Lock Repair in Rio Rancho, NM

What dry air and dust do to locks

According to the Western Regional Climate Center, New Mexico's climate is arid or semiarid, and warm-season afternoons often see humidity under 20 percent. Spring brings wind, and blowing dust can be a problem in dry spells. That reaches a lock in two ways: dust gets into it, and dry air changes the door around it.

Grit in the lock

Schlage's service manual for its A-Series locks cautions that grease inside a lock can pick up contamination in dirty or dusty places and begin to drag. For the cylinder, it recommends only graphite or a similar material, blown into the keyway in small amounts. The city's 2010 comprehensive plan notes that older platted lots got only a roughly graded dirt access road, and a house or gate on one of those roads may see more dust than one on pavement.

Doors that move

The USDA Forest Products Laboratory's Wood Handbook explains that wood takes on and gives up moisture with the surrounding air, and shrinks as it dries. In a dry climate, a wood door or frame can shift until the deadbolt stops meeting its strike plate squarely. If you must push or lift the door to throw the bolt, the fix is usually to move or file the strike, not to replace the lock.

Simple upkeep

• Puff a little graphite into a stiff keyway instead of oil or grease, which hold dust.
• Tighten loose handle, hinge and strike screws before they strip.
• After a summer storm, work outdoor gate and shed locks a few times so they do not sit wet and stiff.
• Never force a key that binds. A twisted key can snap, and then the job becomes broken key extraction.

Describing the problem

1. The symptom: key stiff, bolt drags, latch will not catch, handle loose.
2. Which door, and whether it changes with the season or time of day.
3. The brand, if visible, and photos of the door edge and strike plate.

A lock that is past repair moves on to lock replacement. The wider service is on the lock repair page, and the city is on the Rio Rancho page.