High security · Midhurst
High Security Locks in Midhurst
After the attempted break-in the police officer pointed at your door and said the strike plate was held by two short screws.
In plain words
Most break-ins do not involve picking; they involve a boot, a pry bar or a key that should never have been copied. High security hardware answers all three. A deadbolt with a full one-inch throw and a hardened core resists sawing and kicking, a reinforced strike with three-inch screws keeps the jamb whole, and a patented keyway means a copy can only be made through the locksmith who holds your system. The pick, bump and drill resistance of the cylinder is the layer on top. The locksmith's job is to fit those layers to your particular door and your particular worries.
How the visit goesYou run a home office with client files and equipment, and your insurer has asked what kind of lock is on the door. The honest answer is the builder's knob lock and a light deadbolt from when the house was new.
High Security Locks
How the visit goes
Winter, weather and daily use
A door on a farmhouse porch, a condo corridor and a shop on a busy street each see different wear. The locksmith asks how the door behaves in cold weather, whether the key has ever frozen or stuck, how many times a day it is used and whether it slams behind people. High-security cylinders with sidebars and telescopic pins are precise mechanisms and appreciate a door that closes true and a keyway kept clean. The recommendation may include a weather cover for an exposed cylinder, a closer adjustment or a hinge repair so the new hardware lives a long life.
Setting up controlled keys
The key system is registered to you before the first key is cut. The locksmith records the system, the authorised signatories and the number of keys issued, and hands you the authorisation card or online validation details. Every key is cut from code rather than copied, because the angled cuts or side milling must be exact for the sidebar to release. Extra keys later are ordered by an authorised person and logged, and blanks are not sold outside the manufacturer's network. This is what makes a key stop being a thing anyone can duplicate at a kiosk.
A known number of keys
The most noticeable change is not in the door but in your head. You know exactly how many keys exist, who holds each one and that nobody can add to that number without your authorisation. The system is registered in your name with the locksmith, so a request for an extra key comes back to you rather than being filled at a counter somewhere. Keep the authorisation card or login details somewhere safe and separate from the keys. When a key is lost, tell the locksmith; the record is updated and you can decide together whether that key's loss warrants any further step.
High Security Locks
In the van
Three-inch strike and hinge screws
Reinforced strike plate
Graded deadbolt with hardened bolt
High-security cylinder
Key control authorisation card
High Security Locks
What affects the quote
Glass near the lock
Sidelights or glazed panels beside the deadbolt may call for a different function or extra hardware to keep the inside turn out of reach, always keeping easy exit in view.
Exit devices and closers on the same door
Where a commercial door carries a push bar or closer, the new lock must work with them, and adjusting or replacing that hardware is part of the same visit.
Key control level
A patented keyway with authorisation cards covers most homes. Geographically exclusive keyways and signature-controlled systems for businesses carry registration and administration that show in the quote.
What to have ready
- How many exterior doors do you want included?
- Which locks are on the door now: knob only, knob and deadbolt, a mortise lock or a lever?
- Is there a window or sidelight within reach of the lock?
High Security Locks: questions
QuestionsWhat happens when the patent on my keys runs out?
The mechanical resistance of the cylinder does not change, but blanks may become openly available, so copy control weakens. Manufacturers issue new patented keyways as older ones expire, and the usual answer is to move to the next generation by changing cylinders and keys while keeping the lock bodies. Your locksmith notes the patent term at handover so the date is on the calendar rather than a surprise years later.
Is a high security cylinder really pick proof?
Nothing is beyond a laboratory with unlimited time, so the honest measure is minutes, not absolutes. Rated cylinders are tested to resist skilled picking and impressioning for a set period, and drilling and forcing for another. In the real world that matters because someone at a door has seconds, not a workbench. The sidebar and false grooves in the pins give a picker nothing reliable to feel, and the hardened inserts stop a bit, which is why these attacks move on to easier doors.
Will the new cylinder fit my existing locks?
Usually. High security cylinders are made in the common formats: key-in-knob and lever, rim, mortise and interchangeable core, and many are designed to drop into popular residential and commercial locks. The locksmith identifies your format and confirms fit before ordering. Where a lock is an odd size or in poor shape, a matching lock body is fitted instead, and the door preparation is reused wherever it is standard.
