The key turns freely in the round cylinder on the door, all the way around and back, without the bolt shifting at all. The cylinder itself wobbles slightly when you press it, as if it has come loose inside the door.
Servicing the original lock is usually the better choice for an older home, for practical reasons as much as sentimental ones. Cutting a period door for a modern cylindrical lockset means boring a large hole through the stile and leaves the old mortise to be filled; a repaired mortise case avoids all of that. Where the home is a designated heritage property, keeping the hardware may also be what the municipality expects. The service treats the door as something to preserve: minimal disturbance, parts matched to the original, a strike adjusted rather than replaced, and the old lock left running smoothly for decades to come.
Sound familiar?Claraday
Vintage Mortise Lock Service · Claraday
Scene 1
The last step of the check is deciding what the lock needs, in plain terms, before any of it is done. Most cases need cleaning, springs and adjustment, and that is the recommendation. A cylinder lock with a worn plug may be better served by a new mortise cylinder of the same thread and cam, keeping the case. A cracked case, a bolt worn thin or a hub broken through calls for a replacement case in the same pocket, and the locksmith measures for it on the spot. You hear which of these applies and why, and if the answer is a replacement case, the choice between a reproduction and a modern case is yours to make.
Scene 2
Removal is done in a set order so nothing is forced. The knob set screws are backed off and the knobs and spindle drawn out, then the escutcheons are lifted away, their screw positions photographed for reassembly. On a cylinder lock, the small set screw in the faceplate is released and the cylinder is unthreaded from the case. The faceplate screws come out, and the case is eased from its pocket with a gentle rock, never a pry bar, because the wood at the edge of an old door is thin. Everything that comes off is bagged and labelled, and the pocket is looked at while it is empty.
Scene 3
What you get back is the door you had, with the lock working as it was designed to. The knob returns level with a snap, the latch catches when the door is pushed shut, the deadbolt throws with a light turn of the key or the thumb-turn, and the key goes in and out without a wiggle. Nothing on the face of the door has changed except that the brass has been cleaned where it was handled. The locksmith runs through each function with you from both sides before leaving, so the standard of what has been done is something you have seen, not something you have been told.
What shapes the quoteAshburnham Lock Experts
FeesSame any hour
A single entry lock that needs cleaning, springs and a strike adjustment is generally done in one visit of an hour or two. Filing a bit key adds bench time, and a set of interior latches is longer simply because there are more of them. A case that needs a part fabricated, or a replacement case that has to be ordered to size, may mean a second visit; the locksmith says so at the assessment.
Usually yes to the first, and to the second once the locksmith checks the locks. Interior mortise latches with privacy turn buttons are lighter versions of the entry lock and respond to the same clean and re-spring. Interior locks in a house were sometimes supplied to one bit key, and where the key sections, warding and levers actually match, the locksmith can restore that arrangement so a single key opens several bedroom and bathroom doors. It is a practical thing to have when a child locks a bathroom from inside.
Yes, and it is a normal part of any lock or key work. Photo identification together with something that ties you to the address is enough. If you rent, the locksmith will ask who should receive the keys, because landlords and tenants in this province are expected to agree on lock changes and share keys. This check takes a moment and it protects every household the locksmith is asked to work for.
PeterboroughOntario
Vintage Mortise Lock Service · Peterborough, Cavan Monaghan, Otonabee-South Monaghan, Ashburnham, Byersville, Coldsprings, Collison Heights, Downers Corners, Greenhill, Jackson Heights, Kawartha Heights, Westmount
Every square is one home in a hundred.
On-site assessment
The key turns freely in the round cylinder on the door, all the way around and back, without the bolt shifting at all.
(249) 494-7410, open 24/7.
On-site assessment preferred · (249) 494-7410, open 24/7
