How to Rekey Your House

Rekeying your house's locks yourself will cost less than paying a locksmith.

Door locks give security and peace of mind, except when you lose a house key or when previous owners may still have keys to the house. While you can call a locksmith to rekey your home's locks, you will pay the locksmith for every lock he has to rekey, which can inflate the bill in a hurry. Instead of using a locksmith, pick up rekeying kits at your local hardware store and do the work yourself.

Things You'll Need

• Wire tool included included in kit
• Retaining ring tool included in kit
• Old key
• Plug follower tool included in kit
• New key included in kit
• Tweezers
• New pins included in kit

Instructions

1. Unlock the doorknob using the old key. Locate the small hole at the base of the knob, before it meets the door, and insert the small wire tool included in the rekeying kit into the hole.

2. Pull on the doorknob to slide it off the post it sits on. Push on the front of the doorknob's lock, pushing it out the back side of the doorknob and at the same time popping off the sleeve cover from the knob.

3. Remove the retaining ring from the lock assembly, using the retaining ring tool included in the rekeying kit. Put the old key into the lock and turn it to the left, then push the plug follower tool that comes in the rekeying kit against the end of the lock plug while you pull on the key until you completely remove the plug from the lock assembly.

4. Rotate the lock plug so all of the old pins fall out of the holes in the plug. Put the new key into the lock plug and use a pair of tweezers to drop the color coded pins into the plug's holes in the order specified on the rekeying kit's instruction sheet.

5. Put the lock back together in the exact reverse order you took it apart. Repeat the process to rekey all of the locks on your house.

References

• Family Handyman: How to Rekey a Door Lock