Commercial · Mississauga
Commercial-Grade Lock Replacement
At closing time the hookbolt on the storefront door catches the keeper only on the second or third try, and one employee has started giving the door a shoulder to force it home.
In plain words
Businesses often reach this service after something specific happens: a break-in, a departing employee holding a working key, a lease turnover, or an inspector's note about the rear exit. Whatever the trigger, the work itself follows the same order. The locksmith assesses the door and its current hardware, agrees with an authorized contact on the keying the new lock should follow, fits hardware rated for the opening's construction and use, and connects it to anything else already wired into that door, such as an alarm contact or an access-control reader, before testing and handing the keys over.
How the visit goesAt closing time the hookbolt on the storefront door catches the keeper only on the second or third try, and one employee has started giving the door a shoulder to force it home.
Commercial-Grade Lock Replacement
How the visit goes
Reading the door before the lock
The door tells the locksmith what kind of hardware it can even accept. A hollow-metal or solid wood door with a mortise pocket cut into the edge takes a mortise lock body; an aluminum storefront door with a narrow stile takes a purpose-built narrow-stile lock or hookbolt; a standard cylindrical bore takes a heavy-duty lockset sized to that hole pattern. Handing, swing, backset and existing strike location are measured so the replacement drops into the prep that is already there rather than requiring the door itself to be re-cut.
Preserving the door's required behaviour
On a door required to close and latch on its own, the new hardware is installed and the closer adjusted so that behaviour still happens after the work is done: the door swings shut, the latch engages, and nothing about the new lock lets it be secured open in daily use. On an exit route where listed push-type hardware is required, the entire route from that door to the outside is checked so the new hardware fits the same standard as the rest of the path rather than becoming the one mismatched link in it.
One key system instead of a patchwork
Where the visit brought hardware onto a shared master or interchangeable-core system, the business now has one coherent structure instead of a different cylinder on every door. A master key opens what it is supposed to, sub-master and change keys are limited to their own doors, and the key-control log reflects exactly who was issued what. The next time a lock needs attention, whoever handles it can read that log rather than guessing at what system, if any, the previous hardware belonged to.
Commercial-Grade Lock Replacement
In the van
Electric strike
Key cutting and coding machine
Mortise lock body
Heavy-duty cylindrical lockset
Narrow-stile storefront lock
Commercial-Grade Lock Replacement
What affects the quote
Interchangeable-core hardware
Interchangeable-core cylinders cost more up front than standard ones but reduce the cost of every future rekey, since the business can swap cores itself. Whether that trade-off suits you shapes which cylinder type is quoted.
Removal of old hardware
Whether old locks, cylinders and strikes are left with the business, disposed of, or kept as spares for a wider system is a small choice that can affect the time and scope named in the quote.
Restricted or patented keyways
A restricted keyway usually costs more as hardware than a standard cylinder, and duplicate keys are controlled through the manufacturer or distributor rather than cut freely; some restricted programs require formal registration, while others control the same blanks without a signed authorization step.
What to have ready
- Is there an electric strike, maglock or card reader already on this door?
- Who can authorize the work and sign for new keys?
- Do you have a record of the current keying or key-control log?
Commercial-Grade Lock Replacement: questions
QuestionsWhat information should I have ready before the visit?
It helps to know roughly what is on the door now, knob, deadbolt, exit device or something else, whether other doors on the property share a key with it, and who in the business can authorize the work and sign off on keys. Photos of the current hardware and any fire label on the door are useful if you can get them ahead of time.
Is panic hardware the same as fire exit hardware?
Related but not identical. Panic hardware allows single-motion release without a key on any qualifying exit door. Fire exit hardware does the same job on a door that is also part of a fire separation, and it is listed for that combined use with no mechanical hold-open feature, since a fire door has to be able to close and latch on its own at all times.
My storefront door is aluminum and glass. Does it need special hardware?
Yes. An aluminum storefront door has a narrow stile, the vertical metal frame around the glass, that a standard mortise or cylindrical lock cannot physically fit into. These doors take a narrow-stile lock or a hookbolt built specifically for that slim profile, and matching the hardware to the frame is what lets the bolt engage the keeper fully instead of catching at an angle.
Related services
- Master Key System DesignOn the warehouse floor, a shift supervisor's key opens the loading dock, the tool crib and the manager's office, though only the dock is really part of the job.
- Access Control InstallationSomething went missing from the storeroom over a weekend, and when you ask who was in the building, the honest answer is anyone with a key.
- Panic & Exit HardwareThe crossbar on the loading-dock door barely returns anymore.