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BirchwoodLock & Key Specialists · MississaugaOpen 24/7(289) 805-6881Request a visit
Two people exchanging a key at an open front door, with a disassembled lock cylinder and small parts arranged on a cloth nearby. — Lost Keys — Same-Visit Rekey, Mississauga

Lockouts · Mississauga

Lost Keys — Same-Visit Rekey in Mississauga

The renovation wrapped up in the spring. The crew was good, the kitchen looks right, and the key you handed the foreman on day one was never handed back.

Lost Keys — Same-Visit Rekey

In plain words

A missing key is also the moment a household can stop carrying four. Because a rekey sets a fresh combination in every cylinder anyway, the locksmith can set the same combination in all of them, provided they share a keyway family, so the front door, back door, garage entry and side gate open with one key. Where a cylinder belongs to a different family, it can be swapped for one that matches during the same visit. The result is a single key on each ring, fewer copies to keep track of, and the certainty that the lost one operates none of them.

Sound familiar?

The lawyer's envelope held two keys for the new house. The previous owners mention a cleaner, a dog walker and a brother who checked on the place, and the builder's paperwork shows six were cut originally. Four are unaccounted for.

How the visit goes

Mississauga

How the visit goes

  1. What was on the ring

    The next few minutes are spent on the ring itself, because a key ring is a bundle of different problems. House keys point to cylinders that will be repinned. A garage remote points to an opener whose memory should be cleared. A building fob or parking card points to a property manager. A car key with a chip points to the automotive side of the trade. A tag with an address, a licence lost in the same bag, or a work lanyard in the same pocket changes how soon the household side should be settled. Listing it all before any tool comes out means nothing on the ring is forgotten when the van pulls away.

  2. Testing every key in every lock before leaving

    The last part of the work is deliberate repetition. Each new key is tried in each cylinder it should open, with the door open and again with it closed and bolted, so a pin that feels fine on the bench is proven on the door. The old key is tried too and shown turning nothing. Cylinders that were dry or gritty get the lubricant their maker specifies, a puff of graphite, PTFE or a specified liquid product, and a few cycles to spread it. Screws are checked snug, covers seated, and the pile of old keys and any swapped cylinders is handed to you or taken away as you prefer. Only then is the key count confirmed and written down.

  3. Cylinders that turn more sweetly than before

    A cylinder that has been apart, cleaned and repinned usually feels better than it did before the key went missing. Old grease, road salt and the grit that collects in a keyway over a decade came out with the plug, and a dry lubricant went in. Keys cut to code seat fully and lift each pin cleanly. If a door had a key that needed a wiggle or a shove, that is often gone. Follow your lock's own maintenance guidance to keep it that way: many cylinders take a puff of graphite or PTFE into the keyway now and then, some a specified liquid lubricant instead; general household oils and sprays collect dust and gum the pins.

Lost Keys — Same-Visit Rekey

In the van

  • Rekeying pin kit
  • Key tags and a key register
  • Rekeyable-cylinder reset tool
  • Pin tweezers and shims
  • Code key machine

What affects the quote

Same fees day, night or weekend

  1. 1Number of keys cut

    New keys are cut on site and counted individually. Two for a couple or six for a household with teenagers and a sitter: name the number and the quote reflects it.

  2. 2Condition of the cylinders

    A clean, healthy cylinder is repinned as is. One clogged with salt and grit is cleaned first, and a worn or damaged one is replaced rather than repinned, each priced as its own item.

  3. 3Homeowner-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.

What to have ready

0 of 3 ready

Call (289) 805-6881

Lost Keys — Same-Visit Rekey: questions

Does stamping keys 'do not duplicate' stop copies?

It asks; it does not compel. The stamp is a request that a key-cutting counter may or may not honour, and manufacturers say as much. Real control comes from a restricted keyway, whose blanks are issued only through authorised channels against a key card, or simply from knowing how many keys exist and who holds them. A rekey resets that count to a number you chose.

What is a restricted keyway, and is it worth having?

A restricted keyway uses a controlled key profile whose blanks are supplied only through an authorised channel; the credential required, a letter, a registered account, a dealer agreement or a key card, depends on the system. Rekeying such a cylinder is routine work with the right pin kit. For a household that has just lost a key and wants the next one to be truly countable, it is a sensible upgrade for the main doors, and it can be fitted during the same visit.

How long does a whole-house rekey take?

Plan on an hour or two for a typical house with three or four cylinders, including the walk-through, identification, pinning, cutting and testing. Each additional cylinder adds a little, as does swapping a cylinder to bring a mismatched door onto the same key, resetting a homeowner-rekeyable lock or clearing a garage opener. The locksmith gives a realistic window on the phone once the list of doors is known.

Lockout Services

Lost Keys — Same-Visit Rekey near you

This is the working list of services for Mississauga: the jobs a locksmith gets asked to do week in and week out. Lockouts and broken keys. Rekeys and lock changes. Deadbolts, high-security cylinders and smart locks. Commercial hardware and master key systems. Safe opening. And key cutting, house and vehicle alike.

Open 24/7 · call(289) 805-6881Request a visit