What Burglary Damage Lock Repair Actually Involves
When a door is forced, the damage is rarely limited to the lock itself. Burglars typically attack the weakest point — and that is usually the strike plate, the door jamb, or the latch bolt rather than the lock cylinder. A full burglary damage assessment means inspecting the door frame for split wood, checking whether the hinge screws have pulled, testing the door alignment, and only then evaluating which lock components need to be repaired or replaced. Treating just the lock while ignoring a cracked jamb leaves the same entry point exploitable within seconds by anyone with a flat bar.
The specific repair path depends entirely on the lock type that was attacked. A mortise lock — the workhorse of older Ardsley homes and almost every commercial storefront in the area — is a multi-component system housed inside the door itself, comprising a case, deadbolt, latch, and trim. Mortise lock repair often involves replacing the case, re-cutting a new key, and verifying that the pocket in the door has not widened from the forced entry. A rim lock repair or jimmy proof lock repair typically means replacing the vertical deadbolt unit mounted to the door surface and reinforcing the strike box on the frame. Deadbolt lock repair on a modern residential door usually involves replacing the cylinder and sometimes the entire throw mechanism if the bolt was bent during the attack. Our technicians are trained across all of these systems and carry parts for each on every mobile call.
