Houses in Toronto collect locks over the years: a front door from one decade, a side entry from another, a garage door that takes its own key. We rekey them all to a single key so the ring in your pocket finally gets lighter, and set up a spare that lives somewhere sensible.
Nearby
Toronto, Ontario
Nearby
2021 census · what it means at the door
58%Older homes
About 58% of homes in Toronto 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.
23%
Single-detached houses make up about 23% of homes in Toronto (2021 Census).
Suite doors in buildings often have a viewer, a chain and a deadbolt fitted at different times. A locksmith can tidy that into one sound arrangement, with a properly set deadbolt and a strike that holds, without altering the door's face.
Locksmith services
One team handles every service on this page for Toronto, so a lockout can turn into a rekey, and a rekey into a properly set deadbolt, within the same visit if you want it. Each service is described separately below, but at the door they fit together as one piece of work.
Toronto
Business Lockout ServiceThe key went in stiffly, turned a quarter of the way, and came out in two pieces.
Lock RekeyingThe builder handed over your new home with a stack of identical keys, and you know the framing crew, the painters and the…
High Security LocksYou run a home office with client files and equipment, and your insurer has asked what kind of lock is on the door.
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…
Access Control InstallationDeliveries arrive before anyone is scheduled to be there, which right now means either propping the loading dock open at dawn or…
Panic & Exit HardwareTwo doors used to swing as a pair at the community hall entrance, but one leaf has started closing before the other, catching the…
Car Key ReplacementThe fob went through the washing machine in a jacket pocket.
Key Fob ProgrammingThe remote clicks the way it always has, but the vehicle no longer locks, unlocks or answers with its usual chirp.Commercial
Staff turnover is the most common reason a business calls. Someone left with a key, or nobody is sure who has copies.
Lockouts
We carry the tools to pick, bypass, decode, extract and, as a last resort, drill. The order matters.
Toronto
Business Lockout Service
The heavy glass door has been scraping the threshold for weeks. This morning the key turns, you can hear the bolt trying to move, but it is jammed hard in the strike and the door stays shut no matter how the handle is pulled.
Business Lockout Service
Toronto
One locksmith handles your job in Toronto from the first call to the last turn of the key. He is the person who answered, the person who arrives in a marked van, and the person who walks you through the new hardware before leaving. No handoffs, no call centre, no explaining the door twice. If a question comes up a week later, you speak to the same man.
— German Mills Locksmith Co.
Hours
Open 24/7
For landlords and tenants, rekeying is the tidy way to handle a change of occupancy. A departing tenant may have copied a key or simply forgotten to return one, and a fresh pinning means the incoming tenant is the only person holding a working key.
1 of 3
Outdoor locks live a harder life. We check the gate alignment, the exposure to rain and freezing, and how it is used before recommending hardware.
2 of 3
We install hardware built for the outdoors, align it with the latch and treat the mechanism so it keeps turning through winter.
3 of 3
You get a short rundown on lubricating and checking the lock as the seasons change, so it keeps working year after year.
It is treated as one, with the same authority check: your new lease and identification settle it. The locksmith opens the previous occupant's locks, then rekeys or replaces them so keys still floating around from the last tenant stop working. It is also the moment to decide how the unit will be keyed: one key for every door, separate keys for the cash office and stockroom, or cores that suit a growing staff.
Rekeying keeps your existing deadbolt or handle set and gives it a new key, commonly by changing the pins inside, though some cylinders reset a different way. Replacing removes the whole lock or cylinder and fits new hardware. Rekeying suits locks that are in good condition and simply need a fresh key. Replacement is the better call for hardware that is worn or damaged, built to a low grade, on a keyway the other doors cannot share, or due for a change of style or a keypad.
A sidelight within reach of the inside thumb-turn is the weak point of an otherwise strong door, since a broken pane lets a hand reach the turn. Options include moving the deadbolt further from the glass, a lock function that needs a key inside as well, or a laminated pane. Because everyone must still be able to leave easily, the locksmith talks through the trade-offs and helps you pick the arrangement that suits your household.
Mechanical rekeying leaves electronics alone: alarm panels, card readers and keypads keep their codes and credentials. What changes is the list of people holding keys, and it is worth updating the alarm company's keyholder list and retiring the codes of anyone who has left at the same time, since keys and codes usually walk out together. Where a door has both a card reader and a keyed override, the override cylinder is rekeyed with the rest.
It means knowing, at any time, how many keys exist for a given door or level, who holds each one, and how a new copy would be authorized. A master key system supports key control by design, since keys are marked by role, logged by serial, and cut only against the chart, rather than copied informally whenever someone asks for one.
On-site assessment preferred
Talk to a locksmith about it. Describe the problem; we'll take it from there.
Open 24/7 · same fees any hour
On-site assessment preferred · (289) 806-5983 · open 24/7
