Broken Key Extraction in Chattanooga, TN

Where keys snap in Chattanooga

A key breaks when it is forced: turned against a binding latch, pushed into an iced keyway, or copied so many times from copies that it no longer fits the pins cleanly. A few local settings make that more likely.

• Shared doors in divided houses. Where a St. Elmo house was split into apartments in the Depression or wartime years, the entrance may serve several households. An outer door that everyone uses, and any shared mailbox lock, takes far more turns than a single-family front door, and the wear shows in the cylinder first.
• Original locks in Fort Wood. Fort Wood's design guidelines steer owners toward keeping their original locks, so old cylinders stay in service. One with worn pins, paired with a key cut from a worn copy, is a setup where a key can twist and shear.
• Ice. In February 1994, 5 to 8 inches of rain fell in some parts of Tennessee, much of it turning to ice. A key forced into an iced-over lock can snap at the bow. Use a lock de-icer instead of hot water, which can turn to ice again inside the cylinder.

What not to try

• Do not keep turning the stub or push it deeper with the rest of the key.
• Do not put glue on a key fragment to pull it out; glue left in the keyway can ruin the cylinder.
• Do not spray oil into the keyway, which can carry grit and the fragment further in.
• If the door is locked and you are outside, treat it as a lockout and say so in the request.

What to photograph and send

Say which lock it is (unit door, shared entry, deadbolt or mailbox), whether the door is locked or unlocked, and whether any of the key sticks out of the keyway. Photograph the keyway and the piece you still hold, and keep that piece: it shows how the key was cut. Include the neighborhood and cross streets.

For the service, see broken key extraction; if the cylinder was damaged along with the key, lock repair comes next. The Chattanooga page has the city overview.