Rekeying your locks from time to time is necessary to upgrade and improve your house’s security. Sometimes when you rent or buy a place previously occupied by someone else, you have to rekey the locks so that the old keys can’t work on them anymore. Sometimes, it becomes too tiring to keep a whole bunch of keys with you all the time, which is why you may want to have only one key for all of your locks. In this case, you can rekey your locks so that all locks can be operated with just one key. Wouldn’t that be great? Rekeying a deadbolt lock may seem like a hassle, but you can do it yourself by following simple steps.
Gather the Tools Required for Rekeying Deadbolt Locks
If you’re rekeying deadbolt locks yourself, you need to make certain first that you have the proper equipment for it. It’s usually essential to have Slip Joint Pliers, a few tweezers or Needle Nosed Pliers, a Flathead Screwdriver, and a Phillips Head Screwdriver. To operate certain parts of the locks, you’ll need to have the manufacturer’s kit. This kit includes the brand new set of keys and the brand new backside pins, along with a follower bar. However, the manufacturer kit depends upon the type of lock you have. The kit differs from one another depending upon the locks of different manufacturers. So you need to ensure that every door of your house has the same lock if you want to avoid any inconvenience. Once you complete the necessary gear for rekeying the lock, you can proceed towards the next steps.
Method to Rekey a Deadbolt Lock
The majority of the deadbolt locks have different rekeying techniques, but the tools remain the same in every case. The only difference comes in the manufacturer kit. Here is how you can easily rekey the Reliabilt deadbolt lock.
- The first step is to remove the external casing of the lock from the door frame. You can use a screwdriver to remove the screws from the inside of the door. This will ensure that the lock case is removed from the door. After that, the original key must be inserted back inside the lock.
- After removing the lock casing, you will have to remove the cylinder cover and cylinder pin. After removing the cylinder cover, carefully remove the spring behind the cylinder pin.
- After removing the cylinder, turn back to the lock on which you have inserted the original key. Turn the key in a 2 o’clock position. After that, insert the pusher, which will move the deadbolt body away from the cylinder. In the end, put the pusher back in its original place.
- The next step is to remove the old pin from the cylinder. For that, you will have to find the key cut number mentioned on the original key and insert it back in the cylinder. The key cut number indicates which pin belongs to which cylinder bore, and the numbers are read from left to right. Insert this corrected number of pins inside the correct hole and make sure they fit in properly.
- Once you are done inserting the pins inside the holes, use the pusher to insert the cylinder back into the deadbolt body. After doing this, remove the new key.
- At last, reinsert the cylinder spring, pin, and the cylinder cover back into the cylinder. Check the working of the deadbolt lock system to see if the whole process has been a success or not.
When Should You Rekey a Deadbolt Lock?
As discussed earlier, the rekeying method is used to remove the use of old keys and when you look to match multiple locks with the use of the same key. For example, if you have multiple deadbolt locks in the house, using different keys for every lock becomes highly inconvenient. Therefore, you can rekey all the locks so that you can access them with the help of a single key. But when you are satisfied with everything but simply don’t want your lock to be operated with the old key, you can rekey it. This is a very common scenario that you may face when you move to a new location and do not know if someone else has your keys. Moreover, when you misplace the key and are afraid that someone might find it. At this point, you can rekey the lock so that the previous key no longer operates it.
Hiring a Locksmith for Rekeying Services
Although simple DIY procedures can help you perfectly rekey a deadbolt lock, hiring a locksmith saves your time. Locksmiths are professionals that can easily rekey any kind of lock in a matter of minutes. On average, rekeying a lock doesn’t cost much. However, some factors such as the complexity of a lock and variations influence the pricing of rekeying.
While rekeying a lock, you have to be very careful, so follow all the steps mentioned above carefully and hire a professional if you are worried that you can’t do the job properly yourself.