Broken Key Extraction in Seattle, WA

Where Seattle keys take the strain

Seattle builds up. About 28.1 percent of its homes are in buildings of 50 or more units, against 8.9 percent statewide. In a building that size, one lobby or garage cylinder is turned by every resident's key, and keys copied several times over tend to fit loosely. Belltown, on the downtown waterfront, has many high-rise residential buildings with shared entries like these.

Other places keys snap:

• Mailbox locks. Small lobby mailbox cylinders take thin keys that can bend when turned hard.
• Gritty cylinders. In a wet winter, an exterior lock that holds moisture and grit drags, and extra force on a key that will not turn is what shears it.
• Worn keys. A key that has flexed for months usually breaks at the shoulder, right next to the head.

Locks frozen by cold snaps are more of an east-side problem, in cities like Spokane, which anchors the drier east. In Seattle, watch for moisture and grit instead.

What not to do

• Do not put glue on the fragment or push another key in after it.
• Do not dig at it with a pin, knife or paper clip; that tends to push it deeper and damage the pins.
• Do not keep turning the plug with the broken piece inside.
• If the lock belongs to a lobby, garage gate or mailbox bank, tell building management before anyone works on it, since the cylinder is theirs.

What to send with your request

1. A photo of the broken key showing the snapped end, and one of the keyway showing how much is still inside.
2. Which lock it is: unit door, lobby, garage gate, mailbox or a house door.
3. Whether the door is locked or unlocked right now, and whether you can get inside.
4. The neighborhood or nearest cross streets.

A key that snapped was usually worn, and the cylinder may be worn too, so ask whether it needs lock repair as well. If you cannot get inside, house lockout covers that part.