Change or rekey · Mississauga
Vintage Mortise Lock Service
Someone painted the door years ago without removing the hardware.
In plain words
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.
How the visit goesAfter a wet summer the entry door sits lower in its frame. The lock works perfectly when the door is open, but with it shut you have to lift the handle and shoulder the door to get the deadbolt to throw.
Vintage Mortise Lock Service
How the visit goes
How the knob and key actually behave
A short conversation with the hardware comes next. The knob is turned and released: does it return smartly, sag back, or not return at all? Is there free play before the latch moves? The key is tried in the deadbolt with the door open: does the bolt throw fully, catch part way, or ignore the key while the key turns? The thumb-turn gets the same test. Each answer points somewhere different inside the case, a latch spring, a hub spring, a worn hub square, a deadbolt lever, a cylinder cam, and the locksmith is building a short list of likely parts before the cover ever comes off.
Taking the lock out without marking the door
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.
The interior doors in step
Where a set of interior mortise latches was serviced together, you leave with bedroom and bathroom doors that close and stay closed, privacy turns that actually lock, and, if you wanted it, a single bit key that operates every interior lock the way the builder intended. A note of which key fits which door goes into the house file. Interior cases need almost no care beyond a drop of oil every couple of years and a check that a turn button has not been painted over. A child who locks a bathroom and cannot reopen it is released from outside with the bit key, so keep it somewhere the adults can reach.
Vintage Mortise Lock Service
In the van
Mortise cylinder and cam
Spindle and knob set screws
Latch and hub springs
Dry graphite or PTFE lubricant
Light lock oil
Vintage Mortise Lock Service
What affects the quote
What is actually broken inside
A clean and new springs is the lightest job. A worn hub, a cracked lever or a part that has to be fabricated to match the original adds bench time, and the assessment names which applies before any of it starts.
Replacement case
A case that is cracked or worn through is replaced with a reproduction or modern mortise case sized to the pocket. The case itself, any trimming of the pocket and the refitting are itemised separately from a repair.
Paint and seized parts
Hardware buried under decades of paint takes time to free and clean without damage. A faceplate, strike and thumb-turn that have to be stripped back add to the visit and are noted in the quote.
What to have ready
- Is the property designated as a heritage building?
- How many keys do you have, and do any of them work?
- Roughly when was the house built, and is the door original to it?
Vintage Mortise Lock Service: questions
QuestionsDo I need to prove I own the house before you work on the lock?
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.
Can the work be done with the lock left in the door?
Rarely, and it is not the better route. Almost everything that fails is inside the case, and the case only opens once it is out of the pocket, which takes a few minutes and leaves no mark. Working through the keyhole with an unapproved or over-applied spray tends to wash out what little lubricant should stay and gums the levers later. Removing the case, cleaning it properly and refitting it is the repair that lasts.
Is it safe to keep a deadbolt that is keyed on both sides of the entry door?
It is better not to. A bolt that needs a key from inside can trap the household when a key is not to hand, and a door people leave the home through works better opening without keys or special knowledge. During service the locksmith fits a thumb-turn to the bolt tail or otherwise makes the inside release without a key, keeping the vintage lock and the clear way out.
Related services
- Deadbolt InstallationThe old deadbolt has grown lazy.
- Lock Replacement & UpgradeThe brass handleset has gone blotchy and green where the winter salt reaches it, and the coating on the deadbolt is lifting in flakes.
- Smart Lock InstallationYou have just taken possession of the house and the previous owners handed over a keypad deadbolt with a code nobody wrote down and an app account you cannot get into.