3 Reasons to Replace Locks in Your Home instead of Rekeying
Keeping your home secure is one of the most important considerations for any homeowner or tenant. Your door and window locks are the first point of defence against intrusion, and hence you want to ensure their integrity is maintained. Rekeying your locks is a way to get rid of old house keys, but there are times when it may not be the best option. Below is a discussion of three such instances, and why replacement is a better option.
1. Moving houses
Whether you're moving into a house as a tenant or homeowner, there's no knowing how many previous owners still hold copies of keys to your current locks. It's not uncommon for people to make key copies for the cleaning lady, neighbours and everyone living in the house for convenience's sake. Old disgruntled home employees may also have copies, planning to return later and cause damage in the home. While rekeying the locks will render all old keys useless, replacing the locks altogether allows you to choose much stronger locks and ensure that they are dependable.
2. Upgrading locks
Burglars and intruders are constantly working to easy targets, and homes with older locks that are easy to pick/break are a favourite for them. Technological advancement provides numerous options to improve the security of your home, and replacing old locks to upgrade to stronger locks of security systems is one way to keep your home safe.
Another common method that burglars use to enter homes is to use bump keys to try and pick locks. Even the best cylinder locksets are vulnerable to such attempts. Bump keys are special keys cut in a way that allows a burglar to defeat cylinder locks within seconds. Stronger locksets using deadbolts are much harder to pick, but the best way to eliminate this threat is to replace your locks with keyless entry systems. These locks use remote control signals to detect authorized entrants by using special codes or bio-attributes like iris and fingerprints before allowing them to enter the house. Simply rekeying your cylinder locks won't eliminate the threat of picking with bump keys.
3. Malfunctioning locks
Door locks are not designed to last forever; they fail with time, or become harder to operate because they sustained some damage (e.g. from unsuccessful forced entry attempts). If you're having trouble opening a door because the key gets stuck or is much harder to turn, it's time to replace your lock before it jams completely, forcing you to find emergency mobile locksmiths on short notice. Rekeying an old lock is a temporary fix. In fact, if the problem comes from a different part of the lock, rekeying is completely useless as a remedy.
For more information, contact a mobile locksmith.
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