Summer, when tenancies end and cylinders change
Being right beside the university campus gives Gradignan a rental stock that largely turns over within a few weeks, between June and September. Studio flats, self-contained rooms, flats in small blocks along the roads towards Talence: every departure raises the same question for the owner. Are the keys handed back all the keys in existence? After three years of occupancy, copies cut in a shopping centre and a housemate who kept theirs, nobody can seriously say so.
The answer is rarely a brand-new lock. On the recent doors of Gradignan's apartment blocks, as on the doors of renovated houses, replacing the cylinder alone is enough: the mechanism stays where it is, the key combination changes, the old key no longer works. Full replacement is only called for if the mechanism itself is tired — a sticking bolt, rod linkage out of adjustment, a slack handle. An inspection on site settles the matter, and the quote always separates the two scenarios before anything is removed.
Six locks, one key ring: putting the house back in order
The detached house with an enclosed garden, the dominant pattern here, multiplies the number of locking points: front door, side door off the kitchen, pedestrian gate, main gate, garage, utility room, garden shed at the bottom of the plot. Each was fitted at a different time, with different keys, and the key ring ends up weighing a lot. Many enquiries in fact begin with that observation rather than with a fault: the aim is to simplify, not to repair.
A master key system answers that need by opening several doors with a single key, with different levels of access depending on the door. Setting one up calls for a full survey: type of joinery, dimensions of each cylinder, fixing centres, direction of opening. Houses in Barthez or Ornon often combine a recently changed front door, an original garage door and a metal pedestrian gate exposed to the weather. Those three supports do not take the same parts, and it is that survey which determines what can genuinely be brought together.
How does this service work?
Techniques, typical situations, standards and things to watch out for: it is all on our lock and cylinder replacement page. This page focuses on what the service involves in Gradignan.