Broken Key Extraction in Owensboro, KY

Where keys snap in Owensboro

A key usually breaks when it is forced: turned against a bolt that binds, twisted in a worn cylinder or used as a handle to pull a sticking door shut. Three settings around Owensboro make that more likely.

• Shared locks in small buildings. The housing study in the city's Monarch plan found that most Owensboro rentals are houses, duplexes, small buildings or mobile homes rather than large complexes. In a small building, one street door or mailbox lock may serve several households every day, and the wear shows in the cylinder. If a key breaks in a shared lock, tell the owner or manager, because your neighbors cannot use it either.
• Swollen doors. NOAA describes Kentucky summers as warm to hot and humid, and a wood door can swell until the deadbolt drags on the strike. Adjusting the strike is safer than leaning on the key; lock repair covers that kind of fix.
• Worn copies. Keys that pass from one tenant to the next are often copies of copies. They fit loosely and catch on the pins.

What not to do

• Do not keep turning, and do not push the broken piece further in.
• Do not put glue on the fragment or into the keyway. Glue can seal the pins and turn a small job into a lock replacement.
• Do not try a spare key in that lock until the piece is out.
• If the piece sits flush or does not move easily, stop and leave it for the locksmith.

Photos and details to send

• A close-up photo of the keyway and a photo of the broken half
• Whether the door is locked or unlocked, and whether the key broke while turned
• The kind of lock: house deadbolt, knob, shared building door, mailbox or padlock
• For a shared door or mailbox, the building's address and who manages it

If the break has left you outside, see house lockout. The general page for this work is broken key extraction; Owensboro has the housing study behind the shared-lock point.