Where keys snap in Rochester

A key breaks where it is turned most or against the most resistance. In Rochester that points to three places:

Shared front doors. In two- to four-family houses, every household uses the same entry cylinder, so it sees more turns than any single unit door behind it.
Old cylinders. About 90 percent of the city's housing is older than 1978, according to the 2022 City housing task force report. Worn pins and dried grease make a key work harder, and the key is the weaker part.
Iced keyways. The state's climate report notes that wind-driven snow and meltwater can work into exterior keyways and refreeze, so a key that will not turn may be iced rather than broken. Forcing it can snap the key.

What not to do

Do not keep turning or rocking a key that has stopped moving.
Do not push the broken half back in to force the lock, and never put glue in a keyway.
Do not dig at the fragment with a pin, nail or knife; that tends to push it deeper and scar the cylinder.
On a shared entry, tell the owner and the other households so nobody jams a key in beside the fragment.

A clear photo of the keyway with the fragment in it, and of the broken-off half.
Which lock it is: building entry, unit door, mailbox or storage.
Whether the door is locked or unlocked, and whether you can still get in another way.
Whether you have a spare key. If not, a new key may need to be cut, and a damaged cylinder may need lock repair.

If you are shut out while the fragment is stuck, see house lockout. For the service, see broken key extraction; for the housing behind the figures above, see Rochester.

At the door

Removing a key that has snapped off or become stuck in a lock, then checking the lock and providing a new key where possible.

ID and proof you may access the property are checked before any work.

Public records and references this page draws on. They are outside USA Locksmith Pros and open in a new tab.