Rekeying & Lock Changes

Rekeying a cylinder means a technician disassembles the lock plug, replaces the internal pin tumblers with a new set, and reassembles everything so that only a freshly cut key will operate it. Every old key — including any copies you never accounted for — becomes permanently useless. This is the go-to move after a move-in, a breakup, a contractor finishing a job, or any situation where key control has been lost. Because the hardware itself stays in place, a rekey is typically completed quickly and without any damage to your door or frame. Our mobile technicians carry a wide assortment of replacement pins for the most common residential and commercial cylinder brands, so we rarely need to order parts.

A full lock change makes more sense when the existing hardware is worn, damaged, outdated, or simply not up to the security standard you want. Pre-war Brooklyn buildings are famous for their thick wooden doors and ornate ironwork, but those same doors often carry aging locksets that have been rekeyed so many times the cylinders are loose or the cam mechanism is failing. In those cases our team will recommend new hardware — whether that is a modern door knob lock set for a rental unit, a high-security deadbolt for a family home in Park Slope, or a multi-point mortise lock body for a commercial storefront — and install it damage-free where the existing door prep allows. We carry common lock prep sizes on every van so most jobs wrap up in a single visit.

The mortise lock is the defining hardware of Brooklyn's housing stock. Walk down almost any block in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Carroll Gardens, or Prospect Heights and you will find pre-war entry doors with deep mortise pockets cut into the door edge, housing a self-contained lock body that integrates a deadbolt, latch, and sometimes a secondary lock function all in one unit. These locks are exceptionally durable — some have been in service for 60 or 70 years — but rekeying or replacing them requires a skilled technician who understands the internal cam and lever geometry that mortise locks use instead of the simpler pin-tumbler mechanism found in cylindrical locks. Our team works on mortise lock cylinders and full mortise lock bodies from the most common manufacturers found in Brooklyn buildings, and we bring the specialty tools needed to extract, rekey, and reinstall the cylinder without disturbing the surrounding door finish or frame.

When a mortise lock cylinder is severely worn or when a building owner wants to upgrade the entire lock body, we can source and install replacement mortise hardware the same day in most cases. This is especially relevant for multi-unit landlords along Nostrand Avenue or property managers overseeing buildings near Prospect Park who need every unit rekeyed on turnover day. We handle single units and whole-building rekeying projects alike, showing up on schedule with the right parts so the job does not drag across multiple days. If you manage a property and need a reliable point of contact who answers at 3 a.m. when a tenant reports a key emergency, call 718-841-7602 — we answer 24/7 and dispatch immediately.

Emergencies rarely respect business hours. A tenant in Sunset Park discovers at midnight that their key snapped in the lock. A business owner on Fulton Street arrives at 6 a.m. to open up and finds the latch mechanism has failed overnight. A family returning home to East Flatbush realizes the spare key left with a now-estranged neighbor needs to be invalidated before morning. These are exactly the situations Brooklyn Atlantic 24 Hour Locksmith was built for. Our emergency locksmith response covers every corner of the borough around the clock — including nights, weekends, and holidays — with no after-hours service blackout window.

When you call during an emergency, the technician dispatched to you is the same trained, insured professional who handles our daytime appointments. There is no difference in skill level or equipment based on the hour. What may differ is one component of the final price, because time of day is one of the factors that goes into a quote — more on that below. What never changes is our commitment to confirming an exact price with you before any work begins, so you are never surprised by the final number. For urgent situations involving a mortise lock, a door knob lock, or any commercial lock hardware, call 718-841-7602 and we will get a technician moving toward your location right away.

Questions like 'How much does a locksmith cost in Brooklyn?' and 'How much do locksmiths charge on average?' are completely reasonable, and we want to answer them honestly rather than dodge them. The truthful answer is that a single flat price does not exist because every job involves different variables. The type of lock — a basic door knob lock cylinder costs less to rekey than a multi-lever mortise lock body — is the most significant factor. The number of locks being serviced at once matters too; rekeying all entry points in a multi-unit building is a different scope than rekeying one apartment door. Parts needed play a role: if new hardware is being installed rather than an existing cylinder rekeyed, the specific brand and security grade of that hardware affects the total. Time of day factors in because emergency overnight dispatch involves different logistics than a scheduled daytime appointment. Finally, travel distance within Brooklyn — whether we are heading to Gerritsen Beach or just around the corner from our nearest unit — can affect the quote.

What we will never do is quote you a vague range on the phone and then present a different number at the door. Before any technician touches your lock, they will confirm an exact up-front price based on a visual assessment of the hardware in front of them. You decide whether to proceed. There is no pressure and no hidden fee added after the work is done. Questions like 'How much should an emergency locksmith cost?' or 'How much does an emergency locksmith cost near me?' deserve a straight, specific answer — and that is exactly what you will get when you call 718-841-7602.

Brooklyn Atlantic 24 Hour Locksmith offers a comprehensive set of services for residential, commercial, and automotive clients throughout the borough. Our technicians perform residential cylinder rekeying, mortise lock cylinder rekeying, mortise lock body replacement, door knob lock installation and replacement, single-cylinder deadbolt installation, double-cylinder deadbolt installation, keypad and electronic lock installation, high-security lock upgrades, master key system setup for multi-unit buildings, building-wide rekey projects for property managers, lock repair for sticking or misaligned hardware, strike plate reinforcement, door knob lock repair, mailbox lock rekeying, gate lock replacement, storage unit lock changes, padlock rekeying and replacement, commercial locksmith services for storefronts and offices, commercial panic bar and exit device installation, commercial mortise lock service and replacement, access control consultation, automotive lockout response, car key cutting on-site, transponder key programming, key duplication for standard and restricted keyways, and safe unlocking and combination changes. Every one of these services is performed by mobile technicians who come directly to your location — no need to bring hardware to a shop or wait for a scheduled contractor window.