Locksmith in Barrhaven, for older streets and brand-new keys

Barrhaven's first subdivision houses went up along Larkin Drive in the late 1960s. Minto built the original Barrhaven development and Cedargrove through the 1970s and 1980s, and for a time it looked as if growth would stop there: in 1978 the Ontario Municipal Board limited the planned expansion, until the provincial cabinet overruled it in 1979.

Growth has barely paused since. Half Moon Bay went from a few dozen residents in 2006 to more than 15,000 in 2021, and Barrhaven as a whole counted more than 103,000 people at the 2021 census, which makes it larger than many Ontario cities.

Until 2001, Barrhaven was part of the City of Nepean. Today it has its own character, and its own pattern of locksmith work: a small core of houses about fifty years old, surrounded by streets so new that many owners are still on the keys the builder handed them. For the established neighbourhoods north of the Greenbelt, see locksmith in Nepean.

Barrhaven has a great many townhouses, including back-to-back and stacked units where several homes share a building and sometimes an entrance. Each unit usually has more doors than people expect: the front door, the door from the garage, a back or balcony door, and sometimes a separate entry to the lower level.

Keying all of them to one key is usually straightforward in a newer townhouse, because the builder used the same hardware throughout. Where an owner has replaced a lock with a different brand, one cylinder may need to be swapped to match.

If the townhouse is part of a condominium, anything shared, such as a common entrance, parking or mailroom, belongs to the condominium corporation, and only your own unit doors are yours to change. A locksmith in Barrhaven will check before touching anything shared.

The houses along Larkin Drive and in the first Minto streets are now around fifty years old, and they are a different job from the new builds a few kilometres south. Their doors have been replaced, rehung and repainted, and their locks have been changed one at a time by successive owners.

A Barrhaven locksmith working in the older streets usually finds a mix: a newer deadbolt on the front door, an original handle on the side door, a patio door with its factory latch, and a garage entry door with no deadbolt at all. Bringing it all onto one key, and adding a deadbolt where one is missing, is a common one-visit job.

These houses also have older wood frames, which can split around the strike after decades of use. A reinforcement plate and long screws into the stud restore the frame so the deadbolt holds as it should.

You get a price on the phone once the job is described, and it is confirmed before work starts. For rekeying, it helps to count the exterior locks before you call, including garage entry and patio doors.

Newer homes are often quicker to work on, because the hardware usually comes from one maker and shares a keyway. Older houses with mixed brands, keypad locks that need resetting and extra doors add time. Business premises are quoted after a look at the doors.

Urgent calls at night or on weekends cost more than booked visits. If a problem can safely wait until morning, you will be told.