Your 24 Hour Residential Locksmith in Scarborough, Toronto

As a home owner or landlord, you need to be sure you have a designated 24-hour residential locksmith in Toronto. You never know when emergency lock, key, or hardware needs will arise—and they often occur at the most inconvenient of times. Action Locksmiths are here for you 365 days a year, any time of day or night—even on holidays.

LOST OR MISPLACED KEYS

Whether you, your kids, or your tenant has lost their keys, replacing the locks should always be taken into consideration. You may choose to wait a day or two to see if the lost set of keys turns up, but to ensure that your keys are not in the wrong hands, have your locks replaced.

MALFUNCTIONING LOCKS

You should never ignore any changes to your lock’s performance. While there are a few DIY tricks you can try—such as using a lock de-icer for frozen locks, or using WD-40 to lubricate the locks—if the fix is not immediate it is wise to have your malfunctioning locks replaced as soon as possible.

SECURITY BREECH

If someone has broken into your home, or attempted to break into your home, you want to have your broken or damaged locks and hardware replaced as soon as possible. We can come out and install the new locks you require to secure your home, and we will also suggest upgrades that will improve your home security.

REPLACE YOUR LOCKS WHEN MOVING INTO A NEW HOME

While moving into a new home may not qualify for residential emergency locksmith, it is always a good idea to have your locks changed when you move into a new house. Landlords should also have the locks on their rental units replaced each time a tenant moves out—even if the locks are still sound. 

Action Locksmiths have served the Toronto area since 1975, and is here to serve all of your last minute and emergency locksmith needs. We are also here for your standard lock and key maintenance, upgrades, and service. 

Thinking Of Upgrading Your Home Security?

Aside from your material valuables, your family’s safety is of top priority. This means that you must consider areas of opportunity in your home security. To do this, you will need to gain a bit more insight about the options that are available to you. Below are just a few ideas for you to consider.

REKEY YOUR LOCKS

Even if your locks and hardware are sufficient, it is a good idea to rekey your locks every so often. This is especially important after your keys are lost or stolen, or after a resident or roommate has moved out. Find a reliable key making emergency service action locksmith and while you’re at it, consider upgrading to a registered lock system—with keys that cannot be duplicated without your consent. 

CONSIDER ELECTRONIC LOCKS

Upgrading the locks in your home goes beyond upgrading your hardware, but also to considering some of the many options you have in keyless entry and electronic locks. The options are quite impressive—and are both secure and convenient. This includes a keypad lock or a biometric fingerprint scanner. This means you never have to carry a house key again.

ADD SOME INTERIOR LOCKS

Most interior locks are basic privacy locks, perfect for bathrooms or bedrooms. While these basic one-way locks will work for most rooms in your home, they may not be sufficient for your home office—or the room or closet you store your valuables. Aside from upgrading some of your interior locks, consider adding a safe to your home—or adding high-security locks to file cabinets, desks, or drawers. This way if someone does break in, they will have an additional layer of security to content with. 

WIRELESS HOME CONTROL PANELS

Modern advances in wireless technology make home control panels easily accessible to homeowners. A home control panel can help you to manage both security and energy efficiency. For example, you can remotely view your home while out of town, and can even manage the lights and TV—making it look like someone is home. The more advanced the system, the more you can manage remotely. 

If you live in the Ontario area, and would like to upgrade or improve any of your interior or exterior locks—reach out to Action Locksmiths today. We are available for both scheduled and emergency locksmith needs—and can be reached 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 416-261-1422.

Do You Need A Safe?

Safes come in all shapes and sizes, allowing for a multitude of residential and commercial applications. Even if you aren’t a retailer who handles large volumes of cash, a safe can be of great benefit. Safes can be built-in, or placed wherever you like in your home or business. There are even high-security lockboxes that are portable, but impenetrable without the combination or key. Below are just a few reasons to consider adding a safe to your home or business, and a handful of items you can store in your safe.

KEEPING MONEY SAFE AND SECURE

Retailers that operate with large amounts of cash require a safe that is large enough to hold deposits, cash drawers, and change. You may even opt of a safe with 2 internal compartments. Even if your business does not operate in cash, you may need a secure place to store checks and petty cash.

For home use, your safe is an excellent place to keep an extra stash of cash ideal for last minute emergencies.

STORING VALUABLES

What constitutes as valuable, may go well beyond cash. This could include jewelry, coin collections, and small family heirlooms. You might even keep keepsakes, such as original or electronic copies of family photos—or handwritten letters or cards. 

SENSITIVE INFORMATION

From sensitive financial information to backups of confidential files, to the hard copies of pertinent documents for home or business—a safe is an excellent place to keep sensitive information secure. 

SMALL FIREARMS

If you keep a small firearm at home but want to ensure it is kept out of reach of your little ones—a safe is an excellent place to secure your weapon. Just make sure that the key or combination are well hidden. 

SAFES ARE FIREPROOF

Almost every safe on the market today is fireproof, and many have waterproof features as well. This means that in the event of a fire or natural disaster, that the items in your safe are likely to be protected.

NEED SOMEONE TO REPROGRAM YOUR SAFE COMBINATION?

Many safes today are electronic, but some still use a combination lock or key. If it is time to upgrade or change the lock, we can help. We work on many different makes and models of safes and security lockboxes. Give us a call today at (416) 261-1422 to schedule your safe upgrades.

For more information please visit our site http://www.actionlocksmiths.ca

Key And Lock Maintenance For Apartment Buildings

If you just purchased a new apartment building in Toronto, Canada, or you are a property manager with a new building to manage—one of the first things on your list of things to-do is to ensure that your building is secure. Keys and locks play a vital role in your building security, and the tips below will help you to take an organized and systematic approach.

Check To See If You Have Copies Of All Unit Keys

As a landlord or property manager, you or your maintenance crew may have to enter a tenant’s unit for emergencies or repairs. You may also need to respond to a tenant lockout, so you must ensure that you have keys for all of your units. Also check the condition of spare sets of keys, and ensure they are all accurately tagged for the unit they unlock.

Assess The Current Locks And Hardware

The first place to begin, is by assessing the current locks and hardware. You want to see if the same make and model of locks and hardware is used on all doors. Then you want to consider if you want to upgrade the locks to a more modern or secure option. Don’t forget to inspect the exterior doors, and consider upgrading to keyless entry or a high security cylinder locks for exterior or common doors.

Consider Rekeying Locks For A Master Key

While each unit must have individual keys, creating a master key for your building will make it easier for you to show open units, as well as perform scheduled maintenance and emergency repairs. Also consider upgrading to a key and lock system with keys that cannot be duplicated, if not for all of your locks—at least for your exterior doors, or areas that are for employees only.

Switch Locks Each Time A Tenant Moves Out

Most apartment keys can quickly and easily be copied at a hardware or home and garden store. When a tenant moves out, they are supposed to turn in all of the sets of keys they have made—but this is not always the case. Sometimes they simply forget who has copies of their keys, such as a cleaning professional, pet sitter, ex-boyfriend, ex-girlfriend, former roommate, or family member. This is why it is good to have a few extra sets of keys and locks on hand, so that you can easily swap out the locks after a tenant vacates.

Your maintenance crew is likely able to switch out standards locks, but turn to Action Locksmiths for your building exterior doors, for secured interior areas, and to rekey any of your apartment locks. Call us today at (416) 261-1422 to schedule your required locksmith services.

For more information please visit our site http://www.actionlocksmiths.ca

Tips To Avoid Being Locked Out Of Your Home

While there is never a good time to be locked out of your home or business, it always seems to happen at the worst of times—after returning from a vacation, while running out to grab the mail, or while getting home later than expected. Below are a few tips you can turn to that will reduce your odds of being locked out of your home.

Keep A Spare Set Of Keys With A Trusted Friend

Trust is the top priority with this tip. Your spare set must be given to someone whose integrity you never have to question. This might include your parent, sibling, best friend, or maybe even a neighbor. Make sure that if you upgrade your locks that you remember to give your trusted friend a new set. 

Hide A Key

Another option, is to creatively hide a key somewhere outside of your home or business. If you go this route, consider the unexpected. For example, not in one of those hide-a-key rocks, and never ever under your doormat. However, the best way may be to hide your key in plain sight—in a coded key lockbox. 

Always Pack Your Keys In Your Carry-On Luggage

Returning home from a vacation is a fairly common lockout scenario. After being on an extended holiday, you haven’t even thought of your keys for several days. It is for this reason, that at the start of your trip, you should place your keys in a designated “travel” spot. If you will be flying, this spot should always be in your carry-on luggage—so that you avoid the possibility of your luggage being lost. A perfect place is one of the interior pockets of your carry-on bag. 

Invest In Keyless Locks

Another way to avoid being locked out due to lost or misplaced keys, is to invest in keyless locks. However, you must keep in mind that if your keyless locks are damaged during an attempted burglary—that you might find yourself locked out anyway.

Call Us If You Are Locked Out

If your keys are lost or stolen, or you arrive home and find that your keys are nowhere to be found—not to worry. Simply give us a call, and we will dispatch a locksmith to anywhere in the GTA. We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week—365 days per year. Add our number to your phone now so that you have it in case of emergency 416-261-1422.

Action Locksmiths—More Than Door Locks

Action Locksmiths provides commercial locksmith services for home and business owners in the Toronto area—but this goes far beyond providing you with keys and locks for your external doors. Below are just a handful of the other locksmith services we provide. 

Interior Door Locks

There may be areas of your home or business that required in door locks that are more advanced than the standard key-free, one-sided locks that bathroom or bedroom doors tend to have. This includes keyless access to semi-restricted areas, biometric fingerprint access to high-security areas, digital locks—and even mailbox locks. 

Individual Locks

While you may not have a room or corridor of your home that needs limited or restricted access, you may still have a need for individual locks to keep private, personal, or confidential information under lock and key. This is why we can add or replace locks to desks, file cabinets, and employee lockers.

Safes And Vaults

Whether you have a safe to store valuables at home, or to manage the cash in your retail location, there will be times when you need to change the combination lock. Whether you are locked out, or it is time to upgrade—we can help. We can even install, and high security locks for bank, jewelry, or business vaults.

Master Keys and Duplicating Keys

If you own or operate a large commercial building, apartment building, or condo—installing a master key system will ensure that management, maintenance, and security have fast and easy access to the entire building when the need arises. This will save you both time and money. We will install quality commercial locks, and can even provide registered high-security keys that can only be duplicated by an approved key holder.

Annual Maintenance

Even if your in-house maintenance team is skilled, you may be in need of a service provider to perform all of your annual lock maintenance. From replacing locks, repairing locks, and advising you on upgrades and new lock technology—our goal is always to help you achieve your security goals and give you peace of mind. 

Don’t See What You Are Looking For?

The Action Locksmiths team remains up-to-date, and on the cutting edge of all lock advances and technology. If you have an area of your home or business that requires increased security, reach out to see how we can assist. This includes digital locks, access control systems, biometric fingerprint access, CCTV and more!

If you don’t see the lock services you require, reach out to us today at (416) 261-1422 and we will explore your service options.  

When Is It Time To Change Your Door Locks?

Changing your door locks sometimes fall by the wayside. Whether speaking of residential or commercial locks, there are situations that arise that make changing the locks, or at least, re-keying locks, the most secure course of action.

When You Move

When you move into a new home or new building, one of your first orders of business should be to change your door locks. There is no way to tell how responsible, or irresponsible, the previous owner was with managing their keys. To ensure that a former tenant, friend, family member, or contractor does not still have access to your new property—call Action Locksmiths to have your locks changed.

When There Is A Major Change In Key Holders

A major change in key holders could mean many things. Even if a key holder left on good terms, it is never a bad idea to change the locks anyway. Some of the most common reasons for key holder changes include:

• Divorce or breakup

• New roommate or tenant

• New management 

• The exit of a disgruntled employee

• Former contractor does not return their keys

After Damage or Burglary

Whether a burglar succeeded, or they failed but damaged your locks or hardware in the process, now is an excellent time to change your locks.

Change Your Door Locks If You Can’t Recall The Last Time They’ve Been Changed

If you can’t recall the last time you changed your door locks, now is an excellent time to do so. Even if you can recall the last time, but it has been more than 5 years, it is time to consider changing and upgrading your locks.

If Keys Are Lost Or Stolen

If your keys are lost or stolen, it simply isn’t worth the risk of assuming that intrusion will not occur. Even if you have a secondary alarm in place, replacing the locks is the best way to safeguard your property.

If Your Keyless Lock Hardware Has Been Damaged

One reason that Toronto home and business owners make the switch to keyless locks is to reduce the frequency that locks need to be changed. In most cases above, you can simply change the key code, but if the actual lock hardware has been damaged, it is time to change your door lock.

When changing your locks in Toronto or any part of the GTA, don’t forget to consider an upgrade to a more secure lock system.