Cylinders · anti-bump · multipoint · repairs
Lock change San Juan de Alicante, for front doors that have had their day
A key that has to be wiggled, a cylinder that was fitted when the house was new, a tenant who never gave back the second set. A lock change is planned work: booked for a time that suits you, priced at the door before anything starts, and done so that every old key is useless the moment the new cylinder goes in.
Open 24 hours · 7 days
- Booked at your time
- Old keys dead at once
- Price agreed before work starts
Most of the time it is the cylinder, not the lock. On front doors of the age common in Sant Joan, swapping the euro cylinder changes the key, removes the wear and, with an anti-bump model, closes the easiest way in. The lock body stays.
When to change it
Five signs a front-door lock has had its day
- The key turns stiffly, sticks part way, or has to be pulled back a little to go round.
- You have moved in and do not know who else has a key: builders, previous owners, cleaners, tenants.
- A key was lost with something that shows the address.
- The cylinder sticks out from the door plate, where it can be gripped and snapped.
- It is the cylinder the house was built with, twenty or thirty years ago.
Here in particular
A town built mostly between 1980 and 2009
The Catastro dates almost a third of Sant Joan’s built floor area to 2000–2009, a fifth to the 1990s and another fifth to the 1980s, while the population grew from 9,813 in 1981 to 24,367 in 2020. Behind those numbers are many front doors still on the cylinder fitted when they were hung: cylinders made before anti-bump models became common, now with two or three decades of wear. A house from the 2000s, still on its first cylinder goes into what that means for yours.
If you let a flat or a room, near the hospital and the UMH campus or anywhere else, every change of tenant is a good moment to change the cylinder: nobody can account for every copy made over a tenancy.
For the other locks of a house with a garden, the street gate, the garage, the back door and the patio slider, see every lock of a townhouse in one visit. For a shop or office, commercial lock work.
The job
How a booked lock change runs
-
A photo first
Of the cylinder from the outside and the edge of the door. It tells us the length and type, so the right part is in the van.
-
A time that suits you
Morning, afternoon or after work. Planned work is done in normal hours; nights are kept for people who are locked out.
-
Options and price at the door
A like-for-like cylinder or an anti-bump one, with the difference explained. The price is agreed before the old one comes out.
-
Fitted and tested
The new cylinder is fitted flush, every key is tried from both sides, and the door is checked so it locks without pushing.
Beyond the cylinder
Multipoint locks and armoured doors that drag
Armoured doors and many newer front doors lock at three or more points. When the door drops on its hinges, the bolts start to scrape and the key gets heavy. That is usually an adjustment of the door and the strike plates rather than a new lock, and it is done at the same visit.
If the reason for the change is a break-in, start on the page about forced doors and high-security cylinders. If you are outside the door right now, opening it comes first. Lock changes are done anywhere in the municipality and next door.
Questions
Cylinders, keys and landlords
Is changing the cylinder enough, or does the whole lock have to go?
In most front doors fitted since the 1980s, the cylinder is the part with the key, and changing it is enough. The whole lock is replaced only when the body inside the door is broken or worn out.
What does an anti-bump cylinder actually stop?
Bumping, picking with a vibrating key, and in better models snapping the cylinder at its weak point. It is the single most useful upgrade for a front door with an older cylinder.
I rent. Can I change the cylinder myself?
Ask your landlord first and keep the old cylinder so it can be put back when you leave. Many landlords are glad of it; some want to pay for it themselves.
How many keys does a new cylinder come with, and should I count them?
Usually three or five, depending on the model. Count them in front of the locksmith and keep the card that comes with security cylinders in a safe place.
Also useful
Usually booked alongside a new cylinder
Guides that lead here
Choose a morning for the new cylinder
Send a photo of the cylinder and say when suits you. The price is agreed at the door before any work.