Lock Replacement in Meridian, ID

Two housing stocks, two kinds of job

Most of Meridian is recent: by the 2024 Census estimates, 75.1 percent of its homes are in buildings from 2000 or later, the newest of the four Idaho cities covered here. In Idaho Falls, 27.8 percent of homes were built before 1960. Old Town, which the comprehensive plan calls the historic downtown, is the exception, and the plan expects its existing buildings to be reused.

That split shapes what a replacement involves:

• Post-2000 subdivisions. Residential doors from the last two decades are generally drilled to standard sizes, so a new deadbolt or handle set usually fits the existing holes. The reasons to replace are wear on a busy entry, damage after a forced entry, or wanting a heavier deadbolt or a different finish.
• Reused buildings in Old Town. A door that has been rehung or fitted with several generations of hardware may have filled holes, an odd bore or a mortise pocket cut into its edge. Many off-the-shelf locks will not fit without extra work.
• Mobile homes. Idaho has about 54,000, or 6.5 percent of its homes. Measure the door and the existing lock set before ordering hardware.

What to measure

• Backset: door edge to the center of the round hole, commonly 2 3/8 or 2 3/4 inches on houses.
• Bore and thickness: the diameter of that hole and the thickness of the door.
• Faceplate and strike: the shape of the plate on the door edge and where the strike sits on the frame.
• Handing: which way the door swings, which matters for levers.

Clear photos of the door edge and both faces help more than a description.

Replace, repair or rekey

If a lock has turned stiffly for a long time, check whether the door is dragging or the bolt is hitting the strike before replacing it; lock repair may fix the cause. When the hardware is sound and only the keys are in doubt, rekeying is the smaller job. In a rental or a shared entry, get the owner's or manager's approval first. Details for houses and businesses are on the lock replacement page, and the Meridian page covers the city.