Lock Replacement in Los Angeles, CA

New hardware, old doors

Replacing a lock in Los Angeles can mean fitting modern hardware into a door that is decades, even a century, old.

• Angelino Heights. It became the city's first Historic Preservation Overlay Zone in 1983, and its 1300 block of Carroll Avenue has the city's highest concentration of 19th-century Victorian homes. Older doors like these may be cut for a mortise lock, whose body sits in a pocket in the door edge that a replacement has to fit.
• Stonehurst. This Sun Valley neighborhood has 92 homes, many of them built of river rock from 1923 to 1925, so any original door hardware is about a century old.

Review before you replace

The city's 35 overlay zones get additional City Planning review for all exterior work, including alterations. Check with City Planning before replacing an exterior door in one. If one part of a lock has failed, lock repair may keep it in service.

Security standards to check against

Chapter 67 of the Los Angeles Building Code sets minimum security standards for openings. Under Section 6709.2, a single swinging door in a residential building needs a deadbolt and a deadlocking latch, with key operation from outside and no key needed to open from inside. The deadbolt needs hardened inserts, and a straight deadbolt needs a 1-inch throw.

For rentals, California Civil Code § 1941.3 requires the landlord to install and maintain an operable dead bolt on each main swinging entry door, extending at least 13/16 inch beyond the strike edge into the jamb. Existing dead bolts of at least a half inch qualify, and certain older thumb-turn locks qualify only until they first need repair or replacement. This is general information, not legal advice.

Photos and details to send

1. Photos of the door edge with the door open, showing the lock body or latch plate, and of the outside face.
2. Whether the door is original and whether the house is in an overlay zone.
3. What the new lock should do: match your other keys, add a deadbolt where there is only a latch, or leave room for a smart lock later.

For the service, see lock replacement; for neighborhood background, see Los Angeles.