Category : Uncategorized

• How to find the right Locksmith

  Posted on September 25th, 2015 0 Comments

  Chicago is a huge, sprawling city – and there’s lots of individuals who profess to be locksmiths. Finding a locksmith is a task often undertaken spur of the moment, and in a bit of a panic. Most individuals only think about finding a locksmith when they have a broken key or emergency lockout and need immediate assistance. To avoid choosing a shoddy or unprofessional locksmith that overcharges you for unimpressive work, follow the following steps on this checklist. It will help you find a reliable locksmith who’ll provide professional service and a good price.

  Versatility and Experience

  A good locksmith should be able to do any sort of job that relates to locks. Always check the locksmith’s website or call to make sure they can provide you the service you need – and reading a review couldn’t hurt. An experienced locksmith will ensure that their work is done correctly and efficiently. By employing a locksmith with limited training, you risk damaging your door.

  Official License

  Any good locksmith is licensed and officially insured – even if it is not required by their state. Insurance ensures that you will receive compensation if any of your property is damaged or incorrectly fixed – as opposed to a non-insured locksmith who will likely decide to walk away from their shoddy job.

  Mobile Service

  A quality locksmith will either have a local physical location or a mobile service that can come to you at any hour of the day. This way you’re waiting time (along with any travel cost that may factor into your bill) will be minimal.

  Accountability and Trustworthiness

  Good locksmiths provide their customers with an upfront written estimate that factors in all labor operations involved including travel and late night charges. Never use a locksmith that won’t provide a written estimate – as it is likely that they are attempting to unfairly tack on extra fees and up charges. Make sure that your locksmith company does a criminal background check on their employees – as well as making sure that your locksmith’s vehicle is well signed (scam locksmiths often use unmarked vehicles.)

  Finding the right locksmith for you pays off in spades. Chicago Locksmiths offers the highest quality service in the Chicago area for the lowest price. They are fully licensed and all their work is guaranteed to satisfy. Give us a call.

  

  Author: admin

• Buying A Safe

  Posted on July 6th, 2015 0 Comments

  
  What You Need to Know Before Buying a Safe

  Keeping your possessions safe requires utilizing multiple layers of solid security. While your house may be kept safer from break-in by having strong locks on the doors and windows, it isn’t guaranteed to stop everything. You need to make sure that the valuables you have inside your home are also safe, even if a burglar does happen to bypass your perimeter locks. This is why a safe is so valuable, as it offers extreme protection for those smaller items with high value. These are things like pieces of jewelry, important documents, guns, heirlooms, and whatever else is important to you. If you really want to keep these things secure, then it’s important to invest in a safe for your home. One problem is that there are tons of different types of safes out there, all of varying size and complexity. Let’s take a closer look and see just what you need to know before buying a safe.

  A Safe’s Price Versus the Value it’s Protecting

  Items you want secure and kept safely away from thieves have wildly different values. Safes have different values too, so make sure that you carefully consider just how valuable the items you’re trying to protect are. You want to spend money on a safe relative to how secure you want your possessions.

  What Will the Safe Need to Hold?

  In addition to the actual value of the items you want to keep in your safe, you also need to consider what sort of material they’re made from. Things like family photographs and security documents are prone to heat damage. Not every safe is fire resistant, so if you’re storing paper products, make sure you research a good safe that has proper heat resistance.

  Size

  While this seems to be the most straight forward consideration to make, it’s one that shouldn’t be overlooked. You want to ensure that the safe you’re buying is big enough to hold whatever you need. Check the inside dimensions rather than just the exterior to determine if what you have will fit. In addition to that, make sure your safe is small enough to get it to whatever room you want it in. It’s also important to do the opposite as well. If what you need protected is only going to take up 50 to 60 percent of the interior size of the safe, then you’re not getting the full benefit from the safe.

  Safe Location

  The placement of your safe is important as well. You want to ensure you have the amount of room it requires, as mentioned above, as well as ensuring that it’s not close to any areas with moisture or heat issues or places where it can be easily stolen.

  Overall, purchasing a safe is a fantastic investment to make that will help ensure your priceless items and valuables will remain safe from theft and harm throughout your life. The above checklist of considerations to make is a great step in the right direction that will significantly help you choose a safe that’s ideal for your needs.

  

  Author: admin

• Understanding Your Options for Upgrading Mechanical Locks in Chicago

  Posted on November 26th, 2014 0 Comments

   

  
  As criminals become smarter, the various mechanisms used to safeguard buildings must be upgraded from time to time. Furthermore, aging hardware must also be replaced due to the threat that wear and tear poses to the safety of industrial and commercial buildings.

  Understanding the process of replacing your old locks ensures that your business can stay secure while keeping time required for the installation of new locks to an absolute minimum.

  Below is a very brief look at some of the lock replacement options available to you in the Chicago area.

   

  Additional Lock Functions

  While you can generally expedite replacement of your old locks by choosing locks from the same manufacturer, you may want to first consider the variety of features available to you when upgrading your locks.

  Most of the functions available are meant to fulfill special needs of unique situations. Locks that have a heightened degree of vandal resistance and locks designed for use in school environments are just two examples of the extra functions that locks can have.

  These functions tend to conform to ANSI standards, which allows a comparison between the various locks available.

   

  Cylindrical Lock Replacement

  While cylindrical locks are some of the most common types of locks, there are still a number of considerations that must be made when replacing a cylindrical lock.

   

  1. How much door preparation is required?

   

  Most cylindrical locks locate their bolts at the 12 or 6 o’clock position that utilizes a 5/16” to 3/8” diameter cross bore, but different manufacturers may have a different setup. Some even allow more modular design that allows for the bore to be adjusted to match existing door prep work.

   

  2. How do lock cylinder dimensions in the exterior lever compare?

  The diameter of lock cylinders tend to be unique to the manufacturers’ masterkey system. Competitive keyway replacement lock cylinders may be available from certain manufacturers, while other manufactures may provide interchangeable exterior levers for the sole purpose of matching equipment lock cylinders of other manufacturers.

   

  3. How well does the diameter of the rose match?

  If the upgraded rose of a lock is smaller than the rose from the previous lock, then you may need to add paint or a finish ring to your door to make the lock both secure and aesthetically pleasing.

  It’s worth noting that this is not a problem when upgrading from a knob lock to a lever cylindrical lock, as most knob locks have lock roses that are significantly smaller than those used in most current cylindrical locks.

   

  Mechanical Pushbutton Locks

  Pushbutton locks off an alternative way to unlock a door. They offer this advantage while being of about the same difficulty to install as a keyed lock.

  Most pushbutton locks use a 3- to 10-digit code to enable a greater degree of secure keys that can be memorized for use. Many pushbutton locks are ANSI/BHMA Grade 1 or 2 certified, and offer the option to use a key as an override to the code if something goes wrong.

  Cylindrical locks can be upgraded using a solenoid or a motor to make a lock change states when the keypad is used. The option for request-to-exit output is also available with some pushbutton locks.

  Understanding Similar Lock Replacement Options

  Other options that haven’t expressly been covered are available when replacing a lock, but most considerations for these types of replacements are similar to the considerations already mentioned.

  For example, mortise locks carry many considerations similar to cylindrical locks.

  When replacing your locks, it’s wise to have your local Chicago locksmith go over the options for functions and lock replacement that you have available to you. New exit devices, electronic control system integration, and even locks that use standalone electromechanical features to create a stronger security environment exist.

  To this end, it’s vital that you choose a lock replacement that works best with your facility. This will give you the largest degree of security while deterring malicious individuals from trying to vandalize your commercial or industrial business.

  

  Author: admin