There’s a lot involved with buying a home, from choosing a lender and deciding on a down payment to filling out a plethora of paperwork and coordinating all of the logistics involved with moving. (Plus all the additional steps you need to take if you’re selling a home as well.)
Once you’ve bought and closed on a new home, however, installing high-quality door locks should be one of your biggest priorities. Let’s take a look at why builder’s grade locks aren’t good enough and why hiring a locksmith is a smarter choice.
Door Locks: Your Biggest Priority
A door lock install isn’t one of the first things you might think about when it comes to new homes, but it should be a priority. Why? For starters, whoever sold your home had access to your house and the keys for its locks. While they may be trustworthy, you never know who might have had an opportunity to duplicate your house keys. Not knowing how many keys to your home are out there can ruin your peace of mind and put you at a security risk.
So, after you buy a new home, take an inventory of all the locks you need to replace or rekey and start the process for changing them.
Builder’s Grade Locks vs. High-Security Locks
There are various federal and state guidelines for home builders and locks are part of them. But when you present a minimum requirement to a company trying to save as much money as possible, what should you expect? A solution that meets the minimum requirement. Builder’s grade locks tend to only have basic security features and are often rated Grade 3, the least secure among the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) grades for lock security.
A professional locksmith, on the other hand, can perform a door lock install with high-security locks that are more of a deterrent to would-be intruders. Not only can a locksmith provide a lock that is better built on the back end and has a Grade 1 rating on the ANSI scale, they can give you extra options like keypad entry.
When Rekeying Makes Sense
You don’t always have to completely replace the locks in your new home, however. Sometimes all you need is a residential rekeying service. Rekeying your locks can save you time and money while still rendering all existing keys for your lock useless. Other benefits of rekeying include the ability to use one key for all locks and leveraging existing hardware. While new locks come with a better warranty and are an opportunity to upgrade the hardware, rekeying may make sense for some new homeowners.
If you just bought a new home and are in need of a door lock install or rekeying service, give the A-1 Locksmith team a call today at (972) 284-7500.
