Locksmith South Dallas

Locksmith South Dallas in Texas is delighted to be available to give locals what they need in regards to automotive, residential, and commercial services to improve security.

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Weather and How They Affect Your Locks

Since we use our locks all the time. We use our keys several times a day, the moment we have a problem with a lock, we assume the problem is with the keys and not the lock. It can be a problem with your keys or locks. We unlock and lock our home, cars, school locker, gym locker, and other things several times a day. When you have problems with your locks, it is safe to assume that if the weather has changed, even slightly, it could be the reason that you are experiencing a problem with our locks and NOT your keys.

How Warmer Temperatures Affect Your Locks

Pay attention to the weather if you’re noticing that you’re starting to experience problems with certain doors opening when you try to open them. Some will jam up when the temperature outside start to get warmer outside. What happens is the door frame begins to expand. Whenever this happens keys become stuck in one position and will not move. You might be trying to do everything to get the key to turn but it will not turn and you don’t want to turn too hard for fear of breaking it off in the door. At Locksmith South Dallas in Dallas, Texas, we often find that people experience problems with their deadbolt locks when the temperature outside changes. The key becomes compressed inside the door when the frame swells. If you have a door that is made from wood or that has a wooden frame, you may encounter this problem more often. Wood is one of the easiest materials to swell and contract when there is extreme weather. Don’t do anything to drastic because, as stated earlier, you wouldn’t want to break the key off in the door and make matters worse.

How Colder Temperatures Affect Your Locks

When the weather begins to cool off, you outside, you may also start to have problems. The problem you may notice is that the key will not unlock the door. It isn’t that the lock is frozen, it’s just that the frame is contracting. Even when this happens slightly, it will cause your key to have a problem fitting inside the lock. This might happen several times before you realize it isn’t the lock; it is due to the weather. This is primarily the case with exterior doors. This isn’t a problem that can’t be resolved. You’ll just have to remain calm and take the key out of the door and putting back inside the door again, wiggling it slightly as you try to adjust it to get it to turn. Wait for the weather to warm up a bit and you won’t have to worry about this continuing to happen. The problem will get a little worse over time. If this has happened several times already, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have the lock evaluated to make sure it isn’t just due to the weather that the door is giving you problems. It’s better to be safe than sorry. The last thing you would want to happen is to get your key stuck and not be able to get it out. When this occurs, you’ll have to end up contacting a locksmith anyway.

What Will Happen to Your Locks If It’s Freezing Outside

Your car locks are often susceptible to sticking when the weather gets cold outside. Your locks will be affected adversely when the temperatures are freezing outside. It is your car lock that can actually freeze on you if your car is not parked inside a garage or if any water gets inside the car frame and the door seal. Once it reaches the locking mechanism, the lock can freeze. The ice needs to be melted in order to get inside your car. Here is the process:

It the door is the only thing that is frozen, push it really hard and pull the door at the same time. By applying enough pressure you can usually get the door open. You’ll have to put a lot of arm work into it though.

If there is a lot of ice, you’ll need to use an ice scraper. If you don’t own a ice scraper or you have simply misplaced yours, a credit card or spatula will usually suffice. Don’t use anything made of metal, as this will scratch up your car.

You could pour water over the ice, which might help. Just don’t use hot water because this could shatter the window. We suggest that you use lukewarm water since it will be warmer than the ice.

When the car lock is the problem, the best way to solve this problem is to use a solvent. De-icer products are available at most automotive car shops or hardware store. A lubricant will dissolve the ice and you’ll be able to stick the key in the lock and turn it in the direction you’re attempting to turn it in. Sometimes even rubbing alcohol will work or windshield wiper fluid. This is because they are mostly made from alcohol. The first time people hear about a lubricant, they think of WD-40, but we wouldn’t suggest you use WD-40 because it will gum up the lock.

The last thing we would suggest that you do is heat up your car key. This can only be done if you have an all metal key. Hold the key with tongs and you can heat it with a match or lighter. The heated key may enable you to stick the key in the lock and melt away some of the ice build up. We caution you not to do this if you have a transponder key.  

Sometimes when the weather changes and you begin to experience problems with your keys, you can’t really predict when a problem with occur. However, some of the suggestions above usually remedy the problem. It’s a good list to keep around in case you experience this problem with your keys.

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WHAT TO DO WITH OLD KEYS

Do you have old keys lying around your home or office? Most do, so you are in good company! Old keys can be found in car ashtrays, dresser drawers, desks, kitchen cabinets and on top of tables and credenzas. Why do we save these keys? Most everyone does, and if you ask them, the answer usually is something to the effect that the keys are “still good and belong to one of these locks around here.” The lingering thought that someday, the key will be needed is usually enough to make us hang on to it.  

Once in a while, the need to “clean up” simply gets the best of us and we decide to rid ourselves of old keys; and why not? If we haven’t used them in this long, we probably don’t need them as much as we might think. But, what do we do with those keys? Throw them out? Recycle them? Give them to the neighbor kids to play with? Surely, there’s a good use for them!

Old keys come from many sources

There are literally hundreds of millions of old keys in existence that are no longer being used. These keys come from a vast variety of origins including bicycles, desks, file cabinets, diaries, door knobs, shed locks, lockers, vending machines, laundromats, cars, motorcycles, buses and ever so many more sources. These old keys come in all sizes, colors, shapes and materials. There are so many old keys “out there” that over 400 million of them end up in public landfills every year alone. This staggering number doesn’t count the even bigger amount still lying around, forgotten and unused.

Old key uses

Once in a while our Locksmith South Dallas shop gets asked if we take them. The answer is; we don’t. But we do have some suggestions for you that you just might like. Some of these are basic and ever so simple. Others take a little more effort so you decide for yourself what you’d like to do with your old keys; if anything.

Plain old recycling

Many communities encourage recycling. Our South Dallas, TX community sure does. Keys are so useful in metal recycling efforts and by far the simplest way to rid yourself of old key debris is to go ahead and turn them in for re-use later as forks, table legs and other metal items of value.

Key For Hope

Key For Hope is a very special fund raising organization that helps raise money for local food banks. Their members hold key donating events and collection drives that take all the donated keys and turn them in for recycling. The money raised from this effort is donated to food banks to help those that need the assistance. Imagine that; rid yourself of old key clutter and help hungry folks eat, too! It only takes about 50 keys to average a pound of metal and these can be sold for scrap that brings in much needed funds for those less fortunate. Key drives in public and private schools can be started as a fund-raising and educational method for raising awareness and money while teaching school age children about community involvement.

Get crafty

Are you into crafts? Many are not, but if you are, incorporating old keys into unique and sometimes useful items can be both fun and profitable. Craft making can be for pleasure or for profit (and sometimes both!).  Craigslist, Etsy and ArtFire are online places where craft items can be sold. Don’t forget craft fairs, yard sales, flea markets and farmer’s markets. Crafts are sold everywhere people gather so if you have a creative spirit and want to tackle the sale of old keys in different and imaginative forms, give crafts a try and you just might surprise yourself. We’ve heard of keys sewn into table cloth hems and curtains to help weigh down the fabric so that it doesn’t flap so much in the breeze or slid off the table when moved. Light fixtures (especially older ones) might be missing an on/off cord or a handle for it. An old key, decorated or not would make the perfect item to grasp in order to turn the light on or off.  

Pinterest

A huge source of ideas and inspiration could be the website Pinterest. Use “old keys” as the keywords and you can find literally hundreds of ideas and creative uses for your old keys. Not only can you see how these keys are applied, but the accompanying pictures are also very helpful. You can find keys made into Christmas decorations and incorporated into picture frames. Keys can be altered and decorated and then worn around the neck and even made into decorative jars. You can find dozens of wind chime ideas; all made of used keys. From jewelry to wall plaques, old keys can be turned into items of value and beauty.

Get to know your neighbors

Did you just move in to your neighborhood? Or, are you practically strangers to those who live around and near you? What you need is an ice breaker so that suddenly interacting with them is not so awkward. Old keys can be that ice breaker. You can invite the neighbors and even the entire block over for a key recycling party. Serve refreshments and do your “meet and greet” routine. Then, reveal your plan to these folks. Have them donate their old, useless keys to the cause. You can have fun choosing a charity to donate the funds to. You can do this on your own or use the services of Key For Hope. Simply contact them through their website and let them know you would like to do a key drive. They have kits that can help your drive with buckets, promotional material and other items so that your key donating efforts are maximized. You don’t have to use them. Simply contact your local recycling center or scrap metal plant and get their guidelines for turning old keys into new cash!

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LOCKSMITH SOUTH DALLAS – WHO IS AUTHORIZED TO CHANGE LOCKS

We have all heard the horror stories of people getting locked out of their homes without warning by a roommate, landlord, spouse, or other co-habitant who changes the locks while they’re out. But who is really authorized to change the locks? Can a wife do it to her husband? Can a landlord do it to a tenant? Locksmith South Dallas wants to set the record straight so that you know who is and who is not allowed to take action when it comes to changing locks.

TENANTS & PROPERTY OWNERS

Tenants must have permission from the property’s owner to change locks of their residence. This is not widely done, but there are instances that may warrant a tenant changing the locks, like if there has been some sort of altercation between the tenants and one has an order of protection against the other. The tenant must discuss the situation with the property owner, get permission to change the locks, and then provide the owner with a key once the locksmith is finished with the change.

Property owners have a bit more flexibility about changing the locks but not much. Because a tenant is paying to live there and has an agreement to do so, the property owner does not have the right to change the locks at any time without notifying the tenants. However, in extreme cases such as when the tenants are significantly behind in payment and have refused to make their payments current or vacate the property, changing the locks can be a last resort. An important distinction to make here is that the landlord is not always the property owner. Both tenants and landlords, even if they’re acting on behalf of the property owner, need to have permission from the owner before changing the locks.

Tip: Be prepared to tell the locksmith the reason behind the lock change and show permission from the property owner before the locksmith will change the locks.

PROPERTY MANAGERS IN COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS

Property managers can authorize changes to the locks in the buildings that they manage. Usually in commercial settings, the property owner has developed a relationship with a trusted locksmith in the area near the building. That locksmith is familiar with the building’s lock-and-key systems and knows the property manager. Therefore, the locksmith can verify that the lock change request is legitimately from the proper person. Locksmith South Dallas has this relationship with businesses throughout the Dallas area and can provide expert service that protects businesses in commercial buildings, giving owners of both the business and the building peace of mind.

A business owner in a commercial building does not have the right to just come in and have the locks changed when they take over residency in a building. Permission must be obtained from the property owner. However, it’s common practice to allow a business to change the locks when they move in if they want as an added security measure for their business. If that’s important to you as a business owner, make sure you have that discussion with the property manager prior to signing a lease for your new office space. The property manager must have a key to access the building and offices at all times so there must be an extra set of keys available once the locksmith has finished changing the locks.

Tip: Allow the property manager to handle lock changes. Because it’s likely that the manager already has a trusted relationship with a locksmith, the process will be much easier. But business owners should be there when the locks are changed so they have immediate access to the building when the job is complete. In this case, a reason behind the lock change is also important as there might be different building rules for different situations. For example, changing the locks for a new business might have a different protocol or require different authorizations than if there has been a security breach in the building.

HOME & VEHICLE OWNERS

Homeowners and vehicle owners generally have the right to change the locks of their place of residence or car whenever they want. However, a locksmith must still take precaution and verify that he/she has the permission of the person who actually owns the vehicle or home before taking action.

There are situations when changing the locks is really important for safety reasons, like when you first take ownership and move into your new home or when the relationship changes between the people that live there and it becomes volatile or unsafe. But even in those situations where time is of the essence, a locksmith still has the responsibility to make sure to have the right permissions before doing the job. If it’s the locks on a house, you may need to show a deed and have all owners present. If it’s a car’s locks that you need to have changed, you may need to show the vehicle’s registration and get verification from each party. If a court is involved in a situation, then you may be required to show proof that a judge has allowed the locks to be changed in your car or home without the other person’s knowledge or consent.

Tip: Be prepared to show all necessary identification and paperwork that proves ownership and, if necessary, permission for you to change locks on your home or car.

Reputable locksmiths will not take just anyone’s word for it and change a lock without having the right permission, whether it’s for a residential home, an office building, or a car. Locksmiths have a big responsibility when it comes to changing locks. They need to make sure that they’re consulting with the correct person and have the correct permissions before they proceed. Hiring a trusted locksmith like Locksmith South Dallas that follows protocols and considers your safety and security to be a top priority is critical so that you know that the job is being done right from beginning to end.

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This Simple Security Tip Can Be The Difference Between A Safe Home And A Disaster

This Simple Security Tip Can Be The Difference Between A Safe Home And A Disaster

When it comes to protecting your home, taking extra precautions is worth the effort to gain some peace of mind. The last thing any of us want to imagine is that a burglar, intruder, or even a group of mischievous kids is going to break into our house, endangering our family and stealing our valuables.

In order to make sure this terrible scenario does not play out, we have to be proactive in securing our homes. There are a few simple things you can do today to keep yourself and your loved ones safe!

1.      Replace original door screws

The screws contractors use are tiny and won’t stand up to an intruder who wants to kick your door down. Replace them with 4-inch screws to keep your entryway secure.

2.      Double-check locks

It seems like a no-brainer, but making sure to double-check all windows and doors before leaving the house is an easy and smart habit to get into. Lock all doors and windows, even second-story ones.

3.      Install lights wherever possible

A well-lit yard is less likely to entice burglars, who need the cover of night to prevent neighbors or passersby from seeing what they’re up to. Add floodlights where possible to deter criminals from targeting your house.

4.      Hide valuables

Increasing the difficulty of accessing your valuables is burglar prevention 101. Consider investing in a safe for a walk-in closet, or even a small box with a lock. The longer it takes for a thief to find the loot, the more likely it is they will give up the search.

5.      Advertise your security system

Like adding more light, simply advertising the fact that you have a security system—and that you’re not afraid to use it—might be enough to sway an intruder from targeting your house.

For more tips, just visit This Simple Security Tip Can Be The Difference Between A Safe Home And A Disaster.