Lock Replacement in
the Heights, Houston, TX

If a door won't lock tonight, call now.

A Damp Side Yard, a Soft Door Edge and a Latch That Tore Out

Here's a typical example from a bungalow off Studewood.

The back door of a 1920s bungalow opened onto a narrow side yard shaded by a big pecan tree and the neighbor's fence. It never got direct sun. After every rain, water ran off the roof right onto the door's bottom edge and splashed up the lock side. For years, nobody noticed. Then, on a humid morning after a week of storms, the owner's teenage son slammed the door on his way to school. The knob's latch tore out of the door edge, screws and all. The door swung open and wouldn't latch.

The owner called us. The dispatcher kept it short. Was anyone hurt? No. Was the house secure? The front was locked, but the back door wouldn't stay shut. What did the door edge look like? Soft and dark around the latch, with a chunk missing. Did they own the house? Yes. The dispatcher said the wood around the lock would need repair before any new lock could hold, deadbolt, and said the technician was on the way.

The technician arrived in uniform, ID shown. He checked the deed. Then he pressed a screwdriver into the door edge near the latch. It sank in. Rot, from years of water. The rest of the door was sound.

He cut out the soft wood around the latch and deadbolt bores, back to solid wood, and filled the cavity with a two-part wood epoxy that hardens like timber. While it cured, he went to the frame. The strike side was damp but sound, so he moved the strike slightly and set it with 3-inch screws into the stud. When the epoxy hardened, he re-bored the door with his jig, fitted a new knob and a Grade 2 deadbolt, and keyed both to the owner's existing key with his pinning kit.

The first test didn't latch cleanly. The epoxy repair left the edge a hair proud. He planed it flush, sealed the edge with exterior paint primer, and tested again. Clean latch, full bolt. The straight advice: put a gutter or a drip edge over that door, because the lock was only the victim.

Lock Replacement, Plain and Simple

Signs a Lock Is Done

A knob that wobbles, a latch that doesn't catch, a deadbolt that grinds, a key that only turns with a jiggle, a latch that pulls out of the door. Any one means the lock is close to failing. Call before it does.

Fix the Spring or Swap the Lock

Broken door lock repair makes sense when the body of the lock is healthy and the fault is small: a tired spring, a loose screw, a strike that's drifted out of line. A snapped spindle, a cracked cam or a body that's worn loose inside is a different story, and a new lock is the honest answer.

Back Door Lock Replacement

Back doors in the Heights take the worst of the weather and the most slamming. A back door lock replacement often includes moving the strike, fixing the door edge and adding a deadbolt if there wasn't one.

Rotted Door Edge Lock Problems

A rotted door edge lock can't hold screws. We cut out soft wood, fill it with structural wood epoxy or a hardwood patch, re-bore and fit the new lock into solid material. If the rot is widespread, the door needs replacing, and we'll tell you.

A Deadbolt That Grinds or Stops Short

When you need to replace deadbolt hardware because the bolt grinds, sticks or stops before its full throw, first check the strike; half the time it's the strike, not the bolt. If the deadbolt itself is worn, a new Grade 1 or Grade 2 model usually fits the existing holes and can take your current key.

Original Hardware

When an original mortise lock fails, we can often repair the body, replace a spring or fit a new cylinder. If it's beyond repair, a current mortise body can go into the same pocket, keeping the original knobs and trim.

Keyed to Your Current Key

Most new locks can be keyed to the key you already carry. Family members and anyone else who should have access keep their keys. If a teenager has lost a key recently, it may be worth keying the new lock and the others to a fresh key instead.

Tenants in Duplexes and Garage Units

Renters should get landlord approval first, unless the door won't lock and the landlord can't be reached. In that case, we make the door secure and give you a written note of what was done so the landlord isn't surprised.

Stop It Happening Again

Keep water off door edges with gutters, drip edges and paint. Fix strikes when doors start to drag. Replace a wobbly knob before it pulls out. Check the bottom and lock-side edges of shady doors every spring with a screwdriver; soft spots caught early are a small repair.

Visits Across the Heights

Where you are in the Heights decides which technician is sent, and the dispatcher tells you who is coming. The Heights is bounded by I-10 and I-610, with Studewood, Yale, Shepherd and Durham running through. Rush hour is slowest. Side yards and back doors are often reached through a gate or alley; tell us which.

Find the Cause, Then Fit the Lock

Expect a technician in uniform who shows ID first. They look for the reason the lock failed, tell you plainly, and fix that along with the lock. They protect paint and floors, clean up sawdust and epoxy, and test the new lock many times.

We're licensed and insured, and Houston homeowners give us 5 stars on Google.

Lock Replacement Around the Heights

Lock replacement calls in the Heights come from bungalows with damp side yards, Victorians with tired original hardware, cottages near White Oak Bayou that have weathered floods, duplexes with low-grade rental hardware and townhomes near Washington Avenue with failing builder locks. Lock replacement in the Heights often includes some wood repair. If you're searching for door lock replacement near me because a latch just tore out, call and describe the door. Back doors under big pecans and live oaks see the most rot, because they stay shaded and damp long after a storm passes.

Lock replacement is for hardware that has reached the end of its life. A key that sticks, a bolt that will not throw, a knob that spins or a latch that fails to catch are all signs.

Tell the dispatcher exactly what the lock does.

Houston humidity is hard on exterior hardware. If a lock has begun to stiffen or corrode, replacing it before it fails keeps you out of a nighttime lockout.

We check the strike plate and frame before fitting. A new lock on a worn frame fails again.

Keep the old lock for the technician to look at.

Ask the technician to turn the new lock a few times with the door open, then closed. Any rub or snag is easy to fix while he is still there.

Ask about the screws that hold the strike. Short ones come loose after years of slamming, and longer ones reach the framing behind.

We also replace locks in Montrose, Downtown Houston and Spring Branch. To swap for a different style, see lock change, and for a new deadbolt, deadbolt installation.