Lock Replacement in Spokane, WA

Old doors and new locks

Spokane's housing is old by Washington standards. In the Census Bureau's 2024 estimates, 27.9 percent of the city's homes were built before 1940, against 9.3 percent statewide. Spokane and Tacoma hold the oldest housing of the four Washington cities in that comparison, with Tacoma at 27.0 percent. Many doors from those decades were cut for a mortise lock, a rectangular case set into a pocket in the door's edge, instead of the round bored holes a standard deadbolt needs. That shapes the options:

• A new mortise lock sized to the existing pocket keeps the door intact.
• Switching to a standard deadbolt and knob means filling or covering the pocket and drilling new holes, a permanent change to an old door.
• If the old lock still works and only the key is the issue, lock repair or rekeying may be enough.

A lock is usually past repair when the bolt no longer throws fully or the cylinder spins loose in the door.

Three kinds of building

Browne's Addition was Spokane's first neighborhood, and its mining-wealth mansions, among them the Campbell House of 1898, are now mostly apartments. One converted building can mix original doors with hardware added for tenants. In a rental, replacement is the owner's decision; RCW 59.18.060(6) requires the landlord to provide reasonably adequate locks but names no lock type. This is general information, not legal advice.

Hillyard's historic business district is mostly commercial blocks built between 1901 and 1948. A door there may be an unusual thickness or set up for an older backset, so measure before ordering.

Five Mile Prairie is the contrast. Its newer houses, built since about 2000, are more likely to need a replacement for a worn finish, a failed deadbolt or a switch to a keypad than to fit an old pocket.

What to include

• A photo of the lock and of the door edge showing the latch plate
• The door's thickness and material
• Whether the building is a rental, or a commercial block in Hillyard
• Whether the new lock should work with your existing keys

The lock replacement page covers the service in general.