Another lock, stock, and barrel

In our second blog post ever, we told you how one of the first things we did after buying this home was to have a locksmith come change our locks. We always felt like we'd been ripped off but at that time - due to the speed we wanted the fix AND our complete inexperience - we didn't have another choice. We talked, afterwards, about improving the lock situation, but to some extent, held to the idea of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Well, five and a half years later, it broke.

Or, more precisely, someone broke in.

We might get into more details in a future post, but for now, suffice it to say that because one thing that was stolen was a house key, we yet again were in a situation where we had to act fast. But we had learned our lesson. We were going to do it ourselves.

We already knew what we wanted, having talked about it previously. Kwikset makes a lock system called SmartKey that can be rekeyed in an instant. We'd already installed a few door knobs to know we were up to the task. D headed to Home Depot practically right after the police were done writing up the report.

As noted back in 2009, we have A LOT of locks. The first night, we just focused on replacing all the deadbolts, so that we could sleep soundly. It took a few more days to replace the rest (and even longer given that one of the boxes was defective and the included keys did not, in fact, go with the lock in the box).

Installation was pretty straightforward but involved occasionally having to drill out the hole a little wider. Otherwise the bolt went in, the knob went around it, and the whole thing was screwed together.

Bonus upgrade - now all our door fixtures match in brushed nickel - here's a new bolt and an old knob. Well, most of them match at least - we didn't bother replacing the strike plates because they're invisible when the door is closed and most were so painted-over that removing them would have damaged the paint. We figured we would switch them out if/when we ever repaint the doors.

We rekeyed everything when we were all done, so that they would all match (well, we tested it first, of course). It was indeed as simple as we hoped.

It involves inserting a special dummy key into the lock along with the original key, and then the new key. And that was it. So since we have a lot of extra keys after buying so many sets of locks, we can now easily rekey anytime we must, without calling a locksmith.

Even better, in terms of a bonus win? The door between the kitchen and the breezeway finally swings closed now! The old lock wasn't set right, and so the door would bounce off the frame, rather than glide smoothly into the strike plate. Now it closes without having to turn the knob! This was a huge annoyance for us in grilling seasons, when we used the door constantly but needed to close it behind us to keep the cats from escaping.

So sort of a blessing in disguise....sort of...