Broken Key Extraction in Lansing, MI

Where keys break in Lansing

A key rarely snaps on its first hard turn. It fatigues over months until the blade gives way at the shoulder. Design Lansing found that 51% of the city's housing was built before 1960, with the oldest homes in the northwest quadrant. Cylinders from that period that are still on a door carry decades of wear in the pins and keyway, and a worn key in a worn lock takes extra twist that can snap it.

Places where the strain builds up:

• Shared front doors. Some early-20th-century Four-squares and Queen Annes on three sides of downtown are now multifamily houses, and one front-door cylinder may serve every household. More hands and more turns on one lock means more wear.
• Mailbox locks. Apartment mailbox keys are small and thin and bend easily. Ask the building manager who is responsible for the box before any work starts.
• Winter mornings. NOAA describes cold winters across Michigan. A key that turns stiffly on a cold morning is a signal to stop, not to twist harder.

What not to do

• Do not keep using the lock. Pushing in another key or turning the cylinder can drive the fragment deeper.
• Do not put glue on the broken half or push a toothpick into the keyway. Anything that sets inside a cylinder can ruin it.
• Do not pry at the fragment with a knife or small screwdriver, which scars the keyway and can bend the pins.
• If the key broke with the door locked and there is no other way in, treat it as a house lockout.

Photos and details to send

• A close photo of the keyway with the fragment in it, and the broken half of the key if you have it.
• Which lock it is: front door, back door, shared entry, mailbox, garage or padlock.
• Whether the lock is stuck in the locked or the unlocked position.
• Whether a spare key exists. With no spare, a new key will need to be cut, or the cylinder rekeyed.
• For a shared door, the owner's or manager's approval.

The broken key extraction page covers the service, and the Lansing page has more on the city's older housing.