Lock Replacement in Buffalo, NY

When replacing beats repairing

Replacement fits when a lock body is cracked, a deadbolt no longer throws its full length, parts are no longer made, or you want something the old lock cannot do, such as a deadbolt on a door that only has a knob lock. If the lock works and only the keys are the problem, rekeying is the smaller job. If it works but sticks, ask about lock repair first.

Older doors are where replacement gets complicated. In the Census Bureau's 2024 American Community Survey, the median home in New York was built in 1959, against 1981 nationally. Doors that old often carry hardware that has been painted over, patched, or fitted into holes cut for a lock that is no longer sold.

Allentown's historic doors

Allentown, the first neighborhood north of downtown, is centered on Allen Street and Elmwood Avenue. Its National Register historic district, listed in 1980, includes Italianate, Queen Anne and Shingle style houses, and a 2012 expansion added roughly 320 properties. Doors from those eras were often built for mortise locks, a rectangular lock body set into a pocket cut in the door edge, rather than the round bored locks common today. A new mortise lock keeps the original door intact. Converting to a bored lock means drilling new holes and filling the old pocket, which is hard to undo, so decide before anything is cut.

Broadway-Fillmore cottages

The city's survey describes Broadway-Fillmore as frame workers' cottages, often with additions built onto the back. An addition's rear door may have been hung at a different time from the front door, with different hardware and a different key. Replacement is a chance to put both doors on one key and bring the weaker lock up to match the stronger.

Before you ask for a replacement

Photograph each lock from inside and outside, plus the door edge. Note the door's thickness, the backset (the distance from the door edge to the center of the knob or cylinder) and whether a storm door sits in front. Say how many doors are involved and whether they should share a key. The lock replacement page describes the service; the Buffalo page covers local housing types.