Broken Key Extraction in Green Bay, WI

Where keys take the strain in Green Bay

A key usually snaps in a lock that was already hard to turn. A few Green Bay situations add to that strain.

• Shared doors in storefront blocks. The 1998 National Register form for the Broadway-Dousman Historic District counts 15 buildings, mostly blocks that hold several storefronts apiece. Where businesses share a rear, basement or stair door, that lock is turned far more often than a private one and wears sooner.
• Salt and grit. Winter slush dries inside cylinders on building entries and car doors. A gritty, sticking lock can be dirt or corrosion rather than a worn key, and forcing the key through it is how blades break.
• Cold snaps. A lock that has iced up is stiff. Use de-icer, and never force the key.
• Old cylinders. One that has been in a door for decades can wear until the key needs jiggling, and each twist fatigues the blade.
• Copies of copies. A key cut from another copy may fit loosely and bend before it turns.

What not to do

• Do not push the broken piece deeper with the other half of the key or a spare.
• Do not try to fish the piece out with household tools, and do not use glue; glue can seal the cylinder and turn an extraction into a replacement.
• If the key broke in a shared building or mailbox lock, tell the landlord or building manager so other residents do not jam it further.
• If the key broke with the bolt thrown and you cannot get in, say so, since that is also a house lockout.

What to send

• Both halves if you have them, or a photo of the piece in the lock and the part in your hand
• Whether the lock is on a building entry, a unit door, a mailbox, a garage or a car
• Whether the lock was frozen or stiff before the key broke
• The address, and for a building on North Broadway or Dousman Street, which storefront or upstairs door

After the piece is out, a lock that was stiff may need lock repair. More on broken key extraction and the Green Bay page.