Lock Repair in Virginia Beach, VA

What coastal weather does to a lock

NOAA's state climate summary describes Virginia as humid, with very warm summers. For a lock, moisture is the steady problem. It swells wood doors and frames until the bolt drags on the strike plate, and it lets grit and corrosion gather inside the cylinder until the key turns stiffly or only partway.

Snow is modest in eastern Virginia: National Weather Service normals for 1991 to 2020 give Norfolk 6.2 inches a year and Richmond 8.8. If water in a keyway turns to ice, use a lock de-icer, not hot water, which can ice over again.

After high water

At Sewells Point in Norfolk, sea level rose 17 inches between 1927 and 2020. If a door has stood in tidal or storm water:

1. Rinse the lock with clean water to flush out silt.
2. Let it dry, then work the key and the thumb turn several times.
3. Add dry graphite or a lock lubricant rather than household oil, which holds grit.
4. If the key still turns roughly or the bolt sticks, ask for repair before the cylinder seizes.

Simple upkeep between repairs

• Tighten hinge screws when a door starts to sag; a dropped door is a common reason a latch misses its strike.
• Clear grit from sliding-door tracks and threshold hardware.
• Short-term rental hosts in Sandbridge or at the Oceanfront can work each lock between stays, so a sticking bolt turns up before a guest finds it.
• Lubricate cylinders on a schedule, and again after any flooding.
• Do not force a key that binds; that is how keys snap, and a snapped key means broken key extraction.

Describing the problem

• What happens: the key will not enter, will not turn, turns without moving the bolt, or the door will not latch
• Whether it got worse after rain, a storm or a humid spell
• A photo of the lock and of the strike plate on the frame
• Your neighborhood or the nearest cross streets

More on lock repair and the Virginia Beach page.