Lock Replacement in West Valley City, UT

Houses older than the city

West Valley City became a city in 1980 by combining Granger, Hunter, Chesterfield and Redwood, so many of its houses are older than the city itself. East Granger and West Granger are mostly brick ranch homes from the 1960s and 1970s. Across Salt Lake County, the median home was built in 1986, according to the Census Bureau's 2020 to 2024 American Community Survey, against 1992 for Utah as a whole.

A door on a house that age may still carry its first lockset, or its third. Replacement usually makes more sense than repair when:

• the latch no longer retracts every time the knob or lever turns
• the door has only a knob lock and you want a deadbolt added
• the door edge shows holes from earlier hardware that the current lock does not cover
• the key still sticks after cleaning, or the knob wobbles and the finish is worn through

Westshire's mid-century doors

Westshire sits directly south of Valley Fair Mall and has 160 Mid-Century Modern homes from the 1960s and 1970s, built by modernist architect Ron Molen. If you own one and want hardware in keeping with the original design, say so before any parts are chosen, and send a photo of the whole door as well as the lock. Finish, lever or knob shape, and the size of the trim plate all change how a new lock sits on an original door.

What to measure and send

1. The backset, meaning the distance from the door edge to the center of the lock hole. Most residential doors use 2 3/8 or 2 3/4 inches.
2. The door's thickness.
3. Photos of the door edge, the strike plate on the frame and both faces of the lock.
4. Whether the new lock should work with the keys you already have, or whether every lock should be rekeyed to match.

If a lock only needs adjustment, lock repair may be enough. Granger, Hunter and Westshire are all described on the West Valley City overview.