Broken Key Extraction in Frederick, MD

Where keys snap in Frederick homes

A key rarely breaks on the day it fails. It weakens through months of hard turns, then gives way on an ordinary one, and Frederick's housing shows where that wear builds up.

• Shared entrances. City guidelines count multi-family buildings among the housing in the Frederick Town Historic District. In a multi-unit building the main entry may sit under the owner's or manager's control, and a cylinder used all day can grip keys unevenly.
• Copies of copies. In a rental, keys pass through tenants, landlords and several rounds of copying, and a duplicate cut from a duplicate binds sooner.
• Early doors. Row houses and twin dwellings in the historic core, and homes in neighborhoods built from the early 1900s to the 1960s, may have cylinders with decades of grit inside.
• Iced cylinders. A key forced against a frozen cylinder can snap. Use lock de-icer and let the cylinder warm; never lever the key.

What not to do

• Do not push the broken piece back in or grip it with pliers, which can drive it deeper or jam the pins.
• Do not use glue or other adhesives. Glue in a cylinder often turns an extraction into a replacement.
• Do not keep working the lock while a stub sticks out.
• Keep the broken half. Its cuts help in making a new key.

If the lock is a shared building door or a mailbox, tell the landlord or property manager first, since it may not be yours to have worked on.

What to send

1. Which lock: unit door, building entry, mailbox, deadbolt or knob.
2. Whether the key broke with the door locked or unlocked, and whether you are shut out; if so, see house lockout.
3. A photo of the keyway and the broken piece.
4. The building type, and whether it is in the historic district.

The service is described on the broken key extraction page, and city notes are on the Frederick page.