Talking About Installation of Safes

Change Will Do You Good: 5 Situations When You Should Rekey Your Home

10 June 2015

Edgar Morales

When speaking about physical locks, rekeying is the process of changing the pins inside a lock to fit a different key. It is cheaper than changing an entire lock while still providing you the security of a set of locks that only you and people you trust have the key to. However, rekeying does more than just provide peace-of-mind. It also allows you to provide varying levels of security within your home by creating master keys and change keys. Master keys can usually unlock all of the locks in a home, while change keys may only unlock certain locks.

Below are five times to rekey your home and creative ways you can utilize a change key to improve your safety with the help of a locksmith. 

You Purchase a Home 

Any time you purchase a house or apartment, you should have your locks rekeyed. If you do not think your locks need to be rekeyed, consider how many times you have made copies of your keys in the past. Anytime a person loses a key or needs to allow a friend or family member access to the home, they make a key. Those keys may still be in circulation, so it is best to rekey your locks. If you are renting an apartment or house as opposed to purchasing a home, you should talk to your landlord about getting the locks rekeyed, as they may require a master key to all of the locks. 

You Have Rented Out Your Home and Are Moving Back to It

If you have rented out your home, you should consider rekeying the locks any time you get a new tenant. It is a fairly inexpensive job for a professional, and you can even learn how to do it yourself. If you are renting your home fore short periods of time, it may not be possible to rekey the apartment between every tenant, but you should definitely rekey the home before you move back in to it. 

You Have Employees or Contractors Who Need Limited Access to Your Home 

If you need to give regular access to certain areas of your home to a gardener, babysitter, cleaner, or contractor, you should consider rekeying your home so that different doors are locked by various change keys. While your master key should unlock all of the locks, consider having change keys for the front door and garage. In both of these cases, you should only have the change key unlock the handle lock. Only your master key should have access to deadbolts, as they are the safest lock on your home. 

Teenagers Want Privacy In Their Bedrooms 

If your teenagers want to be able to lock their rooms while they are out of the house to prevent access by other children, you can rekey their bedroom doors to work with individual keys or your master key. You will only need one key to open your entire house, but depending on your locks, your children may need one key for the front door and another key for their bedroom. 

You Rent Out Rooms In Your Home

Similar to teenagers, if you rent out a room in your home, your boarder will likely want privacy and security. However, as the owner of the home, you will still need access to their bedroom during emergencies. 

A locksmith will generally charge a small fee for each lock that needs to be rekeyed in addition to their hourly rate. They may or may not charge for copies of keys in addition to the rekeying process. If you are getting your home redone, you can expect a trained locksmith to be able to rekey 5-6 locks in an hour. 

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