When to Re-Key Your Locks

Both commercial and residential property owners know how costly it can be to re-key locks.  Fortunately, this is one expense that can be avoided, save for a few critical times and occasions in the life of a building.  Avoiding re-keying altogether though in the hope of saving money can actually cost far more in the end than the cost of re-keying (even if it means re-keying more than once.)

Residential property: It’s thought to be standard advice and common sense: when you purchase a new house, the first thing you should do is re-key the locks.  This is a simple way to prevent former owners or anyone else who may have once owned a key to that home from getting into the house.  Yet it’s estimated that one-third to one-half of home buyers do not actually re-key the locks on their new homes.

Failure to do so opens residential property owners up to a great deal of risk.  Even when you purchase a home from someone you know and trust, changing locks is still necessary.  It’s impossible to tell who may have obtained copies of keys from previous homeowners, whether by honest or dishonest means.  It’s absolutely critical to assume that there could be dozens of copies of keys (or more) to your new home circulating about.  The only way to ensure complete protection is to re-key every exterior lock/door on the home.

It’s also a good idea to change the locks to any outbuildings on the property too.  This includes sheds, garages and greenhouses.  Even if you don’t plan to store valuables inside these buildings, it’s still important to restrict access in order to prevent vandalism and arson.

Re-keying locks is a definite MUST if your home’s security has been breached.  Change locks after a break-in, or after your house key has been lost or stolen.

Commercial property:  The “rules” are a bit more complicated when it comes to re-keying commercial property locks.  How often you do so depends on a number of factors, like the size of your building, the number of employees that work in the building, the number of employees who have (or have had) keys, how much foot traffic the building gets, etc.

Some business and commercial property owners advocate changing locks once every other year.  While this may be ideal, it isn’t always practical, nor is it always necessary.  Small businesses with few staff members (five or less) and little staff turnover can probably get away with re-keying less often; every three to five years perhaps.  On the flip side, larger businesses may also be able to get away with re-keying less frequently if tight key restrictions exist and/or very few staff members have keys.

On the other hand, big buildings/businesses that have large staff and have distributed dozens of keys may want to consider re-keying every one to two years.  The expense is well worth it if it protects from the costs associated with theft and vandalism.

No matter what size your business or commercial building, ALWAYS re-key locks:

• After a break-in or theft.
• After theft of keys to the building.
• After an employee loses a key.
• If an employee quits without returning assigned keys.
• After terminating a key-holding employee.

Many key and commercial hardware suppliers have key-control solutions that can be tailored to fit the needs of specific businesses.  Security companies may also be able to do “security audits” and make security and key recommendations based on those findings.

Choosing Your Ideal Door Trim

It seems like a trivial thing, but trim is an important part of your business’ doors.  The type of trim that you choose may have a significant bearing on the type of traffic that your business will attract.  This is particularly true for those who run a retail store, or at least have a retail component to their businesses.

“Trim” usually refers to the hardware components of a door that are visible to the public.  It typically includes door knobs/handles, key/lock plates, deadbolt levers, etc.

Businesses that see a significant degree of daily traffic from the general public need to consider their average patrons when selecting door trim.  This is particularly true when choosing between knobs and levers.

Levers are the easiest kind of door handles for most people to operate.  Children, the disabled and the elderly may have trouble exerting the kind of rotating motion that is necessary to turn a door knob.  Levers, on the other hand, require only the ability to grasp and apply gently downward force.  Styles like the Schlage AL Series and the L-9000 Series offer ease of opening for most every type of patron a business might serve.

Businesses that don’t want to outfit an entire store with lever-style handles can choose one or more main doors to equip with levers.  These should be the doors that the general public uses most often.  The rest of the building can then be outfitted with knob-style handles.

Schlage manufactures a wide range of door trim options.  Many of its commercial hardware knob and lever handles come in both medium and heavy duty styles, many with UL fire-rated components.

The A-Series: Schlage’s “Cornerstone”

The Schlage Company considers its A-Series of standard/medium duty cylindrical locks to be its “cornerstone” product.  Throughout the decades it has been one of the company’s top-selling mechanical lock products.

The Schlage A-Series has applications in both the commercial and the residential market.  It is considered medium to heavy duty when used in a residential setting. The series is classified as standard duty when applied to a commercial setting.

The Schlage A-Series of cylindrical locks is manufactured in both lever and knob style handles.  Residential users tend to gravitate toward the knob-style.  The knob is also popular in commercial buildings, but commercial buildings may just as frequently install the lever style.  Both provide equally effective performance and durability.

This “cornerstone” product has a number of desirable features both for residential and commercial building, including:

• High strength steel: This ensures durability, and helps to prevent tampering and breaking through the use of force.
• Plating: The steel components are plated for corrosion resistance. It resists damage from scratching, denting and soiling.
• Versatile finishes: The visible components and the knob/levers are available in a variety of  popular finishes, making it easy to match the A-series with any decor.
• Meets ANSI requirements.
• Rated Grade 2 commercial.
• UL listed for three hour fire doors.

The Schlage A-Series of locks has been around since 1925.  This is nearly as long as cylindrical locks themselves have been around.  The fact that it continues to outsell all other major brands in its class is a testament to the reliability of Schlage’s products in general, and the A-Series in particular.  It’s possibilities in both the commercial and residential market are abundant.  Backed by Schlage’s performance guarantee, it will likely continue to be a top-seller for decades to come.