollen or hollow door may need hinge work, shimming or a recommendation to replace the slab before the lock is worth fitting.

  2. 2

    Glass 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.

  3. 3

    Cylinder only or full deadbolt

    Swapping the cylinder inside a sound deadbolt is a smaller job than fitting a new graded deadbolt through the door, and a knob-only door that needs a fresh bore is bigger again.

Same fees day, night or weekend.

Have it ready

Before you call · 0 / 3

(289) 275-9650

High Security Locks: questions

Advice · (289) 275-9650

What actually makes a lock high security?

Three things working together. The cylinder has a second locking mechanism, usually a sidebar released by finger pins or rotating pins, plus hardened steel in the path of a drill, so picking, bumping and drilling take far longer than on an ordinary lock. The deadbolt and strike are heavier and fastened into the framing. And the key is cut on a patented or restricted blank that only an authorised person can have copied. Remove any one and the door is weaker than the label suggests.

Do I need to replace my whole deadbolt or just the cylinder?

It depends on what you have. If the deadbolt is a good heavy unit that throws a full inch into a proper strike, a high security cylinder can replace the ordinary one and the rest stays. If the deadbolt is light, worn or throws a short bolt, a new graded deadbolt with a hardened bolt is the sensible base and the high security cylinder goes into that. The assessment tells you which, door by door.

Can a hardware store or kiosk copy my new key?

No. The blank for a patented keyway is distributed only through the manufacturer's network to locksmiths who hold the system, and the side milling or angled cuts need a machine set up for that line. A kiosk would have neither the blank nor the cut. Extra keys come through your locksmith, cut from code, once an authorised person has approved the order. That routine is a small inconvenience compared with never knowing who has a copy.

Durham, Ontario

Rosebank information

Town
Rosebank, Durham, Ontario
In business
11 years
Hours
Open 24/7 · nights, weekends and holidays, same fees
Visits
On-site assessment preferred. Request a visit or call.

What the census means at the door

31%

Newer homes. About 31% of homes in Pickering were built in 1980 or earlier, according to the 2021 Census.

Households in newer homes are often keen on keypads, fobs and phone-controlled locks. Standard doors make installation straightforward, and the locksmith spends more of the visit setting codes and pairing devices than on carpentry.

60%

A mix of homes. Single-detached houses make up about 60% of homes in Pickering (2021 Census).

In a mixed area, a locksmith's advice bends to the building. For a house, the side door and garage entry get attention. For an apartment, the suite door's closer, strike and viewer do. The principle is the same: look at how the door is actually used.

Source: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census of Population

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Open 24/7

Request a visit

You jiggle the key a little and the old deadbolt opens even when the cut does not look quite right.

Call now · open 24/7(289) 275-9650
  • On-site assessment preferred
  • Same fees day, night or weekend
  • 11 years in business