Emergency Lockouts · Kent Gardens
Lost Keys — Same-Visit Rekey in Kent Gardens
Your purse was taken from the back of a chair at a restaurant. The cards can be cancelled by phone tonight, but the house keys were in the side pocket beside a driver's licence that shows exactly where those keys fit.
Call now · open 24/7(289) 813-6380In plain words
How much a lost key matters depends on what was lost with it. A ring that dropped into a lake on a canoe trip tells nobody where it fits, so the rekey is a tidy precaution. A ring taken with a wallet or bag that carried your address is a different story: someone now holds both the key and the door it opens, and the rekey comes first. The locksmith asks about this on the phone, says plainly which situation you are in, and schedules the visit accordingly. The work is the same either way, and so is the outcome: a key nobody else has.
How the visit goesYour purse was taken from the back of a chair at a restaurant. The cards can be cancelled by phone tonight, but the house keys were in the side pocket beside a driver's licence that shows exactly where those keys fit.
Lost Keys — Same-Visit Rekey · Kent Gardens
How the visit goes
- 1
Rekey or replace, cylinder by cylinder
Rekeying suits hardware in sound condition, and most cylinders on a house qualify. The locksmith flags the exceptions while the list is being made: a plug worn oval by decades of use, a cylinder packed with salt and grit from a side door that faces the driveway, a knob lock so light it offers little resistance, or a keyway that no longer has blanks available. For those, a replacement cylinder or a complete new deadbolt keyed to match the rest is proposed as its own item, so you decide door by door. The aim is that every cylinder leaving the visit on a new key is one that will keep turning well for years.
- 2
Bringing every door onto one key
When the household wants a single key, the locksmith pins each compatible cylinder to the same combination in turn, using the same cut key as the reference so nothing drifts between doors. A cylinder from a different keyway family is exchanged for one that matches, or the household keeps a second key for that door if they prefer. Where a home has a keyed garage entry, a shed and a gate on the same list, they follow the same process. The finished set is tried door by door with a single key, and the spare cylinders and old keys are gathered up so nothing that fits the old combination stays in circulation.
- 3
Spares that live outside the house
A rekey is the natural moment to decide where the spare goes, because the one under the planter is the reason many of these calls happen. A key with a trusted neighbour or nearby relative is the simplest answer. A small combination lockbox fixed in a discreet spot, with the code shared only with the people on your list, is a step up and can be fitted before the locksmith leaves. For families with a keypad lock, a personal code for each member does the same job without a key at all. Whichever you pick, the spare is now a planned thing with a known home rather than a habit.
In the van
- Code key machine
- Key gauge and decoder
- Top pins and cylinder springs
- Key tags and a key register
- Key blanks in common keyways
What affects the quote
- 1
Outbuildings, gates and padlocks
Sheds, gates and detached garages often carry padlocks or light cylinders. Bringing them onto the house key may mean a new padlock of a matching keyway, quoted as a part.
- 2
How many cylinders are on the list
A front door with a deadbolt and a handle is two cylinders. Add the back door, the garage entry, a side door and a shed and the count climbs, and the quote follows the number of cylinders repinned.
- 3
Homeowner-rekeyable cylinders without a working key
Resetting a homeowner-rekeyable cylinder when its key is gone uses that system's own reset fixture, where the installed lock supports one, and a few extra minutes per cylinder, which shows as a small line on the quote.
Same fees day, night or weekend.
Lost Keys — Same-Visit Rekey: questions
Does the locksmith need to see the actual lost key, or just look at the lock?
Just the lock, and the door it is fitted to. A rekey works on the cylinder itself: the locksmith opens it, fits a new set of pins matched to a fresh key, and the old key stops working the moment that is done, whether or not it ever turns up again. Knowing roughly how the old key looked, cut on both edges, a chip on the head, a certain brand, can still help identify which cylinders in the house shared that key.
Should I rekey after a renovation or when a cleaner stops coming?
It is good practice whenever a key has been out of your hands for a while and you are not certain it came back. Contractors, cleaners, sitters and short-term guests all have honest reasons to hold a key, and most return it, but a rekey at the end of the arrangement is what turns 'probably' into certainty. Some households make it a habit at the close of every project.
Can all my doors work on one key afterwards?
Usually, yes. Cylinders that share a keyway family accept the same blank, so they can be pinned to one combination during the rekey. The front door, back door, garage entry and a gate padlock of the same family become a single key. Where a door uses a different family, the locksmith can swap its cylinder for a compatible one in the same visit, or you can choose to keep two keys for that door.
Lockout Services
EmergencyHome Lockout ServiceYou stepped out to grab the recycling bin and the door swung shut behind you.
EmergencyBusiness Lockout ServiceAfter last night's power flicker the card reader beside the clinic door shows nothing.
EmergencyBroken Key ExtractionThat key had been bending a little for years, and you kept straightening it.
EmergencyBreak-In Damage Lock RepairThey did not get in.
EmergencySeized & Jammed Lock OpeningThe lock works, but only if you lean on the door with your hip while turning the key.
Lost Keys — Same-Visit Rekey near you
Halton, Ontario
Kent Gardens information
- Town
- Kent Gardens, Halton, Ontario
- In business
- 20 years
- Hours
- Open 24/7 · nights, weekends and holidays, same fees
- Phone
- (289) 813-6380
- Visits
- On-site assessment preferred. Request a visit or call.
What the census means at the door
27%
Newer homes. About 27% of homes in Oakville were built in 1980 or earlier, according to the 2021 Census.
Builders often key an entire street to a small number of keyways, which is convenient for them and less so for owners afterwards. In newer areas a locksmith can move a household onto a keyway that is genuinely its own.
59%
A mix of homes. Single-detached houses make up about 59% of homes in Oakville (2021 Census).
Mixed housing brings mixed hardware ages as well as types. A locksmith may rebuild a mortise lock on a semi-detached house and then set up a keypad on a townhouse door across the road, and treats each with the care its owner expects.
Open 24/7
Request a visit
Your purse was taken from the back of a chair at a restaurant.
Call now · open 24/7(289) 813-6380- On-site assessment preferred
- Same fees day, night or weekend
- 20 years in business