Rekeying your locks after you move in

How to choose

Decide whether a rekey is the right job

Rekey when the locks work well and you want old keys to stop working. In federal survey data from 2003 to 2007, offenders used a key in 8% of no-force entries at empty homes, while 40% came through an unlocked door or window.²⁶ So a rekey closes a real route for little money, but locking every door and window matters more.

Replace a lock that's worn, damaged or outdated, or when you want a stronger type of lock.⁶ One owner paid a locksmith to rekey four doors on a 20-year-old house, then replaced everything anyway because the locks were worn.¹² Turn each key and throw each bolt before you spend anything. Clear the garage door opener's remotes when you move in, too.²⁷

Read the lock face and test every key

A Kwikset lock with a small slot beside the keyway is a SmartKey lock. Without the slot, it's usually a 5-pin lock that takes a pin kit.^{2 28} Schlage needs its own kit, because Kwikset and Schlage pins differ.²⁴ Prime-Line also sells kits for Titan 6-pin and Weiser 5-pin locks, and the kits aren't interchangeable.^{3 4}

Try every key you were given in every lock before you buy. All three picks need the current key.^{3 4 5} Without one, call a locksmith or replace that lock. The tools for lost-key jobs don't come in a homeowner kit.^{28 29 30}

How many kits you need

Buy one kit per lock brand. One Prime-Line kit covers up to six locks of its type, and Kwikset says there's no limit on SmartKey rekeys.^{1 3 4}

If you want one key for the house, a home with mixed Kwikset locks has a likely route: pin the older locks to the kit key, then set the SmartKey locks to that same key. No source documents that exact combination, so try it on one lock first.^{2 3 8} Kwikset and Schlage locks can't share a key with these kits. Allegion, which owns Schlage, says that takes a conversion kit and a locksmith.³¹

Choose between a kit, a store and a locksmith

A kit is a cheap route if you're comfortable with small parts. Owners on Reddit and other forums report rekeying whole houses and saving a lot, though people who finish tend to say so and locksmiths get called for the failures.^{12 18 19} Do one lock at a time, so a mistake can't shut you out of every door.

The middle option is to pull the cylinders and take them to a store. Some Ace stores list a rekey service and owners report the same at some Home Depot stores, but offerings differ, so call first.^{7 32} A locksmith costs the most. Bob Vila describes a service call plus a charge per lock, which adds up to several times the price of a kit in most homes.³³

A pin kit makes your old keys stop working, but it doesn't give you a unique key. Neither Prime-Line nor Kwikset says how many key patterns it uses, and one lock-picking forum member who bought a similar kit online found barely any variation in pin depth.²⁰ If you want a key that no other kit buyer could own, have a store or locksmith do the rekey.

Fix the strike plate while the door is open

Rekey with the door open and make sure it can't swing shut, as Kwikset instructs.⁵ Keep the old key until the new one has turned smoothly several times.

A new key does nothing against a kicked door. Consumer Reports swings a 100-pound steel ram at locked doors, and its test engineer says failure usually comes from the short screws holding the strike plate, the metal plate on the frame that the bolt slides into. Too many locks ship with 3/4-inch screws.^{34 35} Wirecutter's experts called a reinforced strike the most cost-effective upgrade, so add longer screws or a reinforced strike on the same afternoon.³⁶

That matters more than the debate over SmartKey itself. Kwikset says its deadbolts pass the UL 437 pick test, but a security researcher forced one open in under a minute with hand tools in a video CNET described, noisily and with visible damage, and four locksmiths told Wirecutter they preferred a Schlage deadbolt.^{15 36 37} If your SmartKey locks work well, rekeying them is reasonable.