How many doors a Staten Island house needs secured
An apartment has one way in. A Staten Island house typically has four or five. The front door, a side door, a slider or french doors onto the deck, the garage, and the door connecting the garage to the house. Security here is not about one very strong lock. It is about not leaving three of those five as an afterthought.
The two weakest are usually the garage connecting door, often a knob with no deadbolt, and the sliding patio door, which may have only the latch it shipped with. Both are ordinary lock installation jobs and both close a real gap.
Rekey your Staten Island home after you buy it
So much of the borough is owner-occupied houses that change hands. The most useful thing a new owner can do is rekey on day one. You have no way of knowing how many keys exist. Previous owners, contractors, a cleaner, a neighbor who watered the plants, a realtor lockbox.
Rekeying keeps the hardware you already have and only changes what the key has to look like. It costs far less than new locks, and it covers every door at once. Our lock rekeying page explains how it differs from a full lock change.
Car keys and spare keys on Staten Island
Nearly every household here drives, and a lost or failed car key is a much bigger share of the work than it is across the harbor. Two things worth knowing. A key cut without programming will open the door but will not start the car. And a second key made while you still have one is far cheaper than an all-keys-lost job later.
If you have one working key, getting the spare now is the cheapest version of this problem you will ever have. That is car key replacement work.
Locksmith services we provide on Staten Island
- Residential locksmith on Staten Island
- House lockout service on Staten Island
- Lock rekeying on Staten Island
- Lock installation on Staten Island
- Car key replacement on Staten Island
- Keyless entry locks on Staten Island
Each of those is the same trade citywide, so the detail sits on the service page. What changes on Staten Island is which ones come up most.
Common questions on Staten Island
Is rekeying really cheaper than changing all my locks?
Almost always, because you keep the hardware and only the internals of the cylinder change. On a house with four or five exterior doors the difference is substantial, and you can have every door on one key at the same time. New locks only make sense when the existing ones are worn out or you want a higher grade.
How do I secure a sliding patio door?
The latch a slider ships with is a convenience catch rather than a lock, so the usual approach is a secondary lock on the frame plus something in the track to limit travel. Do not lubricate the track itself, since that makes the door harder to control rather than easier; the rollers underneath are the part that should move freely.
Can you come to the house, or do I bring the car somewhere?
We come to you. Car key work is done at the vehicle, which is the only sensible way when the car cannot be started and moved. Have the registration and your photo identification on hand, because keys should never be made for a vehicle without proof of ownership.