Whenever we get calls to Cleveland Heights we never know exactly what type of lock and door situation we’ll find. The lock is “old.” That could be a lot of different things. In this article we’ll talk about some of the common things we see in homes in Cleveland Heights, OH.
Push Knobs – We see a lot of old Wiser brand door knobs. Instead of having a push button or a twist knob they often lock by pushing the door knob itself in. When demonstrating this for the first time many home owners are taken aback by the realization that there knobs in their house actually do work. Many customers simply do not like this older style door knob.
Brass – Styles change all the time and I’m sure we’re going to see brass in the future again. Many people want every knob switched over to silver nickel, oiled rubber bronze, or at least antique brass. This is one reason we stock so much brass hardware. We want to be done to replace one or two knobs/deadbolts and not have mismatched finishes.
“The One Key” – The amount of people that never lock their doors is amazing. What’s more amazing to us that they often only have 1-2 keys that barely work and often don’t go to every lock. Nothing is better than seeing the look on a customer’s face after a re-key when we give them 10 freshly cut keys
“The Timeline” – Previous owners slowly updated different locks over decades. Old vintage Sargent on one door, Weiser on another, Lori deadbolt, Kwikset Titan, then Schlage. Nothing matches the same style, finish, or key.
Sagging Doors – Older homes shift and settle. Hinges get warped after years of holding a door up. Combined with the extreme hot/ cold of Ohio, these doors can get in pretty rough shape. There are many different ways to address these issues. Replace the hinges, shim the hinges, adjust the hinges, plane the door, sometimes even jamb modifications.
Mortise Locks – Lastly, mortise locks. We’ve seen everything from 120 year old to 50 year old mortise locks in Cleveland Heights. Most of them are just fine, need a little cleaning, and a new cylinder then they’re fine. Replacing them is very time consuming and costly.
