Lock Replacement in Sparks, NV

What older Sparks doors have been through

Sparks began as a railroad decision. The Southern Pacific moved its division point from Wadsworth, laid out the first tract next to its roundhouse, offered deeded lots of 50 by 140 feet for a token sum, and offered to move every Wadsworth house to the new town. The town's incorporation came on March 15, 1905, and it stayed small until the 1950s, when Reno's growth set off a housing boom north of the railroad.

Houses from those two eras have had decades to collect hardware. Doors in houses that old may have been refit more than once, so a replacement can meet a lock set into the door edge, a knob with a deadbolt added later, or filled holes from hardware long gone. Describe what is on the door now, not what it started with.

When replacing makes sense

• The latch no longer catches, or the deadbolt will not extend all the way
• The lock body is cracked, or a knob still wobbles after the screws are tightened
• You want levers instead of knobs, or a deadbolt on a door that has none
• Parts for an old mortise lock are no longer made
• Only the keys are the problem, in which case lock rekeying is the smaller job

Measure before you buy

Residential locks sold today usually expect a round bore hole about 2-1/8 inches across and a backset, the distance from the door edge to the center of that hole, of 2-3/8 or 2-3/4 inches. A door refit over decades often differs. Note these:

• Door thickness
• Backset and hole diameter
• Whether the latch plate has square or rounded corners
• Whether the existing lock is a mortise box rather than a round cylinder

A lock that fits the existing holes avoids patching. Where nothing standard fits, the door may need a reinforcing plate or new wood, which is worth knowing before the old lock comes off.

What to send

Photos of both faces of the lock and of the door edge, the neighborhood or the house's rough age, and whether the door is wood, steel or fiberglass. If the lock only sticks, lock repair may be enough. Lock replacement describes the service in general, and Sparks covers the city.