Change or rekey · Mississauga
Smart Lock Installation
There are four copies of the front-door key floating around: one with the cleaner, one with a neighbour, one on a hook at your parents' place, and one you honestly cannot account for.
In plain words
Smart lock installation puts an electronic deadbolt or lever on your door that opens with a code, a phone, a fob or a fingerprint, and, on some models, a conventional key too. The locksmith confirms you control the property, measures the door and its holes, and makes sure the bolt travels freely, because a battery motor has less strength than a hand. The hardware is fitted with a solid strike, the maker's specified batteries go in, and the lock is set up under your own account. You leave with codes working and, on a keyed model, the override key tested and the old key retired.
How the visit goesYou have just taken possession of the house and the previous owners handed over a keypad deadbolt with a code nobody wrote down and an app account you cannot get into. It needs to become yours, properly, or be replaced.
Smart Lock Installation
How the visit goes
Measuring the door and its holes
Smart locks are built around the standard residential preparation, so the locksmith measures before choosing. Door thickness is usually between 35 and 45 millimetres; thicker doors need an extension kit and very thin ones may need a different model. The large cross bore for the cylinder, the smaller edge bore for the bolt and the backset from the door edge to the centre of the hole are each checked against the new lock's range. A lever set also needs the handing confirmed. Steel and fibreglass doors, doors with a mortise pocket from an older lock, and doors with glass close to the handle each change what will fit and how it is mounted.
Fitting the bolt, the body and the strike
With the door ready, the mechanical parts go in first. The new bolt is set to the door's backset and slid into the edge bore with its face plate flush. The outside assembly, keypad or touch surface, is placed with its cable fed through the cross bore, and the inside mounting plate is fixed so the two halves clamp the door without twisting. Screws are driven by hand rather than with an impact driver, because an over-tightened housing binds the motor. The interior unit is seated on the plate and the tailpiece aligned so the thumb-turn and the motor share the same travel. A reinforced strike with long screws replaces the light original.
A door that locks with a tap and still takes a key
You come away with a front door that responds to a code, a phone or a fob, and, on a keyed model, still accepts a conventional key in the rekeyed override. The bolt slides home without a shoulder on the door because the alignment was corrected before the lock went on, and the reinforced strike holds it. Everything has been tested with the door closed: each code, the app from inside and outside the house, the auto-lock delay and, where the model has one, the key. The finish matches the rest of the hardware, the packaging and manual are left with you, and the old lock is either handed over or taken away as you prefer.
Smart Lock Installation
In the van
Adjustable-backset bolt and faceplate
Dry PTFE lubricant
Wi-Fi bridge or home hub
Manufacturer-specified batteries
Reinforced box strike with long screws
Smart Lock Installation
What affects the quote
Finish and matching hardware
Standard finishes are the base. A less common finish, or replacing the knob or lever at the same time so the door matches, adds to the hardware portion of the quote.
Condition and fit of the door
A door that already closes true with standard holes is the simplest install. One that needs hinges shimmed, a strike pocket deepened or holes enlarged adds preparation time, and that work is quoted as its own line.
Retrofit versus full replacement
An interior-only unit that turns your existing deadbolt involves less door work than a complete new deadbolt with a keypad outside, and the two are quoted differently in both hardware and time.
What to have ready
- Is there a storm door in front of it?
- Is there already a keypad or app lock on the door, and who set it up?
- Should the door lock itself after it closes?
Smart Lock Installation: questions
QuestionsCan the lock be set to lock itself?
Most models offer auto-lock, and it is one of the settings the locksmith configures with you. You choose the delay, from a few seconds to several minutes, and the lock throws the bolt on its own once the door has been closed that long. Models with a door sensor wait until the door is actually shut, which avoids the bolt extending into thin air. Families who have ever wondered whether the back door got locked tend to value this most.
I rent. Can I have a smart lock installed?
Yes, with your landlord's agreement first. Tenancy rules in this province expect a tenant to have the landlord's consent before changing a lock, and expect the landlord to have a working way in, so the sensible route is a short conversation and a note of what will be fitted. A retrofit model that mounts inside and keeps the existing exterior lock and key is often the easiest thing for a landlord to say yes to, since the door is unchanged from outside.
What information should I have ready when I call?
The door's material and rough thickness, what lock is on it now and whether it is a separate deadbolt above a knob or lever, and whether there is a storm door. Say what you want the lock to do: codes only, phone control, alerts, auto-lock. Mention how the Wi-Fi is at the front door if you know, whether you rent or own, and how many people need their own way in. A photo of the inside and outside of the existing lock is a real help.
Related services
- Deadbolt InstallationYou bought a keypad deadbolt online and pulled the old one off, only to find the hole in the door is a different size and the bolt latch sits at a backset the new kit does not list.
- Lock Replacement & UpgradeEvery morning the front door key needs the same little dance: push in, lift, wiggle, turn.
- Vintage Mortise Lock ServiceThe knob flops loose on its spindle and never springs back to level.