Broken Key Extraction in Newark, NJ

Where keys snap in Newark

A key usually breaks where it is turned most often or turned against resistance, and Newark's housing offers a few such places.

• Tower lobbies. On Elizabeth Avenue in Weequahic, 440 Elizabeth Avenue rises 25 stories and Zion Towers holds 268 apartments. Where a lobby door uses a keyed cylinder, a building that size puts far more turns on it than a house lock gets, and a key already bent or cracked from years on a ring can give way there.
• Shared Ironbound front doors. Where a two- or three-family house has one street door for every household, a key stuck in it blocks them all at once. Say that it is a shared entry, and tell the owner.
• Original hardware in Forest Hill. Where a door in one of Forest Hill's stately homes still carries its old hardware, the cylinder may be worn, and a key that has started to stick is a warning to stop turning it.
• Cold mornings. In a moderately cold New Jersey winter, meltwater can turn to ice inside an exterior cylinder overnight, and a key forced against that ice can snap at the shoulder.

What not to do

• Do not put glue in the keyway or push a second key in beside the fragment.
• Do not keep turning or pushing the fragment, even on a shared door that neighbors are waiting to use; it can slide deeper into the pins.
• Do not spray oil into the keyway. It collects grit and makes extraction messier.
• Do not use a flame or boiling water on a frozen lock with a fragment inside.

What to send with your request

1. A close photo of the keyway showing whether any of the broken piece sticks out.
2. A photo of the other half of the key, which shows the cuts.
3. Which lock it is: tower lobby, street door, apartment door, mailbox or car door.
4. Whether the door is locked or unlocked right now, and whether anyone holds a spare.

If the key broke in a car door or ignition, car key replacement may follow the extraction. Broader service details are on the broken key extraction page, with local notes on the Newark page.