day in the life of a locksmith

by **billdeserthills** » 23 Sep 2016 22:17

mseifert wrote:
billdeserthills wrote:I just got back from an interesting job, Guest house door-- deadbolt refused to unlatch& the knob latch was really hard to turn more than halfway. Both locks were the older Kwikset Titan variety, so I made a rekeying tool and tried to pull the deadbolt cylinder out, unfortunately it refused to turn that far, so I popped the face off and driiled the deadbolt mounting screws, which refused to unscrew, because everything was rusted into position, because of a leaky toilet valve--When I opened the door the humidity & smell hit me like a wave & I saw the walls were covered in black mold. I wound up drilling the heads off the mounting screws and replacing his deadbolt with a new one, as well as a new latch in the knobset. When I got finished, the door wouldn't close, because it was so engorged with water& as I was leaving the wife asked "Could that be the reason I couldn't open that door two months ago?" Duh, OK

This was like the 5th time I had to open a door that had a big water leak behind it, and finding all that black mold on the walls--Really makes ya think to watch guys in chemical suits with respirators come and clean all that stuff up & know that I just went in there and breathed that air without any suit or respirator...

I would definitely be concerned about the black mold issue ..

I honestly cannot recall ever becoming ill, after opening a door into a jungle's worth of black mold before. I remember the first one, back then
the insurance company didn't have a rider on the decontamination of the home--Those guys in the suits don't come cheap- I bet and they can't work for long in the suit either

by **Tyler J. Thomas** » 24 Sep 2016 18:53

Managed to get some off:

Here's the door. Check out the crease.

Resetting the frame.

End result with the door sweep at the top. Haha.

From the push/pull install today. Figured I'd share a tip I learned many years ago. I like jigs and use one myself but I find myself free handing most installs. I saw a guy online using painters tape to mark the door for drilling and I've used the idea ever sense. I keep a combination and rafter square in my bag at all times and, with a bit of basic math, can mark the drill points from a template better and faster than using the template itself. I actually dislike templates in boxes anyways.

So for this install, there was no reference point to the edge of the door because this set is sold in multiple back sets. The template itself called for the reference point to be the center of the cross bore from the edge of the door and from the middle of the 2 1/8 hole itself. Once I had those points marked, I took the measurement from those known points to the through bolt holes itself. Drilled through them with a 1/8" bit and then used the 5/16" bit from each side.

Install itself took about 30 minutes (and that included the time to put on the gown, caps, booties, etc.). I know a lot of guys will poo poo this method but hey, I've never had a complaint about how my installs turn out and for hardware with flat spots I can throw on a level when done and it'll be perfect the first time I tighten the screws down.

The guy I learned it from was using it for fresh installs of mortise locks and the like on high end residential doors. He was a true professional and it impressed me enough to steal the idea and use it.

by **billdeserthills** » 25 Sep 2016 5:21

I hope the problem isn't being caused by a lack of support, from underneath that trailer--
I hate modulars, that clump, clump noise as you walk inside them bothers me

by **billdeserthills** » 27 Sep 2016 22:46

I had a Hoppe multi-point profile lock today--When I got up close I noticed the when turning the t-turn in the unlock direction, it never stopped turning, just made a loud click noise, then I noticed the deadbolt portion was cocked slightly, so I started trying to pull the bolt back--It starting moving too, after I drilled a little hole in it for the ice pick to press against-
once the bolt was back most of the way I pressed down on the lever and the other bolts withdrew- I carry a couple single point hoppe profile locks for just this problem, so the client has a working door while we wait a month+ for the new replacement lock whole thing took under an hour and was an interesting job too

The lady told me that yesterday the realtor's lock guy spent the whole day tapping around the door with a little deadblow hammer, but he never did get the door open
--Suxs to be that guy :shock:

by **shutterstuff** » 27 Sep 2016 22:59

billdeserthills wrote:I had a Hoppe multi-point profile lock today--When I got up close I noticed the when turning the t-turn in the unlock direction, it never stopped turning, just made a loud click noise, then I noticed the deadbolt portion was cocked slightly, so I started trying to pull the bolt back--It starting moving too, after I drilled a little hole in it for the ice pick to press against-
once the bolt was back most of the way I pressed down on the lever and the other bolts withdrew- I carry a couple single point hoppe profile locks for just this problem, so the client has a working door while we wait a month+ for the new replacement lock whole thing took under an hour and was an interesting job too

The lady told me that yesterday the realtor's lock guy spent the whole day tapping around the door with a little deadblow hammer, but he never did get the door open
--Suxs to be that guy

I had one of those damaged from user error. The key cylinder was twisted so hard the tail piece was no longer engaged. Replaced that and instructed the owner on how to lock and unlock the door. It turns out they had just purchased the home and the agent said another locksmith came to try and fix it... The new owners were referred to me by a friend instead of buying a new door as the other guy said they needed.

by **Tyler J. Thomas** » 28 Sep 2016 20:33

billdeserthills wrote:The lady told me that yesterday the realtor's lock guy spent the whole day tapping around the door with a little deadblow hammer, but he never did get the door open
--Suxs to be that guy

So they have uses other than unsticking stuck solenoids? Fancy that!

by **billdeserthills** » 29 Sep 2016 20:19

Tyler J. Thomas wrote:
billdeserthills wrote:The lady told me that yesterday the realtor's lock guy spent the whole day tapping around the door with a little deadblow hammer, but he never did get the door open
--Suxs to be that guy

So they have uses other than unsticking stuck solenoids? Fancy that!

Looks like he is a 'zen locksmith' and the real problem is the lock didn't really want to open

by **C locked** » 30 Sep 2016 4:26

Zen locksmith
A fancy term for a glazier?

by **Tyler J. Thomas** » 12 Oct 2016 19:31

My new toy. Expensive, but worth every dollar.

I'm going to slowly start buying any Major jig that can be used on hardware we sell, service, etc. This is my second and I'm always impressed.

by **Tyler J. Thomas** » 23 Oct 2016 10:06

A lot of little, mundane jobs lately. Seems like I've been doing a ton of storefront work. Anyways, got to do another one of those trailer jobs. This time was a fresh install of a frame. These new frames are steel and are a bit better but the mounting screws are still all on one side. I ended up countersinking about 4 additional screws in the soffit just to hold in the shims (the newer frames leave 1/2" clearance between the studs - a real mess).

Also saw this recently. A pretty ingenious dogging solution.

by **cledry** » 23 Oct 2016 13:57

Tyler J. Thomas wrote:My new toy. Expensive, but worth every dollar.

I'm going to slowly start buying any Major jig that can be used on hardware we sell, service, etc. This is my second and I'm always impressed.

I have a few of that jig. I also have most of their other jigs as well as Security lock storefront and electric strike jig. Another one that is handy is a jig for cross-boring doors. We also have the jigs for installing the LKM7003 and CDX10 locks.

by **Tyler J. Thomas** » 23 Oct 2016 15:10

I've got a crossbore jig but it's made by A-1. I eventually want to buy the Major crossbore jig but it's $1k. Comes with literally everything though, including strike mortise tools.

by **billdeserthills** » 23 Oct 2016 15:21

Tyler J. Thomas wrote:I've got a crossbore jig but it's made by A-1. I eventually want to buy the Major crossbore jig but it's $1k. Comes with literally everything though, including strike mortise tools.

I use a thing called 'measure twice, cut once' that has never failed me, I have never been so busy that I couldn't take the time to measure twice and I don't want to be either

by **shutterstuff** » 23 Oct 2016 15:43

billdeserthills wrote:
Tyler J. Thomas wrote:I've got a crossbore jig but it's made by A-1. I eventually want to buy the Major crossbore jig but it's $1k. Comes with literally everything though, including strike mortise tools.

I use a thing called 'measure twice, cut once' that has never failed me, I have never been so busy that I couldn't take the time to measure twice and I don't want to be either

Bill, I do that method every day. But a couple months ago I sure wish I had the jig when I upgraded 37 locksets for a church...

by **cledry** » 23 Oct 2016 15:58

billdeserthills wrote:
Tyler J. Thomas wrote:I've got a crossbore jig but it's made by A-1. I eventually want to buy the Major crossbore jig but it's $1k. Comes with literally everything though, including strike mortise tools.

I use a thing called 'measure twice, cut once' that has never failed me, I have never been so busy that I couldn't take the time to measure twice and I don't want to be either

If you work on fire doors and want to meet NFPA 80 code you must use a calibrated jig. We use the 7000-IDF from SDC. Sometimes even when you measure correctly other factors can cause issues when coring a door, different material densities, internal ribs, not to mention flex of the drill bit on a 4 foot long bit. 2 jobs and the jig is free.