Whenever you are in a situation where you are moving into a new home or taking an apartment on rent, then chances are that the previous owners or tenants in that residence might still have a couple of sets of keys to the place. Now you might be thinking that you need to change all the locks in that residence the first chance you get, however, this might be unnecessary, and not to mention doing so could prove to be quite costly for you as well.
Moreover, changing all the locks in your home can be time-consuming. So instead of going through all of this hassle, you could simply get your locks re-keyed by a professional locksmith. The process of re-keying all the locks in your home is not only quicker but is much more cost-effective as well. While changing the entire lock of your doors requires you to first purchase new locks and then pay someone to install them, getting your locks re-keyed simply involves changing the pins of your existing locks and putting new pins. When this is done, the old keys will not be able to open the door that has the same old lock.
Thus, when the pins of the existing locks are replaced, it will require a new set of keys to open the door. If you get this job done by using the services of a locksmith, then he can get these locks re-keyed for you in no time. Also, since re-keying of locks only requires the pins of your current locks to be swapped, this is significantly cheaper than getting all of the locks in your home or apartment changed completely.
What’s more, when you opt to do re-keying of locks, you have the option of getting just one single key for all of your locks. This means that you no longer need to keep a bunch of keys (a different one for each door) on your key chain but instead, you will only need to make one new key that will be able to open all the doors of your new home. This helps avoid the hassle of keeping a track of all the keys of your home or carrying around a heavy set of house keys whenever you leave your home, especially for a long period of time.
You now might be thinking, so when should I think about changing my door locks entirely?
There are many circumstances that could arise when you should think about fully changing your door locks and getting new ones, for instance;
1. The lock doesn’t work – One of the main reasons why people go for a lock change is because it doesn’t work properly or is faulty. If you notice that any of the doors of your residence aren’t locking properly, even though you are using the right key, then you need to get a new lock for that particular door immediately.
2. Old and rusty locks – When you move into a place that has been owned by someone previously, then chances are that it might have locks that are quite old. These locks have a high risk of breaking or even your keys could get stuck in them. Thus, if you feel that any door lock looks way too old, then it’s time to replace it with a newer one.
3. Inferior brand or low-quality door locks – There could be some instances where the previous owner of the home or apartment might have chosen a cheap door lock as a temporary solution but ultimately did not switch to a better quality one. It’s important for you to check the quality of your door locks and if you find any lock that is sub-par or made by an unknown brand, then you ought to contact your locksmith and install a better quality lock to keep your home secure.
If you don’t come across the above issues with regards to your door locks when you move into your new residence, then you really do not need to spend time or money on changing all of your locks. You will keep your home equally safe if you just get your locks re-keyed. Once you do this, then all the people who had access to your home or apartment before you moved in will no longer be able to open any of your doors using the old keys. Therefore, you can be at ease knowing that no one but you will be able to open the locks that you had re-keyed