Steel door lever on an oval plate with a key in the lock, beside a row of metal bolts on the edge. — Markland Woods

High security · Markland Woods

High Security Locks

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You have lost count of how many people have had a key to your house over the years: cleaners, a contractor, a former partner, the previous owner's family. The lock still works, but you no longer know who else it works for.

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In plain words

For a business, high security locks are as much about paperwork as metal. A restricted or patented key system registers the premises with the locksmith, names who may order keys, and numbers every key cut. That is what turns a lost staff key from a mystery into a line in a log. The hardware backs it up: cylinders with sidebars and hardened inserts, heavy-duty deadbolts or mortise locks, and strikes set into the structure. Where several doors are involved the keys can be arranged so a manager carries one key and staff carry keys that open only their own areas.

Sound familiar?Markland Woods

The call: Your shop has had four employees leave in two years and each one had a key. Rekeying every time is getting old, and the hardware store will cut a copy for anyone who walks in with the original.

NextHow the visit goes

High Security Locks · Markland Woods

How the visit goes

Technician in a cap fitting a black mortise lock case into the edge of a wooden door beside an old knob plate. — Markland Woods

Scene 1
Matching the rating to the risk
Ratings are only useful if someone explains them. A residential deadbolt carries a hardware grade for security, durability and finish based on hammer blows, pulling force and cycle testing. A high-security cylinder carries a separate laboratory listing based on how many minutes it resists picking, drilling and forcing. The locksmith explains what each figure means in practice for your door and points out the rule that matters most: the whole assembly takes the grade of its weakest part. That conversation ends with a recommendation you understand rather than a part number you have to trust.
Scene 2
Fitting a heavier deadbolt
When the existing deadbolt is light or worn, the locksmith fits a graded deadbolt through the same bore where possible. The bolt throws a full inch and carries a hardened steel pin that turns under a saw blade, and the housing keeps part of the bolt supported against a kick. The latch is set in the edge bore with the correct backset, the exterior housing and interior thumb-turn are joined through the door with the long screws, and the final tightening is done by hand so nothing strips. The bolt is then thrown with the door open and closed to confirm it extends completely.
Scene 3
Looking after a precision cylinder
High-security cylinders are finer mechanisms than the pin tumblers they replace, and a little care keeps them turning sweetly. Use only the dry lubricant the locksmith recommends, once or twice a year and sparingly, and never household oil, which gathers grit around the finger pins and sidebar. In cold weather, if the key resists, warm it in your hand or use a de-icer rather than forcing it. Insert the key fully before turning. Keep a spare key indoors so a bent or worn key is retired rather than pushed on. Treated this way, the cylinder outlasts the door around it.

In the van

Patented key blanks
Code key cutting machine
Commercial mortise lock body
Pinning kit and plug follower
Reinforced strike plate

What shapes the quoteMarkland Woods Locksmith Co.

Number of doors: Each door gets its own cylinder or lock, strike work and testing. Several doors on one keyway share the setup cost of the key system but add hardware and time per opening.
Cylinder only or full deadbolt: Swapping the cylinder inside a sound deadbolt is a smaller job than fitting a new graded deadbolt through the door, and a knob-only door that needs a fresh bore is bigger again.
Cylinder rating and format: A patented residential cylinder, a laboratory-rated commercial cylinder and an interchangeable core sit at different points on the scale, and the format that fits your present hardware decides which lines are available.

FeesSame any hour

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Before you call · 0 / 3

For a business, who should be allowed to authorise new keys?
How many keys exist today, and are you confident of that number?
Does the door drag, stick in cold weather or need lifting to lock?

(289) 805-2539

Frequently asked questions

What does key control mean in practice?

It means your key can only be copied through the locksmith who manages your system, after checking that the person asking is on your list of authorised names. Blanks for the keyway are not sold to hardware stores or kiosks while the patent lasts. Each key is numbered and recorded, so you know how many exist. For a home that ends the worry about old copies; for a business it turns a lost staff key into a known, manageable event.

How do I order extra keys later?

An authorised person contacts the locksmith who holds your system, quotes the system reference, and the key is cut from code and numbered into the register. Some systems use a physical authorisation card, others an online validation, and business systems often require a signature that matches one on file. The key is collected or delivered, and the record shows the new total. It is deliberately not something a stranger with your key can do.

What proof do I need to show before locks are changed?

The locksmith confirms that the person ordering the work is entitled to change the locks: the owner, a tenant with the landlord's agreement, or a property or facilities manager for a business. Photo identification and something linking you to the address usually settle it, and for a company a letter or a call to the named contact does the same. It protects you as much as anyone, since the same check stops someone else from changing your locks.