Josh-the-Locksmith
25 Years Experience
Austin, TX
Male, 46
I've been a locksmith since 1998. I did automotive residential & commercial work from 1998 to 2008. From 2008 to 2018, I did some residential, but mostly commercial work. I have been project managing & estimating since 2018. I used to locksmith in the Chicago area, now the Austin area.
1- it's impossible to truly know who the owner is. The best we can do is take as much information as we can just in case things go south. So we get a drivers license, plate, year, make & model, location, time, name, address, & phone number. If it's a home, the drivers license or a piece of mail has to have the address on it. 2- if you don't have money, we don't do the service. If you don't have ID, we prob wouldn't do the service unless it was a special circumstance. 3- to my knowledge, there aren't any laws i know of that saw you can't over-charge people. But in many states it's illegal to operate as a locksmith without a permit or license. A lot of these guys are contractors & do not have one. I tell people all the time that everyone should have the name & phone number of a reputable locksmith in their phone. It's your job to research the company you're hiring. There are a LOT of crooked companies out there, & the only thing that can stop them is smart & knowledgeable customers. Leave reviews on Yelp & Google, report them to BBB. Ask for a quote before they do the work. If you don't like it, call someone else. You should never feel pressured or threatened.
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If you're going from 1 inch to 1-1/4 inch, that's a pretty big difference. The adjustable collar probably won't be adjustable enough to accommodate a 1-1/4 mortise cylinder. I would stick with 1 inch or 1-1/8 inch.
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I'm not familiar with strong box. A google search brought up quite a variety of different things. I would say see if you can order one from the manufacturer, otherwise if it is a fairly simple design, I'm sure a cylinder could be modified to work.
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I wish I could help you, but I do not do safe manipulation.
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If your front door key will fit in the lock on your garage, it doesn't even have to turn, take the locks off and take them to a locksmith. They should be able to make them match your front door. If it doesn't fit, take your front door key and get a couple replacement locks that will accept it. Have them rekeyed to match. If you don't care if they match or not, take your garage locks off and take them to a locksmith to get re-keyed, or just buy a new set
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Thank you for the video! That’s very helpful! So it looks like there’s nothing wrong with your deadbolt, your gate has shifted and is putting pressure on the bolts. Grab the gate right above the deadbolt and pull down as hard as you can while you turn the key counterclockwise. That should allow you to retract the bolt. As far as fixing the problem goes, you will need to elongate the hole on that the bolt goes into upward. That won’t be easy or fun, maybe 20 minutes labor for an experienced tech.
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No, not possible. It doesn't mean you have to damage the door/lock though. The door can be picked open, lock disassembled, and a key made to the lock. Call a reputable company though, don't just look for the cheapest price.
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