Count the keys before choosing the lock
In a house on the Bassin, the key ring leads a life of its own. One set with the neighbour who picks up the post, another with the person who cleans between stays, a third lent to cousins last summer and never returned. When you buy a second home, nobody knows how many copies have been cut over thirty years or whose hands they are in. Replacing the cylinder when you move in, or at the end of a season with a succession of tenants, remains the simplest precaution to take.
The other trigger, very much a local one, is the key lost somewhere between the beach and the house. What matters then is not the key itself but what was attached to it: a gate remote control, a building fob, a tag with the name of the villa. A key ring that can be traced back to an address changes the nature of the risk entirely, and a remote control can be reprogrammed just as a cylinder can be replaced. A detailed quote is drawn up before any work, item by item: only what needs replacing is replaced, most often the cylinder alone.
One key for the front door, the garage and the side gate
Suburban housing in La Teste-de-Buch multiplies the locks: the main gate, the side gate onto the street, the garage door, the side door by the kitchen, the garden shed, the bike store, sometimes the pool gate. Every access point has its own cylinder, and therefore its own key, until the key ring becomes so unwieldy that two or three doors end up permanently unlocked. A master key system sorts that out: a single key opens the access points you choose to group together, and the rest stay separate. That is often more useful than a top-of-the-range cylinder fitted to the front door alone.
Then there is the question of how things last over time. A side gate cylinder facing due west, a padlock on a board store or a garage door lock facing the sea spray do not age like the lock on a front door sheltered under a porch. On those access points it is better to plan for mechanisms that are easy to maintain and to replace, and to concentrate the level of protection where it really counts. An invoice is always provided: keep it, as your insurer may ask for the exact reference of the product fitted.
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 La Teste-de-Buch.