Commercial · Baden
Commercial-Grade Lock Replacement in Baden
A new tenant moved into the unit next door, and the property manager just found three different cylinders on three doors, none of them cut to the same key.
In plain words
Fire separations and exit routes add a layer that a house entry door never has, and this service is where that layer gets handled properly. A door that forms part of a fire separation needs hardware listed for that door's rating, and a door on a required exit may need to open with a single motion and no key once the building's occupant load crosses a threshold. The locksmith checks whether either condition applies to this specific opening, selects hardware that satisfies it, and installs the new lock so the door still closes and latches the way a fire-rated or exit door is required to.
How the visit goesThe key to the office entrance turns with almost no resistance now, and some mornings the deadbolt does not fully retract until someone jiggles the handle and tries the key again.
Commercial-Grade Lock Replacement
How the visit goes
Looking at how the opening is actually used
A door's traffic shapes which hardware belongs on it. A staff entrance opened a handful of times a day tolerates lighter-duty hardware than a delivery door shouldered open on every shift, and a customer-facing storefront door needs a finish and function that hold up under public use. The locksmith asks how often the door opens, who uses it, and whether it is propped, wedged or held open in daily practice, since a door habitually held open needs hardware and a closer arrangement that account for that use rather than fighting it.
Testing under real conditions before signing off
The finished hardware is cycled from both sides, under the door's normal swing and closing force, and by more than one person where staff are on site to try it, since a lock that operates cleanly for one hand may bind for another depending on height and grip. Any electric strike or reader tie-in is triggered several times to confirm consistent release. Only once the hardware performs the same way on repeated tries is the work considered finished rather than merely installed.
Fire and exit requirements satisfied, not just noted
Where the door forms part of a fire separation or a required exit route, the new hardware is listed for that use and the door has been tested to confirm it still closes and latches on its own. Any push-type release hardware installed to meet an occupant-load threshold has been checked across the whole route it serves, not just at the one door where the call started. The business leaves with an opening that satisfies the condition that triggered the work, rather than a lock that merely looks similar to what was there before.
Commercial-Grade Lock Replacement
In the van
Strike plates and keepers
Narrow-stile storefront lock
Heavy-duty cylindrical lockset
Key cutting and coding machine
Mortise lock body
Commercial-Grade Lock Replacement
What affects the quote
Keying complexity
A single stand-alone cylinder is the simplest keying job. A master or grand-master structure spanning multiple doors, departments or locations takes more planning and more cylinders to combinate correctly, and that planning is part of the quote.
Timing relative to a lease or renovation
Work scheduled around a tenant turnover, a renovation, or a building-wide upgrade across several units can be planned and quoted as a coordinated project rather than a series of separate calls.
Key-control documentation
Setting up or updating a written key-control log, recording who holds which key and which doors share a system, is a small but distinct task the quote can name separately from the physical hardware work.
What to have ready
- Do you want a master key system, an interchangeable core, or a stand-alone lock?
- Do other doors on the property share a key with this one?
- Is the door part of a fire separation or a marked exit route?
Commercial-Grade Lock Replacement: questions
QuestionsWhat happens to keys held by former employees or contractors?
Once a cylinder is replaced or rekeyed, any key that was not reissued for the new combination simply stops working on that door. This is the direct answer to a key that walked out with someone who left the business, and it is worth doing across every door that key used to open, not only the one that prompted the call.
Does an electric strike need to match a specific lock function?
Yes. An electric strike has to suit the latch or deadlatch type it will receive, the door's handing and swing, and whether the application needs fail-safe or fail-secure operation, meaning whether the door should unlock or stay locked if power is lost. Choosing a strike without checking these against the mechanical lock is a common reason a door releases electronically but still binds mechanically.
Do you handle interchangeable-core (IC) cylinders?
Yes. An interchangeable-core cylinder lets an authorized key holder pull the core and swap in a new one when a key needs retiring, without removing the whole lock from the door. Businesses with regular staff turnover often move to this system because it turns a rekey into a short in-house task rather than a full service call every time.
Related services
- Master Key System DesignAfter a busy shift the manager counts the keys coming back in and loses track of who still has one.
- Access Control InstallationHead office wants a record of who opens the branch and when, tied to an actual name rather than a shared code scrawled on a sticky note taped under the till.
- Panic & Exit HardwareThe fire inspector's note is blunt: the banquet hall's second exit still turns on a deadbolt, and the crowd it is rated to hold needs a door that opens under one motion, no key involved.