Broken Key Extraction in Albuquerque, NM

Where keys get stressed in Albuquerque

A key snaps when it is forced against a lock that resists, and local housing offers a few reasons for that resistance.

• Older cylinders. Census Bureau estimates for 2024 put 35.2 percent of Albuquerque's homes in the 1970s and 1980s, and a cylinder that has gone decades without service can start to bind on a key that always worked. An original lock in a Huning Highlands house, built between the 1880s and the 1920s, may be older still.
• Copies of copies. Renters make up 37.5 percent of Albuquerque households, so keys for rentals and shared doors can be cut from earlier copies, and each generation fits a little worse.

Shared building entrances

In an apartment building or a multi-tenant office, the entrance lock may belong to the property, not to you. Tell the manager before any work starts. They may want to handle or approve it, and they may hold a key that gets you in meanwhile.

What not to do

• Don't push the other half, a second key or any tool into the keyway; that can drive the fragment deeper.
• Don't glue the pieces together inside the lock.
• Don't spray lubricant into the keyway, where it can gum up the pins around the fragment.
• Don't keep turning if the stub stopped partway. Note which way it was turning.
• Keep both pieces. The head may show a brand or a key number.

What to send with a request

• a clear photo of the keyway with the broken piece in it, and one of the key's head
• the kind of lock: house door, apartment door, building entrance or padlock
• whether the lock was locked or unlocked when the key broke, and whether you can get in another way
• the cross streets nearest the building, and its neighborhood

The broken key extraction page covers the service and the Albuquerque page the city. If the break has shut you out, see house lockout; a lock that keeps grabbing keys may need lock repair.