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BloordaleGardens Lock & Key Co.Open 24/7 (289) 804-4797
Two people exchanging a key at an open front door, with a disassembled lock cylinder and small parts arranged on a cloth nearby. — Lost Keys — Same-Visit Rekey, Toronto

Lockouts · Toronto

Lost Keys — Same-Visit Rekey

The spare under the planter by the side door is gone. Everyone in the family swears they did not take it, the planter has clearly been shifted, and you have no idea how long ago that happened.

In plain words

A missing key is also the moment a household can stop carrying four. Because a rekey sets a fresh combination in every cylinder anyway, the locksmith can set the same combination in all of them, provided they share a keyway family, so the front door, back door, garage entry and side gate open with one key. Where a cylinder belongs to a different family, it can be swapped for one that matches during the same visit. The result is a single key on each ring, fewer copies to keep track of, and the certainty that the lost one operates none of them.

Sound familiar?Toronto

The call
The lawyer's envelope held two keys for the new house. The previous owners mention a cleaner, a dog walker and a brother who checked on the place, and the builder's paperwork shows six were cut originally. Four are unaccounted for.

NextHow the visit goes

Lost Keys — Same-Visit Rekey · Toronto

How the visit goes

Technician holding a steel deadbolt to the round bore in a white door, with an open tool bag on a dark mat. — Toronto
  1. Scene 1

    Rekey or replace, cylinder by cylinder

    Rekeying suits hardware in sound condition, and most cylinders on a house qualify. The locksmith flags the exceptions while the list is being made: a plug worn oval by decades of use, a cylinder packed with salt and grit from a side door that faces the driveway, a knob lock so light it offers little resistance, or a keyway that no longer has blanks available. For those, a replacement cylinder or a complete new deadbolt keyed to match the rest is proposed as its own item, so you decide door by door. The aim is that every cylinder leaving the visit on a new key is one that will keep turning well for years.

  2. Scene 2

    Dealing with the electronic things on the ring

    A rekey covers the mechanical keys; the visit also tidies what sat beside them. If a garage door remote was lost, the opener's memory is cleared at the unit on the ceiling so every remote is forgotten, and the ones still in the household are paired again. A keypad lock that shares a door with a rekeyed cylinder has its user codes reviewed and any code the lost ring's owner knew is changed. A building fob or parking card is reported to the property manager for deactivation, and the locksmith can make that call with you. A car key with a chip is booked as separate automotive work.

  3. Scene 3

    A note for the landlord or building manager

    Where a tenancy, a condominium or a commercial lease is involved, the visit ends with a plain written note: which cylinders were rekeyed, how many keys were cut, who received them, and the key code if the property keeps a register. Tenants pass it to the landlord along with the landlord's set of new keys, keeping the paper trail on both sides current. Condominium managers can update the building's key record. A small business can file it with the lease. It is a few lines that save a long conversation later.

In the van

  • Key blanks in common keyways
  • Pin tweezers and shims
  • Top pins and cylinder springs
  • Rekeying pin kit
  • Replacement cylinders

What shapes the quoteBloordale Gardens Lock & Key Co.

Time and day of the call
A weekday afternoon and a late evening or holiday call cost the same amount for a lost-key rekey. When a stolen wallet makes the visit urgent, the locksmith still confirms the exact figure on site, once the cylinders and keys needed have been looked at.
How many cylinders are on the list
A front door with a deadbolt and a handle is two cylinders. Add the back door, the garage entry, a side door and a shed and the count climbs, and the quote follows the number of cylinders repinned.
Outbuildings, gates and padlocks
Sheds, gates and detached garages often carry padlocks or light cylinders. Bringing them onto the house key may mean a new padlock of a matching keyway, quoted as a part.

FeesSame any hour

Have it ready

Before you call · 0 / 3

(289) 804-4797

Questions people ask us

Does the locksmith need to see the actual lost key, or just look at the lock?

Just the lock, and the door it is fitted to. A rekey works on the cylinder itself: the locksmith opens it, fits a new set of pins matched to a fresh key, and the old key stops working the moment that is done, whether or not it ever turns up again. Knowing roughly how the old key looked, cut on both edges, a chip on the head, a certain brand, can still help identify which cylinders in the house shared that key.

What about the mailbox key?

It depends on whose mailbox it is. A private box at your door or on your post is yours, and its small cylinder can be rekeyed or replaced in the same visit. A compartment in a community mailbox or an apartment mailroom belongs to the postal service or the building, which handles lost-key lock changes through its own process. The locksmith will tell you which you have and who to call.

Can all my doors work on one key afterwards?

Usually, yes. Cylinders that share a keyway family accept the same blank, so they can be pinned to one combination during the rekey. The front door, back door, garage entry and a gate padlock of the same family become a single key. Where a door uses a different family, the locksmith can swap its cylinder for a compatible one in the same visit, or you can choose to keep two keys for that door.

Torontoinformation

TorontoOntario

Town
Toronto
In business
13 years
Hours
Open 24/7
Nights, weekends and holidays, same fees
Visits
On-site assessment preferred. Request a visit or call.

2021 census: what it means at the door

Every square is one home in a hundred.

  • 58 in 100 homes · older homes
  • About 58% of homes in Toronto were built in 1980 or earlier, according to the 2021 Census.Older homes tend to have had many hands on their doors: owners, tenants, tradespeople, family. A locksmith visiting such a house pays attention to who holds keys now, and rekeying or a keyed-alike set often matters more than any new hardware.
  • Single-detached houses make up about 23% of homes in Toronto (2021 Census).Shared entrances mean fobs, intercoms and buzzers alongside conventional locks. A locksmith can service the mechanical side of those doors and advise on how the fob system and the cylinder work together when management asks.

Source: Statistics Canada, Census Profile

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On-site assessment

Request a visit.

The spare under the planter by the side door is gone.

(289) 804-4797, open 24/7.