Rekeying Your House in Redlands: What a Full Rekey Covers

How this works in Redlands

It helps to know what a house rekey leaves untouched. It changes the pins in mechanical cylinders, and that's all. Your garage door opener still responds to every remote ever paired with it until someone clears its memory, usually by holding the Learn button on the motor unit until its light goes out, then re-pairing the remotes you keep. The keypad beside the garage keeps its old code until you change it. Smart locks keep their user codes and app users. Alarm codes, a lockbox left by an agent or contractor, and a spare hidden under a planter all survive too. A mailbox on a cluster box may belong to the Postal Service, in which case the lock change goes through the post office. When we finish a house rekey in Redlands, we walk through that list with you, so the only way into your house is the way you intend.

Work included on a typical visit

• Garage-to-house door. The door from the garage into the house is the most overlooked lock in a house rekey. Many people leave it unlocked, and anyone with an old garage remote or keypad code can reach it. We rekey its knob and deadbolt to the house key and suggest keeping it locked as an exterior door.
• Garage side door and detached garage. A detached garage or workshop can share the house key or have its own, which is a good choice when expensive tools live there and helpers need occasional access. Either way, we rekey the entry door, any keyed roll-up lock handle, and padlocks on cabinets if they're rekeyable.
• Security screen and wrought-iron doors. Security screen doors double the cylinders on an entry: one on the screen door, one or two on the door behind it. A house rekey that skips the screen door leaves an old key working on the first barrier. We rekey or replace that lock and make sure the latch still catches against the frame.
• Keypads, smart locks and garage codes. Electronic locks bring their own checks during a house rekey: battery condition, a backup key that actually works, and the admin login. If a smart lock uses a proprietary backup cylinder that can't be re-pinned, we'll explain the choices, from a factory replacement cylinder to relying on codes and storing the old key securely.
• Household key plan and spares. Rather than handing a key to every helper, consider a keypad or a lockbox for people who come occasionally, such as a dog walker or house cleaner. Codes can be changed in seconds; keys have to be collected or the house rekeyed. We'll help you decide what belongs on a key and what belongs on a code.

What's different about Redlands

Hillside houses often have several levels of entry: a street-level garage, a lower patio door, a deck stair and a side path with a gate. Each is a keyed opening to count during a house rekey in Redlands. Santa Ana winds blow grit into cylinders and slam doors on loose strikes, so we clean the locks we rekey and check that latches catch. Consider leaving a spare with someone who can reach the house if you can't.

In a family neighborhood the problem is volume. Teenagers, grandparents, babysitters, carpool parents and dog walkers all pick up a key over the years, and kids lose them. A house rekey in Redlands is the natural time to cut a short list: one key per adult and driver, a labeled spare, and codes for everyone else. Kids' keys go on distinctive rings with no address tag. Evening appointments run until 11:30 p.m. every day.

Inland sun is hard on exterior hardware, and a house rekey in Redlands is a good chance to see how yours has aged. West-facing doors and side-gate padlocks bake, finishes crack, lubricant dries and cylinders stiffen. We clean and relubricate with a dry graphite or PTFE product instead of oil, which collects dust. Electronic locks have their own heat problem: batteries wear out sooner, so we check them and suggest replacing them before they fail.

Common situations

• Picture a 1930s Spanish-style house in University of Redlands with its original mortise lock on the arched front door. The cylinder on the outside is threaded into the lock body and can be re-pinned, so the door keeps its character. The interior skeleton-key locks don't matter for security, and the back door gets a modern deadbolt keyed to the front cylinder.
• For example, an executor handling a late parent's house books a rekey before the cleanout crew starts. She brings ID and the court's letters showing her authority. Several relatives, a caregiver and a neighbor had keys over the years. We rekey every exterior lock, cut keys for the executor and the cleanout company, and note which doors share a key for the eventual buyer.
• Say a family discovers that the fake rock by the porch, the one with the spare inside, is familiar to half the street, a few former babysitters and at least one contractor. The house rekey retires that key along with every other old copy. This time the spare goes to a trusted relative instead of a rock, and the family adds a keypad on the garage entry.
• Say a house sitter spent the summer at the house while the owners traveled, using the back door key and the garage keypad. Everyone parted on good terms, but the owners want a clean slate. The house rekey covers all exterior cylinders, the keypad gets a new code, and the sitter's old key becomes a souvenir instead of a working key.

From your call to the finished job

1. Walk your house before you call. Start at the front door and walk the outside of your house, including the garage. Count every keyhole: deadbolts, knobs, handlesets, screen doors, gate padlocks, a shed or casita. Note the brand stamped on each lock face. That count is the heart of an accurate house rekey quote.
2. Gather proof the house is yours. Verification is quick when the papers are ready. Keep your ID and one document tying you to the address near the front door. If the house is newly purchased and your license still shows an old address, escrow or closing documents with your name on them do the job.
3. Walk-through and label every door. We look at each lock's brand, keyway and condition as we go. A Kwikset deadbolt next to a Schlage knob on the same door means a keyway decision. A stiff, sun-faded side door lock might need replacing. You see every recommendation on the spot, with a price, before tools come out.
4. Settle the key plan. One key for the whole house is the most common choice, and it's usually possible with a cylinder change or two. A second key makes sense where a tenant, a home business or valuable tools are involved. We write the plan on the work order so it's clear what was keyed to what.
5. Rekey door by door and test. We pull one cylinder at a time, re-pin it to the new combination and put it straight back, so the house is never left with an open door. Each lock is tested with the new key from inside and outside, with the door shut, and the old key is tried so you can watch it fail.
6. Close the routes keys don't cover. The final step is about everything without a keyhole. Garage remotes, keypad codes, alarm codes, smart lock users and lockboxes can all outlast the old keys. We go through them with you so the house rekey actually closes every way in, not just the ones a key operates.

How we quote the job

• How many keyed openings the house has. Each deadbolt, keyed knob, handleset cylinder, screen door lock and rekeyable padlock is its own unit of work. A typical house rekey includes the front, garage entry, garage side and back doors, often with two cylinders each. Gates, sheds and screen doors add to the count.
• Hardware mix built up over the years. Matching brands keep a house rekey simple. Mixed brands add parts: a Schlage-keyway cylinder for the odd Kwikset lock, or a replacement knob for a discontinued Weslock set. We'll suggest the cheapest path to one key, usually the brand that already covers the most doors.
• Age and condition of the locks. Sun and dust are hard on exterior locks. A cylinder that's been baking on a west-facing side door for twenty years may need cleaning, new springs or replacement. Locks on newer houses usually re-pin quickly, while vintage hardware deserves more care and sometimes more time.

Every job gets a clear quote before any work starts. Call (951) 903-3193 with the details and we'll tell you what to expect for your situation in Redlands.

Common errors that cost time and money

• Forgetting codes and remotes. A rekey doesn't touch the garage opener, the garage keypad, smart lock codes or the alarm. Former residents and helpers who knew those codes can still get in until you clear the opener's memory and change every code.
• Rekeying only the front door. Anyone holding an old key will try the back door, the garage side door or the garage entry next. A house rekey only works when every exterior keyed lock moves to the new key, including the ones that rarely get used.
• Ignoring a door with no deadbolt. A house rekey changes which key opens the knob, but a spring latch on its own can be slipped or forced far more easily than a deadbolt. If any exterior door has only a knob, add a deadbolt keyed to match.

Advice before you book

• Retire the hidden spare key. Fake rocks, doormats, planters and porch lights are the first places anyone looks. Leave a spare with a trusted neighbor or relative, or install a keypad on one door, so a lost-key evening doesn't require hiding a key outside your house again.
• If a lockbox was used during a sale, remodel or rental, take it down or change its code once the work is done. Lockbox codes travel among agents, contractors and cleaners, and a rekey doesn't help if a new key ends up sitting in the same old lockbox.
• Photograph every lock face on your house before you call, front and back. The brand name stamped on the cylinder or the key bow tells us the keyway, and the photos let us bring the right parts, especially for an older house with a mix of locks from different decades.
• Check that each deadbolt actually throws its full bolt. Lock it with the door open and look: a residential deadbolt should extend about an inch. Then close the door and lock it again. If it stops short or needs a shove, mention it so the strike can be adjusted during the rekey.

Reaching Redlands

Redlands is about 19 miles from our San Bernardino base, roughly 25 minutes in light traffic via Belmont Ave and Palm Ave to I-215 South. When you call, you get an arrival estimate based on where the technician is and the traffic at that moment.

Homes and businesses just off Barton Road are routine stops for us. Give the suite or unit number and any gate instructions, and say whether the van can park out front or should pull into a side lot.

About Redlands: The Mill Creek Zanja, an irrigation ditch dug by about 1820, is a California Historical Landmark and still runs through parts of town.

Planning a rekey in Redlands?

Call (951) 903-3193 and tell us how many doors you want on the new key and the brand of the locks if you know it. We'll quote the rekey before any work starts.