What You Should Know Before Changing Your Locks

People are so worried about turning on all the utilities, moving in and organizing that many of them forget about the importance of changing all of the locks. Changing the locks on all exterior doors should be the top priority for people, however it sometimes takes a thief with a key to motivate them.

Previous owners hand out keys to family, friends, repairmen and delivery men. Who knows how many people have keys to your brand new home. Changing your locks is a simple do-it-yourself task that takes less time to install than driving to your local home store, purchasing the lock(s) and driving back home.

But say you didn’t move into a new house, but rather had a falling out or a break up with a boyfriend or girlfriend and they’re refusing to give back the key. Depending on how safe you feel you and your belongings are, it might be a good time to change the locks.

The Cost of Changing your Locks

Changing your locks shouldn’t cost you a fortune. There are different levels of locks that provide different levels of safety. Of course those locks will be more expensive, but too it depends on how many doors you have and how many of them are going to receive the best lock on the market. It’s so important to change all of the locks, even if the main key doesn’t work on the garage door, you should change it.

Medeco and Schlage Primus are the top lock producers. None of their locks can be tampered or bumped. They tend to be more expensive, costing between $100-$200, but they're worth it.

Changing Apartment Locks

Although apartment complexes are usually good about changing the locks after a tenant moves out, sometimes they don’t. Seven percent of tenants keep one of more keys that belong to that apartment. It’s always a good idea to bring up the topic with the office manager to find out whether or not the apartment complex has done this. If they haven’t, or set up a time that seems to far down the road, like say in a week, talk to them about reimbursement for you going out, purchasing your own lock and changing it that day.

Alternatives of Regular Locks

There are many alternatives you can choose from when changing your locks. You don’t necessarily have to get the same lock or a similar lock. You can upgrade while you replace. First you should always replace any spring latch locks with deadbolts. Or, you can upgrade to a keyless lock. This way you can give out codes to people and delete the code when you feel they have no business back in your home without permission. Another option is a fingerprint lock. You can grant authorization for someone to enter the premises, then delete their print when they're done, preventing them from reentry.