Broken Key Extraction in Las Vegas, NV

Where keys give out in Las Vegas

By the Census Bureau's 2020 to 2024 estimates, the median Clark County home dates from 1998, so an original cylinder may have taken nearly three decades of daily use. A key copied from an already worn key inherits that wear, and a worn key is the one most likely to snap.

Grit adds friction. Occasional dust or sand storms mostly hit the south in spring, per the Western Regional Climate Center, and grit in a keyway makes a key harder to turn. Forcing a key through a stiff lock is a common way to break it, so a key that has started to catch is a warning worth heeding.

Large buildings add shared locks. Buildings of 50 or more units hold about 8.6 percent of Clark County homes, and a resident of one may use a building entry or a gate as often as a unit door. A shared entry or gate lock may belong to the property rather than to you, so tell the leasing office before anyone works on it.

What not to do

• Do not pull at the piece with pliers or try to force the other half back in.
• Do not glue the halves together or put glue near the keyway.
• Do not push the fragment deeper with improvised tools.
• Do keep both pieces of the key, because they show the cut and the key type.

What to send

• which lock it is: front door, unit door, building entry, gate, padlock or a car
• whether part of the key still sticks out of the lock
• a photo of the keyway and of the broken pieces
• the lock brand, if you can see it
• whether you rent or own, plus the address or cross streets and how a gate opens

Once the fragment is out, a worn cylinder may point to lock repair or lock replacement. The broken key extraction page covers the service, and the Las Vegas page has neighborhood notes.