Knowing this particular mall and their policies of not working on the doors during mall hours 9:00 AM - 10 PM I decided to arrive at 8:30 but unfortunately nobody else decided to do the same. I had a look at the doors, they are hand fabricated out of steel and have an industrial look in fitting with the design of the store. Schlage C mortise cylinders and the doors have continuous piano hinges.
A manager arrives at 8:45 so I set about rekeying the Detex V40 and alarmed Von Duprin 99 on the interior and rear door. I return from my truck and hear a commotion in Spanish up front along with hammer blows on steel. I walk up to the front of the store expecting to see them removing the piano hinges to remove the doors. Instead they are lying on the floor smacking the door near the inside thumbturn with a 2 pound sledge! I stop them and ask what is going on and they point to the hinges which are welded on!
These doors aren't coming down. So I inspect the lock that they are beating on and discover there are two bolts that once removed alow the lock to be removed for service ... but only after the outside cylinder is removed!
So there has to be a way to remove the outside cylinder. So I look on the edge of the door and sure enough there are tow plastic hole plugs filling 1/4" holes.
Why the other locksmiths didn't see these I don't know. So I pop one out and shine a light inside but I can't see a thing, but I make the assumption that they are there to access set screws. Time has run out, the mall opens in 2 minutes. So I call the locksmith in New Jersey and explain the situation. He has to call the corporate office for the store in California when they open and get approval for my quote of $450 to return in the evening and remove and rekey the 4 front door cylinders. A couple of hours later and he calls with approval of the $450 and instructions to arrive at 9PM. Fortunately the mall is about 1/4 mile from my house!
I arrive at 9PM on the dot armed with my safe scope and a long reach 2mm hex wrench. Pop the plugs out, insert the scope which I am really using just for the light and bingo a set screw staring back at me.
A few minutes later I have all 4 cylinders out.
By 9:45 PM I am all done and back home. So the day that started out bad turned out nicely in the end.
