We'll work around your deadline.
A New Door, a Garage Apartment and a Guest Due at Four
Renovation timelines rarely leave room for the lock. Here's a typical example from a garage apartment behind a bungalow near Yale Street.
A little after one in the afternoon, a homeowner stood at the top of the stairs to her garage apartment looking at a brand-new prehung door. The contractor had hung it that morning and left. It had no holes for a lock, just a pre-cut strike plate on the frame. Her first short-term guest, a traveling nurse, was due around four.
She called us, and the dispatcher, a Heights resident who'd been through her own renovation, understood the clock. What kind of door? Fiberglass, prehung, with a pre-cut strike on the jamb. What did she want on it? A keypad deadbolt and a keyed knob, so the guest could use a code. Did she have the hardware? She'd bought a keypad deadbolt and a knob at a store. The dispatcher said that worked, installing both, and said the technician.
A uniformed technician arrived and showed his ID first. He checked the deed. Then he looked at the door and the frame. The fiberglass skin needed tape and sharp cutters to avoid chipping. The pre-cut strike on the frame was the problem. When he held the door closed and measured, the strike sat about a quarter inch too high for the standard lock height he'd be boring at. The prehung kit hadn't been set up for the lock she'd bought.
He taped both faces of the door, clamped his jig on and bored the knob and deadbolt holes. He chiseled the latch and bolt faceplates flush. Then he re-cut the frame for both strikes at the right height, fixed them with 3-inch screws into the stud, and filled the old pre-cut pocket with a wood patch so it wouldn't look like a mistake. The first latch test didn't catch; the door's weatherstrip pushed it back a little. He set the strike a hair deeper, and the latch caught cleanly.
He installed the keypad deadbolt, set a guest code for her booking and her own master code, keyed the knob to her house key and tested everything. The guest arrived a little before four to a door that locked. The neighborly advice: when you order a prehung door, tell the supplier which lock you're using, or skip their pre-cut strike.
Fitting Locks to Doors Fresh From the Contractor
Holes Drilled Straight the First Time
Every new door lock installation begins with three measurements: how thick the door is, how far the lock sits from the edge, and how high it should go. With those settled, a jig clamps onto the door so the big face bore and the edge bore meet squarely. The latch and bolt faceplates are then chiseled flush, so nothing catches when the door swings.
When the Prehung Frame Disagrees
A prehung door lock install is where most surprises happen. Suppliers often cut a strike pocket in the jamb at the factory, guessing at a lock you haven't chosen yet. If it doesn't line up, we cut a new pocket at the right height and fill the old one with a wood patch that takes paint, so the frame doesn't look botched.
Skins, Steel and Old Timber
Fiberglass doors have a thin skin over foam that chips if the cutter is dull or the surface isn't taped. Steel doors want cutters made for metal and screws that bite into it. Salvaged wood doors, popular in Heights restorations, sometimes hide old splits and filler where a lock used to be, and the technician probes before drilling.
Garage Apartments, Studios and Guest Doors
Plenty of owners install door lock hardware on a garage apartment or backyard studio just before renting it. A keypad deadbolt lets each guest have a code; a keyed knob or lever gives the owner a backup. Keying the unit separately from the main house keeps a guest's key from ever opening your back door.
Matching New Locks to the Old Key
Keyed alike locks mean the front door, back door, side door and studio all answer to one key. Store-bought locks can usually be re-pinned to match the rest of the house during installation, which saves you from carrying a separate key for each new door.
Gates, Sheds and Workshops
Tall cedar gates, garden sheds and backyard workshops take keyed gate locks, keyed levers or a heavy hasp with a shrouded padlock. Sagging gates get straightened first, because no lock latches on a gate that's dragging on the walk.
Interior Doors During a Remodel
Door hardware installation during a remodel often goes beyond the exterior: passage and privacy knobs, pocket door pulls, a keyed lever on a home office, a closet lock for a safe. We can come once the painters finish and do the whole house in one visit.
Locks You've Already Bought
Bring out the hardware you picked, and the technician will fit it if it suits the door. If it was made for a thicker door or a different backset, you'll hear that before any hole is cut, along with what would work instead.
Owners, Renters and Contractors
Owners can book directly. Renters need the landlord's approval. Contractors booking on a client's behalf should have the owner reachable by phone during the visit.
On-Site Visits in the Heights
Our technicians drive to you across the Heights, so there is no shop to visit. We'll fit your installation around a deadline when we can. The Heights sits between I-10 and I-610; Yale, Shepherd and Durham are slow at rush hour, and dumpsters and trucks narrow streets near job sites.
Careful Installers Who Keep to the Clock
Whoever we send arrives in uniform and shows company ID. They look at the door and frame before cutting, explain anything that won't line up, protect door finishes with tape and keep dust to a minimum. They test every lock and show you how it works.
Fast Locksmith 24/7 is licensed and insured, and homeowners in Houston have rated us 5 stars on Google.
Lock Installation Around the Heights
Lock installation in the Heights covers new doors on renovated bungalows and Victorians, garage apartments and studios behind older homes, gates and sheds, raised homes near White Oak Bayou and new townhomes near Washington Avenue. Lock installation in the Heights often happens on a contractor's schedule. If you've been looking for a locksmith to install locks on a new door before a deadline, call and tell us the time. Owners preparing garage apartments for guests often book the lock install for the same week the painters finish.
A new lock starts with the door. Tell us what it is made of and how thick it is. Old solid-wood doors, hollow-core doors and steel doors all need different bits and care.
Placement matters. Height, spacing from the edge and the position of the strike change how the lock feels each day.
If you are installing a lock on a new gate or a shed, tell us what it holds.
Ask for spare strike plates and longer screws.
When we finish, we test the lock together.
Keep the instruction sheet and the spare keys together in a folder.
We also install locks in Montrose, Downtown Houston and Spring Branch. For keypads, see smart lock installation, and for deadbolts, deadbolt installation.
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