Paul Easton Locksmiths and Garage door repairs.
Fox House Elmdale Chepstow
NP16 7LA
Telephone 01291 625540
Mobile 07913 158497
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Paul Easton.
Completed a comprehensive 5-year City and Guilds apprenticeship in carpentry and joiner.
Bringing 50 years of industry experience.
Welcome to the desktop view of our website. Located in the town of Chepstow, Paul Easton Locksmiths provides a comprehensive lock and door maintenance service, emergency locksmith services, and garage door repairs.
Blog Post
Non destructive lock and door opening
- By paul easton
- •
- 09 Sep, 2019
Service of the week
Here at Paul Easton locksmiths we like to highlight some of our services that we feel are particularly good for our customers in and around the Chepstow area.
One of which is our non destructive opening service for locks and doors. Note that we include doors in this because as we shall see its a subtle difference between what a good experienced locksmith can do and what an inexperienced locksmith can do and what the adverts say.
Lets look at locks first.
Its well known that in the locksmith industry their is an over use of drills to gain entry to properties where the keys are missing or locked inside.
Not only is this a problem in the industry in that it creates a bad image of locksmiths, it also costs you the customer a lot more money.
That's not to say that a lot of local independent locksmiths don't provide this service.
In fact most are extremely skilled at opening and picking locks and provide an excellent service.
Its one of the many reasons why choosing local locksmiths is often cheaper and better for you in that usually they are much more skilled and have a lot more experience than a lot of the larger national company representatives.
We can't always promise to be able to pick open every lock, but what we do promise is that unless you the customer tell us other wise we always endeavor to exhaust all possible ways of gaining entry without damaging your locks.
Their are times when its impossible of course such as when a lock is damaged, which can often happen on locks that have been under attack from attempted break ins.
So what is NDE (non destructive entry) which is what you see on some websites for locksmiths.
Its the opening or picking of locks without force
However don't forget many of these larger companies often charge a big premium to say that they are using this method which is all well and good but you could be paying extra for it.
Why does this matter ?
Because you don't always need it !
While their are locksmith companies that make a big promotion of this type of non destructive opening on their websites using it as a main feature its all rather academic if you have lost your keys, even if you have spares inside the property.
Why ?
Because if you lose keys and someone gains entry with those keys then its highly likely your insurance will be void.
Best practice is you really have to change the locks in cases of lost or missing keys.
If not for insurance purposes then for peace of mind, what you don't want is someone sneaking around your house in the middle of the night after finding your keys all for the sake of changing a lock. After all while the locksmith is their he may as well change the lock anyway.
At Paul Easton locksmiths we only charge for the part/lock required as we are their anyway, so theirs no fitting charges.
Of all the doors requiring opening where you may not have to change the locks upvc is the most likely, yale nightlatches as well. Highly unlikely are mortice locks, because you can't lock a mortice lock and leave the keys inside, you can only lock them and lose the keys.
That's not to say its not a highly cost effective skill, their are many occasions where it does save the customer money and its something Paul Easton Locksmiths do on a regular basis as illustrated in the top photograph where i'm picking open a upvc door using an electric pick gun.
Below is a link to a very informative article on the subject of non destructive entry
http://www.burgoynes.com/articles/2012/02/lock-picking-and-non-destructive-methods-entry
Now lets look at doors and NDE (non destructive opening) which in my experience is where the real savings can be made for the customer.
Its fair to say that a large part of a locksmiths work will be on upvc doors as these are the most common doors in the Uk now and nearly all local independent locksmiths will be adept at opening these types of locks and doors even though they don't always advertise NDE ( non destructive opening) as a main feature on their home page.
Its important to understand the differance, NDE does not mean that they can also open upvc doors with broken gearboxes.
NDE refers to locks only.
In my opinion non-destructive entry should extend to gaining entry to the dwelling without damage to the door as well, particularly on upvc doors where a mechanism is faulty/broken or a gearbox/centre case is jammed or broken.
At Paul Easton Locksmiths with over 40 years experience we specialize in these types of door openings.
This is where the better more experienced locksmiths really come into their own on jobs like this, its not unknown for a so called locksmith to take angle grinders to a door to get past the hooks.
I have seen £1000 plus doors ruined by such actions where the locksmiths didn't have the necessary skills to open these doors non destructively.
In the photograph below you can see what is actually inside your upvc door, this is the centre case/gearbox that works all the hooks and bolts that you see on the outside edge of your door.
When these break and they often do, then that's where the more experienced locksmiths are going to do a faster, cheaper job in opening your door and even more importantly with no damage to the door.
Even with the lock removed these gearboxes are notoriously difficult to get them to operate the locking mechanism once they are broken.
One of which is our non destructive opening service for locks and doors. Note that we include doors in this because as we shall see its a subtle difference between what a good experienced locksmith can do and what an inexperienced locksmith can do and what the adverts say.
Lets look at locks first.
Its well known that in the locksmith industry their is an over use of drills to gain entry to properties where the keys are missing or locked inside.
Not only is this a problem in the industry in that it creates a bad image of locksmiths, it also costs you the customer a lot more money.
That's not to say that a lot of local independent locksmiths don't provide this service.
In fact most are extremely skilled at opening and picking locks and provide an excellent service.
Its one of the many reasons why choosing local locksmiths is often cheaper and better for you in that usually they are much more skilled and have a lot more experience than a lot of the larger national company representatives.
We can't always promise to be able to pick open every lock, but what we do promise is that unless you the customer tell us other wise we always endeavor to exhaust all possible ways of gaining entry without damaging your locks.
Their are times when its impossible of course such as when a lock is damaged, which can often happen on locks that have been under attack from attempted break ins.
So what is NDE (non destructive entry) which is what you see on some websites for locksmiths.
Its the opening or picking of locks without force
However don't forget many of these larger companies often charge a big premium to say that they are using this method which is all well and good but you could be paying extra for it.
Why does this matter ?
Because you don't always need it !
While their are locksmith companies that make a big promotion of this type of non destructive opening on their websites using it as a main feature its all rather academic if you have lost your keys, even if you have spares inside the property.
Why ?
Because if you lose keys and someone gains entry with those keys then its highly likely your insurance will be void.
Best practice is you really have to change the locks in cases of lost or missing keys.
If not for insurance purposes then for peace of mind, what you don't want is someone sneaking around your house in the middle of the night after finding your keys all for the sake of changing a lock. After all while the locksmith is their he may as well change the lock anyway.
At Paul Easton locksmiths we only charge for the part/lock required as we are their anyway, so theirs no fitting charges.
Of all the doors requiring opening where you may not have to change the locks upvc is the most likely, yale nightlatches as well. Highly unlikely are mortice locks, because you can't lock a mortice lock and leave the keys inside, you can only lock them and lose the keys.
That's not to say its not a highly cost effective skill, their are many occasions where it does save the customer money and its something Paul Easton Locksmiths do on a regular basis as illustrated in the top photograph where i'm picking open a upvc door using an electric pick gun.
Below is a link to a very informative article on the subject of non destructive entry
http://www.burgoynes.com/articles/2012/02/lock-picking-and-non-destructive-methods-entry
Now lets look at doors and NDE (non destructive opening) which in my experience is where the real savings can be made for the customer.
Its fair to say that a large part of a locksmiths work will be on upvc doors as these are the most common doors in the Uk now and nearly all local independent locksmiths will be adept at opening these types of locks and doors even though they don't always advertise NDE ( non destructive opening) as a main feature on their home page.
Its important to understand the differance, NDE does not mean that they can also open upvc doors with broken gearboxes.
NDE refers to locks only.
In my opinion non-destructive entry should extend to gaining entry to the dwelling without damage to the door as well, particularly on upvc doors where a mechanism is faulty/broken or a gearbox/centre case is jammed or broken.
At Paul Easton Locksmiths with over 40 years experience we specialize in these types of door openings.
This is where the better more experienced locksmiths really come into their own on jobs like this, its not unknown for a so called locksmith to take angle grinders to a door to get past the hooks.
I have seen £1000 plus doors ruined by such actions where the locksmiths didn't have the necessary skills to open these doors non destructively.
In the photograph below you can see what is actually inside your upvc door, this is the centre case/gearbox that works all the hooks and bolts that you see on the outside edge of your door.
When these break and they often do, then that's where the more experienced locksmiths are going to do a faster, cheaper job in opening your door and even more importantly with no damage to the door.
Even with the lock removed these gearboxes are notoriously difficult to get them to operate the locking mechanism once they are broken.
The photograph below shows the entry points/holes that are available for a locksmith to work through in order to manipulate the mechanism and open the door.
For illustration purposes the door is open and the mechanism partly removed.
When we have to open these doors its closed and the holes marked with the crosses are the only points of entry bearing in mind that any additional holes have to be made within the footprint of the handle.
For illustration purposes the door is open and the mechanism partly removed.
When we have to open these doors its closed and the holes marked with the crosses are the only points of entry bearing in mind that any additional holes have to be made within the footprint of the handle.
In conclusion as we have illustrated their are a number of reasons why looking for more experienced local locksmiths rather than relying just on what's on a website can pay off and save you money.
Finally lets look at one of the most frequent questions asked when searching for a locksmith, how much will it cost ?
Which trusted traders looked at this, to see the full article go to the link below.
https://trustedtraders.which.co.uk/articles/cost-guide-locksmiths
But we can compare some of the more frequent calls we at Paul Easton Locksmiths get, to this survey.
Below is the link to our upvc door and door locks fault finder page which will help you identify the type of fault you potentially could have and what its likely to cost.
https://www.pauleastonlocksmiths.com/fault-finder-for-doors
Finally lets look at one of the most frequent questions asked when searching for a locksmith, how much will it cost ?
Which trusted traders looked at this, to see the full article go to the link below.
https://trustedtraders.which.co.uk/articles/cost-guide-locksmiths
But we can compare some of the more frequent calls we at Paul Easton Locksmiths get, to this survey.
Job Guide price by the Which survey compared to prices we charge at Paul Easton Locksmiths Chepstow.
Nationwide price. Labour to remove a broken key without replacing the cylinder £80-£100.
Paul Easton Locksmiths price at £65.00
Nationwide price.Replace a budget Euro-Profile cylinder in a uPVC door £100-£150
Paul Easton locksmiths again would be cheaper at £75.00 half the price if you get charged the maximum price.
Nationwide price.Replace an anti-snap Euro-Profile cylinder in a upvc door £125-£170
Paul Easton Locksmiths price £95.00.
Nationwide price. lostkeys – open one standard mortice lock and one standard rim lock £90-£130
Paul Easton Locksmiths price £85.00, however that's not quite the full price because as we have said in the article lost keys to a mortice lock would normally be best practice to change the lock and the prices for that would be extra as a nationwide company charge approx double what we do for locks, then extra again for fitting.
Quite a saving, by using a local business such as ours we are half the price of using a national call centre company.
For more information or to book our service call us on,
Chepstow 01291 625540
Mobile 07913 158497
Below is the link to our upvc door and door locks fault finder page which will help you identify the type of fault you potentially could have and what its likely to cost.
https://www.pauleastonlocksmiths.com/fault-finder-for-doors
