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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

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.

In plain words

When a key disappears, cutting yourself another copy solves the wrong half of the problem. You can get in again, but so can whoever finds the original. A same-visit rekey turns that around: the locksmith works through each cylinder the missing key operated, fitting new bottom pins on a conventional lock or resetting a homeowner-rekeyable one through its own procedure, and refits the lock to the door. The lost key still slides into the keyway but no longer lifts the pins to the right height, so it turns nothing. You leave with fresh keys cut on site and the same locks you already had.

Sound familiar?Mississauga

The call
Your purse was taken from the back of a chair at a restaurant. The cards can be cancelled by phone tonight, but the house keys were in the side pocket beside a driver's licence that shows exactly where those keys fit.

NextHow the visit goes

Lost Keys — Same-Visit Rekey · Mississauga

How the visit goes

Hands fitting a steel door knob into the bore of a dark door, with a yellow drill and tool bag behind. — Mississauga
  1. Scene 1

    Where the tenant and landlord line falls

    Rented and shared buildings add a boundary that the locksmith maps early. A tenant's suite door is theirs to use but a lock change is agreed with the landlord, who receives keys as well. A condominium suite cylinder may sit on the building's master system, so its rekey is planned so the master still works, and the lobby, garage and amenity doors stay with the corporation. A small business rekeying a shop door checks what the lease says about the landlord holding a key. Sorting this out on the doorstep keeps every party informed and lets the work proceed with no surprise phone calls the following week.

  2. Scene 2

    Cutting the new keys on site

    Common keys are cut on the van rather than ordered in, though some restricted systems need the blank from an authorised distributor first. The first key is cut on a code machine, a crisp, original-depth key rather than a copy of a copy, and tried in the first repinned cylinder before another is touched, so any adjustment happens once. The rest are cut to the same code, deburred, and tested in turn. Keys cut this way run smoothly from the start and stay accurate through years of copying, because every later duplicate can be made from the code rather than from a worn blade.

  3. Scene 3

    When to think about rekeying again

    Rekeying is a repeatable act, and after this visit you know what triggers it. Moving into a new home, because previous occupants and their helpers may hold copies. A contractor or tenant leaving without handing a key back. A separation or a change of roommates. A ring lost with anything that names your address. Manufacturers list exactly these moments, and a household that treats them as routine stays in control of its doors for decades with the same hardware. The locks on the door today can be repinned many more times; only the small pins and the keys change each time.

In the van

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

What shapes the quoteErindale Lock Experts

Homeowner-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.
Condition 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.
Master-keyed building cylinders
A condominium or apartment suite cylinder on a building master system is pinned so the master still works, which takes coordination with management and a little more time than a stand-alone house door.

FeesSame any hour

Have it ready

Before you call · 0 / 3

(289) 805-4851

Let's clear a few things up

My lock is the homeowner-rekeyable type but the working key is lost. Can it still be reset?

Yes. Those cylinders let an owner change the key with a small learn tool, but only while a working key is in hand. Without one, a design such as Kwikset SmartKey is removed and placed in its own reset fixture, returning it to a blank state; other cylinder types are rekeyed by their own method instead. A new key is then set and the lock goes back on. It is a few extra minutes rather than a replacement.

A garage door remote was on the ring. What happens with that?

The opener on the garage ceiling holds a memory of every remote paired to it, and it can be erased in one step so the lost remote is forgotten. The remotes still in the household are paired again afterwards, and a keypad on the outside of the garage gets a new code if you have one. The locksmith can do this during the visit, and it takes only a few minutes at the opener.

Does the locksmith need to see the actual lost key, or just look at the lock?

Just the lock, and the door it is fitted to. A rekey works on the cylinder itself: the locksmith opens it, fits a new set of pins matched to a fresh key, and the old key stops working the moment that is done, whether or not it ever turns up again. Knowing roughly how the old key looked, cut on both edges, a chip on the head, a certain brand, can still help identify which cylinders in the house shared that key.

Mississaugainformation

PeelOntario

Town
Mississauga, Peel
In business
27 years
Hours
Open 24/7
Nights, weekends and holidays, same fees
Visits
On-site assessment preferred. Request a visit or call.

2021 census: what it means at the door

Every square is one home in a hundred.

  • 38 in 100 homes · mixed ages
  • About 38% of homes in Mississauga were built in 1980 or earlier, according to the 2021 Census.A mix of eras means a mix of bores and backsets. Standard modern sizes on one door, older dimensions on the door across the street. Carrying adapter plates and cylinders in both ranges lets a locksmith fit upgrades cleanly to either.
  • Single-detached houses make up about 37% of homes in Mississauga (2021 Census).In a building, a lockout happens in a hallway rather than a porch, and the neighbours notice. A locksmith confirms you belong to the suite, opens the door with the least fuss the lock allows, and leaves the door and cylinder intact for the night.

Source: Statistics Canada, Census Profile

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On-site assessment

Request a visit.

The lawyer's envelope held two keys for the new house.

(289) 805-4851, open 24/7.