Lock Replacement in Boise, ID

When replacement makes sense

Replacement fits when the lock itself is the problem: a worn cylinder, a latch that no longer catches, damage from a forced entry, or a door with only a knob lock. If the hardware works and only the key history worries you, lock rekeying keeps the existing lock.

Boise grew in waves: Census estimates date 18.1 percent of the city's homes to the 1970s and 19.5 percent to the 1990s.

Hardware by neighborhood

• Warm Springs Avenue and the East End. Wealthy miners and businessmen built some of the city's largest homes here around the turn of the 20th century. A door of that age may hold a mortise lock, set into a pocket in the door edge, so a new lock must fit that pocket or have it adapted.
• The Bench. It lies generally between Federal Way and Cole Road, about 60 feet above downtown, and its older areas include Central Rim, Morris Hill and Depot Bench. Check whether each exterior door in an older house there has a separate deadbolt; a knob lock alone is a reason to replace.
• 1970s and 1990s houses. These doors usually take standard bored locksets, so the job is mostly matching backset and thickness. It is a natural point to add a deadbolt, change the finish or move to a smart lock.

Historic districts: check before changing the door

Six of Boise's ten historic districts are residential: East End, East Main Street, Harrison Boulevard, Hays Street, North End and Warm Springs Avenue. The city says most exterior changes in them need a Certificate of Appropriateness, and its project list includes replacing windows. If a lock job reaches the door itself, such as replacing an original door or window, ask the city's preservation staff before ordering. This is general information, not legal advice.

Measurements to send

Send photos of both faces of the lock and of the door edge, the door thickness, and the distance from the door edge to the center of the knob or deadbolt. Say whether the house sits in a historic district and how many locks should share one key. The Boise page adds neighborhood detail, and lock repair may be enough when parts still work.