Changing locks when buying a house?

jubei

jubei

jubei

Soldato
Joined
3 Apr 2003
Posts
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Hi all,

Just waiting on the exchange of my first house purchase (hopefully in the next couple weeks) and wanted to ask whether people here had the locks changed when they bought their place? Seems common sense to me as you have no idea who may have been given keys in the past?

If so did you do it yourself or hire somebody to do it? I'm not handy so would hope to be able to hire someone to come change all the external locks, preferably to the same barrels so that I can have one key to open all doors?

Buying in Stoke, so any recommendations for companies are welcome :) an idea of the cost to replace the locks on front back and garage would be useful too (5 lever mortice on front n back and a key with two bolts on garage I am told).

Cheers for any info
 
Mortice locks are very easy to replace, you just need to remove the lock from the door and measure the depth before buying a replacement.

If replacing locks, it may be worth looking to fit something BS 3621 accredited. I quite like ERA Fortress locks. Only £25 for the lock itself, you'll pay a lot more than that for somebody to come and fit it.
 
Change them for Avocet ABS or similar locks. Cheap euro cylinders are easy to snap.

And yes, always change locks has you don't know who could still have spare keys from the past.
 
I have always changed locks, I like to think I'm the only one with keys to my place, even rented houses I've changed locks after a landlord was caught snooping around my house one day whilst I was at work, Always changed the locks back when I left though.
 
Day one, change the mortice lock as that takes literally 5 minutes. Will give you some piece of mind. Take the old one out and bring with you when you go shop just to make sure it's a straight swap!
 
As above, always change the locks.. And we get them all put on matching key, so the house has 2 keys - 1 euro (Avocet ABS for patio slider and the nightlatch) and 1 mortice (all doors and garage).

Trust me, having as few keys as possible is a blessing!!!
 
That's a cracking idea @samcat. We've currently got about 7 front door keys and only 1 shared between 2 patio doors! Would be great if they were comparable.

What's the best way to go about getting matching locks as i presume just buying locks from Screwfix would mean they're all different.
 
Marvt74 said:
What's the best way to go about getting matching locks as i presume just buying locks from Screwfix would mean they're all different.
Click to expand...

Depends. Euro locks I use nothing but ABS Avocet, you get a card with a special code to duplicate locks/keys and set up a 'secure' phrase to get clone keys made.. Very easy!

Mortice locks, again there are online locksmiths that can supply you the bits that you ordered all done on matched keys... But I used a local locksmith as it saved me the risk of ordering the wrong thing. Wasnt much premium to get a local locksmith to do it for me.

Money very well spent, felt like a jailer before, carrying around a bunch of 7 keys!
 
Marvt74 said:
What's the best way to go about getting matching locks as i presume just buying locks from Screwfix would mean they're all different.
Click to expand...
Locks all need to be the same make/model. You choose one cylinder to be the 'master' pattern and get the pins in all the others changed to match the first one. Then you'll need keys cut to fit the same. The same goes for the levers in mortise locks, pretty much.
Unless you know what you're doing, best done by a locksmith. Usually costs more than you'd like, but less than you'd think. Shop around for price quotes first.
 
Why do you need to carry all of your keys around?

I carry the front door key. The rest of them stay in the house as that’s the only place they’re used.

If you want matching locks they can be ordered matched. Buying locks and then modifying them seems like an unnecessary complication.
 
To get into our place its a bit fort knox... You need the key for the front or back door (leads into the same porch on the side of the house) AND the key for the nightlatch on those doors.. Once in the porch there is a door to the inside.. So (with locks keyed differently) we would need to carry a minimum of 3 keys.
 
bremen1874 said:
Three keys isn't too bad. Someone above was talking about carrying seven!
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Yup, me. 3 is a bare minimum I could carry (excluding car keys)
I would also carry the key for the patio door (only other way into the house), Garage (one to get in, one for the bolted down back door) and back gate... Was a real PITA.
Switch to matched locks, its the best thing!!
 
bremen1874 said:
If you want matching locks they can be ordered matched. Buying locks and then modifying them seems like an unnecessary complication.
Click to expand...
Depends on which locks, where from and how much they cost. Some cheaper ones can be key-matched for free. Some of the higher end ones are actually cheaper to buy and then have re-pinned.
 
Thanks guys much appreciated. I will be sure to get them changed when i move in, i reckon i can at least do the mortice ones myself after just watching a video. Will definitely try to get myself matching keys too :)
 
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