Spokane and the Valley are growing fast — Greenacres, Airway Heights and the north side especially — and every one of those moves comes with a set of keys nobody can account for. Here is the order we suggest to new owners and tenants.
Day one: rekey every exterior door
Rekeying changes the pins inside your existing locks so old keys stop working and one new key opens everything. It keeps your hardware, takes ten to fifteen minutes per door, and is the single highest-value security job there is. Do the front, back, garage side door and any door from the garage into the house. Read rekey or replace if you are unsure which you need.
Week one: the things people forget
- Garage door opener: erase all remotes and re-pair yours; change the keypad code
- Mailbox lock — cluster boxes especially, the carrier does not change them for you
- Smart lock codes: factory-reset the lock, delete every user, start fresh
- Shed, gate and side-yard padlocks: replace, they are cheap and often the weakest point
- Window locks and sliding-door pins: check every one actually engages
Renting? Know your rights
In Washington a landlord must provide working locks, and most will rekey between tenants on request. If they will not, you can usually rekey at your own cost as long as you give the landlord a key — check your lease. We do a lot of tenant rekeys in Cheney, Browne's Addition and the Logan neighbourhood around Gonzaga for exactly this reason.
Worth upgrading while we are there
If the existing deadbolt is a builder-grade unit with a short throw and no reinforced strike, this is the moment to swap it: we already have the door open and the tools out. A Grade 1 or Grade 2 deadbolt with a 3-inch-screw strike plate is the upgrade that actually stops a kick-in.
What a move-in rekey actually looks like
We remove each cylinder, replace the pins to a new key, cut the keys, and reinstall — about ten to fifteen minutes a door. You end up with one key that opens every exterior door and as many copies as you want, cut on the spot. If any door is on a different keyway (a common mismatch on older South Hill houses), we swap that cylinder so it can join the set.
Questions from new owners
The seller gave me six keys — is that enough?
That is six known keys. The problem is the ones you were not given. Rekey anyway; it costs less than a single lost-key call-out.
Can you rekey my new lock to match the old key?
If it shares a keyway (most Kwikset-to-Kwikset or Schlage-to-Schlage), yes. Mixed brands can be brought together with a cylinder swap.
Do you do it on move-in day?
Yes — book a window and we meet you at the house before the truck arrives, so the first time you lock the door it is your key.
Neighbourhood notes
New builds in Greenacres, Airway Heights and north of Mead come keyed to a construction master that expires on first use of your key — but the side and garage doors often are not on it. Older houses in Browne's Addition, Peaceful Valley and the lower South Hill frequently have doors on three different keyways. Both are one-visit fixes.
