Securing a Queens house: the door most people miss
Across much of Queens the housing is detached or semi-detached. That means several ways in rather than one. There is the front door people think about. Then a side door, a back door onto the yard, a basement entrance, and a door from the garage into the house. The last one is the one most often left with a knob lock and no deadbolt, because it feels like an interior door.
It is not an interior door. It is an exterior door with a garage in front of it. Adding a deadbolt there is one of the cheapest security improvements available, and it is straightforward lock installation work.
Fob entry buildings in Astoria and Long Island City
The newer towers along the waterfront are a different animal. Entry is a fob or a card. Apartment doors often take an electronic lock, and there may be no mechanical key anywhere. When the system misbehaves, the failure is electronic rather than mechanical. The management company usually controls the credential list.
Want your own convenience on top of that? Keyless entry locks that retrofit onto an existing deadbolt are the rental-friendly option. Nothing about the outside of the door changes.
Car key replacement in Queens
More households here keep a car than in Manhattan, so a much larger share of our Queens work is automotive. That splits into two jobs people often confuse. One is cutting a key that turns the lock. The other is programming the chip so the car will start. A key cut from a blank without programming will open the door and do nothing else.
Both are covered on our car key replacement page, and if you are stuck beside the car right now that is car locksmith work instead.
Locksmith services we provide in Queens
- Residential locksmith in Queens
- House lockout service in Queens
- Lock installation in Queens
- Car key replacement in Queens
- Car locksmith in Queens
- Lock rekeying in Queens
Each of those is the same trade citywide, so the detail sits on the service page. What changes in Queens is which ones come up most.
Common questions in Queens
Does the door from my garage into the house really need a deadbolt?
Yes, and it is the door most often missed. Anyone who gets into the garage is then working on that door out of sight of the street, which is the opposite of your front door. A garage door opener is not a lock, so treat the connecting door as an exterior door and give it a proper deadbolt.
My building uses fobs and there is no keyhole. Who do I call when it fails?
The management company first, because they hold the credential system and can reissue or reprogram a fob. A locksmith comes in when the hardware itself has failed rather than the credential, or when a unit needs its own lock changed. Starting with management usually saves you a visit.
Can you make a car key if I have lost every copy?
Usually yes. With no key at all it takes longer, because the cuts have to be worked out from the vehicle rather than copied, and then the chip has to be programmed to the car. It helps a great deal to have the registration and photo identification ready, since nobody should be making keys to a car without proof it is yours.