Locksmith Services in Milwaukee, WI

Homes and locks in Milwaukee

Most of the remaining Polish flats are in Milwaukee. A family bought a small cottage, later raised it on jacks, dug out a partly sunken basement and set the house back down over a new apartment. The result is two stacked units with separate entrances, so a request should name the unit and the entrance.

Bay View, on Lake Michigan south of downtown, began in 1868 as a company town around the Milwaukee Iron Company's rolling mill and joined the city in 1887. Its historic district, listed on the National Register in 1982, has about 330 buildings mostly built between 1870 and 1915, including iron workers' cottages from around 1870 and brick duplexes from 1892. Old doors may carry original hardware or layers of replacements, which shapes the choice between lock rekeying and lock replacement.

Businesses and buildings

The Historic Third Ward is bounded by the Milwaukee River, East Clybourn Street and Lake Michigan. A fire on October 28, 1892 destroyed 440 buildings; rebuilding continued for 36 years. Its National Register district, designated in 1984, covers 70 buildings, and the neighborhood now holds more than 450 businesses, loft apartments in former warehouses and the Milwaukee Public Market.

A converted warehouse can combine a street-level shop door, a former loading entrance and a shared residential lobby, each keyed or controlled differently. See commercial locksmith.

Car trouble in Milwaukee

Between 2:00 and 6:00 a.m., a car on a Milwaukee street needs a purchased night parking permit or temporary permission from the Department of Public Works. Temporary permission covers up to three nights in any 30-day period, for legally parked vehicles with valid plates and fewer than two citations unpaid 30 days or longer. Alternate-side rules still apply where required, and winter regulations run December 1 to March 1. A driver whose car lockout strands a legally parked car overnight can request permission online without moving it.

Local rules worth knowing

Chapter 217 of the Milwaukee Code of Ordinances, Building Security, sets door and window standards for residential buildings other than rooming houses regulated under chapter 275, hotels and motels. It covers exterior swinging doors reachable by stairs or within 10 feet of grade, and doors between units and shared corridors. Buildings with an operating intrusion alarm in all dwelling units are excepted. The door rules depend on when the building went up:

• Built on or after June 24, 1989 (s. 217-3): a deadbolt with at least a one-inch bolt or a surface-mounted vertical bolt lock; cylinders with at least five pin tumblers, flush-mounted or protected against wrenching; and, in wood frames, a metal strike box, with plate and box attached to the wall studs by 2-1/2-inch minimum screws or metal lugs.
• Built before June 24, 1989 (s. 217-13, added in 1991): a deadbolt with at least a 1/2-inch bolt or a surface-mounted vertical bolt lock, cylinders flush-mounted or protected against wrenching, and a wood-frame deadbolt strike held by at least two screws. Under s. 217-11, a unit occupied by the building's owner is excepted.

Under s. 217-21, the owner must make a security device functional within 10 days after written notice that it is not working. The city's brochure tells tenants to contact the landlord first, then the Department of Neighborhood Services. This is general information, not legal advice.

Requesting service in Milwaukee

Wisconsin Locksmith Pros takes service requests from homes, businesses and drivers in Milwaukee. Include the neighborhood or nearest cross streets, and for a Third Ward loft, the building entrance. See house lockout or the rest of Wisconsin.