Locksmith

Locksmith

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.

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330 Questions

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Last Answer on June 11, 2024

Best Rated

Can you recommend a secure lock to install on a thin door? Are there any electronic locks or deadbolts that can be installed on a thin door?

Asked by water_mom over 4 years ago

I think most deadbolts have a range of 1-3/8” to 1-3/4” thick doors. I would recommend going to schlage.com or kwikset.com & looking at their electronic deadbolts, look at the Specifications section on the product page. It should tell you the door thickness range. If it’s any thinner than 1-3/8”, it won’t work. You would need some kind of spacer to space out the lock on both sides of the door. I personally think Schlage makes a better lock than Kwikset.

The front door to our home has a center door knob. We've lost the key, don't particularly care for the current knob, and want to replace it. Is there a special kit we would need since it is centered rather than aligned to the left or right? Thanks!

Asked by Nursey82 over 5 years ago

Yes, companies make special extended latch kits. You can usually get any knob you want as long as that company makes a compatible latch. Take a measuring tape and hook it to the edge of your door (where the latch comes out of the edge of the door). Measure over to the center of your door knob. That is what size latch you need.

You might be able to reuse the current latch and just replace the knob itself. If you read the latch face, there should be a brand written on it.

Can you program a key for a 2009 challenger just using the vin number

Asked by Jerry79 almost 5 years ago

No, you can’t program any key for any car using the vin. There is nothing in a vin that tells you anything about the key.

Automotive Trunk lock question; I'm Locked-Out of my Car Trunk. Key and Fob do not open it. Can not access from inside the car either. I had a separate trunk key cut, due to this happened before. But it does not work. What next ?

Asked by Tuco1957 over 5 years ago

Try squirting some WD40 into your trunk lock, run the key in and out of the lock a bunch of times. Locks get corroded fairly quickly when they are not used.

Aside from that, you could have a locksmith come out or you can go into a shop. They can get in 1 way or another. Worst case, drill out the lock & replace it.

What is the hardest job you have done?

Asked by Dale over 5 years ago

Learning to project manage 2 new construction jobs at the same time where we provided the doors, frames, & hardware (and installation on 1 of them) with no guidance because my mgr quit at the beginning of the job. Hardly knew anything about doors & frames, OR project managing a construction job, had to learn it all on my own. It was the most stressful few months of my life.

When all locks are changed on a rental is the center of the main lock left out? A d why?

Asked by Nina over 4 years ago

Not sure what you mean, but when a lock is rekeyed, the internal pins are removed and replaced with different pins to match the new set of keys. No other hardware or parts of the lock are usually replaced.

Can you tell me if I can program an aftermarket key fob myself for a remote start car?

Asked by Dreya about 4 years ago

Unfortunately don’t know anything about remote starts. Locksmiths don’t work on those very often.