Lock Repair in Greenville, SC

Repair first on Greenville's historic doors

The city's Design Guidelines for Preservation Overlay Districts say historic door hardware should be maintained, and that damaged or non-working hardware can be repaired or replaced. Routine maintenance generally does not call for a Certificate of Appropriateness unless it would alter the exterior, so fixing what is already on an original door is usually the simpler path. This is general information, not legal advice.

That applies in Heritage, about 126 structures in the West Park area northwest of downtown where the bungalow is the most prominent style, and in Hampton-Pinckney, which in 1977 became Greenville's first locally designated preservation overlay district. Springs, latch bolts and cylinder pins tend to wear out long before a lock case does, and those parts can often be serviced without removing the whole lock.

What wears a lock in an old house

Wood doors swell in damp air and shrink as it dries, so a latch that met its strike cleanly in one season can drag in the next. A deadbolt that has to be pushed or lifted into place is often a door problem: the strike has drifted out of line with the bolt. Old lubricant also gums up, and dirt builds in the keyway.

Signs a repair is due:

• a key that turns only after jiggling
• a latch that catches only when the door is slammed
• a loose or drooping knob or lever

Upkeep that fits the guidelines

Powdered graphite or a lubricant made for lock cylinders keeps pins moving; oily household sprays gather grit. Tighten loose screws on handles and strike plates before they strip the wood. The guidelines ask that storm and screen doors be plain, so a sticking storm-door latch is a repair, not a chance to change the look. Where a door has glass, they ask that it stay; if security is a worry, they point to wire glass, tempered glass or light metal bars on the inside face.

What to include

• the neighborhood and whether the door is original
• what the lock does wrong, and whether it changes with the weather
• a photo of the lock and its strike plate

If a part can't be serviced, lock replacement is the next step; the Greenville page has more on Heritage and Hampton-Pinckney.