Booked ahead
Lock change in Aspe, planned for a morning that suits you
A key that drags, a cylinder that turns stiffly, a lock nobody has the full set of keys for, or a multipoint mechanism that needs a shove on the handle. None of that is an emergency, which means it can be done properly, on a day of your choosing.
Open 24 hours · 7 days
- Euro cylinders, mortice and multipoint
- A day and time you choose
- Price agreed before work starts
The work
Cylinders, mortice and multipoint: the work itself
- Euro cylinders. Replaced with the right length for the door, measured so the cylinder sits flush with the plate. The guide on measuring a euro cylinder shows how you can take the size yourself for a quote.
- Anti-snap cylinders. The usual upgrade for a flat door or a back door.
- Mortice locks. The lock set inside the thickness of a wooden door, common on older houses. Repaired when the mechanism can be saved, replaced when it cannot.
- Multipoint locks. The mechanism that throws bolts at several points along the edge of the door. When the handle has to be lifted hard to lock, the mechanism or the alignment needs attention, and forcing it only wears it faster.
- Night latches and rim locks. Fitted or replaced on secondary doors.
If the door has been forced or attacked, that is a different job with its own page: repairs after a break-in, where stronger locks are covered too.
Why locks wear here
An inland town is hard on locks in its own way
Aspe is 22 kilometres from Alicante and has no coast, so sea salt, the usual enemy on the Costa Blanca, plays no part. What wears a lock here is use, age and dust, and wooden doors that shift with dry heat: the town sits at 234 metres in a district Wikipedia describes as having low rainfall.
The housing tells you the rest. The 1957 Sagrado Corazón houses, most of which keep their original layout, may still have locks from the time they were built; the guide on a Sagrado Corazón house from 1957 explains how to tell. The flats of La Coca and Huerta Mayor mostly take euro cylinders. In El Castillo, where homes and small workshops share the same streets, a door can see far more use than a house door should.
If a door has started missing its latch in summer, read dry heat and wooden doors first: the cure may be in the strike plate, not the lock.
How it is arranged
From the first message to the new key in your hand
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Send a photo or two
Of the lock from the edge of the door and from the outside. With a cylinder, its two measurements if you have them.
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Pick a day
In working hours, at a time when someone can be at the house.
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Agree the price at the door
Once the lock has been seen, before any work starts.
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Test it together
Every new key is tried from both sides before the locksmith leaves.
Other doors
Fincas, units and safes
The gates, stores and pump rooms of a country house are covered on the finca and villa page. Shopfronts and the side doors of naves are on the commercial page. If a door will not open at all, see door opening, and for a safe, safe opening and fitting. To book, use any of the ways on the contact page.
Asked on the phone
Cylinders, keys and timing: common questions
Do I need a new lock, or just a new cylinder?
On most modern doors the part that wears or that you want to change is the euro cylinder, the barrel the key goes into. It slides out with one screw, so changing it leaves the rest of the lock where it is. The whole lock is replaced only when its body or bolts are worn or broken.
What does “anti-snap” on a cylinder protect against?
An anti-snap cylinder has a weak line built in on purpose, so that if someone tries to snap it from outside, only the front piece breaks and the part that works the lock stays inside. Ordinary cylinders can be snapped and turned in moments.
We have just bought a house. Should we change the locks?
It is a sensible first job. You do not know how many keys the previous owners, their family, a cleaner or an agent still have. Changing the cylinders on the outside doors settles the question.
Can you match one key to the front and back doors?
Yes, when both doors take euro cylinders, by fitting a set of cylinders that the manufacturer supplies keyed alike. You then have one key for both doors.
Is this work done at night?
No. A planned lock change is booked for a day and time that suit you, in normal working hours. The price is agreed before the work starts, and you can pay by cash, card or Bizum.
What people ask for next
Work that often follows a lock change
- Making a forced door secure Someone has forced the door, or tried to
- Locks for a finca or a villa The house is out of town, with a gate and outbuildings
- Safe opening and installation The safe won’t open, or I want one fitted
Guides on the same subject
Choose a day for the new lock
Send a photo of the lock on WhatsApp, or ring, and choose the day.