Fine and high-security door hardware, fitted properly
Emtek, Baldwin, high-security cylinders, and finishes that don't mind the salt. Fitted by a locksmith, so the door closes the way it should.
Hardware worth the door it's on
An entry set is the one thing on a house everyone touches every day. When it's right, the latch clicks without a shove, the deadbolt throws with two fingers, and the lever feels like it belongs. When it's wrong, it's a small daily annoyance and, eventually, a door that doesn't lock.
Most of what we fix starts with a good lock installed badly: a strike a sixteenth off, a door that swelled in June, a deadbolt that was never quite square. Fitting is the job. The brand is the easy part. And if the hardware is fine and it's only the keys you want changed, that's a rekey, not new hardware.
Brands we fit and service
Emtek and Baldwin for entry sets and interior hardware, in the finishes and styles that suit a Leucadia cottage or a Spanish-style Ranch entry. Schlage's commercial-grade line where a door gets hard use. Medeco and Mul-T-Lock for high-security cylinders. We can order to spec, or fit hardware you've chosen with your designer. If you've bought something that won't work on your door, we'll say so before we drill anything.
High-security cylinders
A high-security cylinder resists picking and bumping and, more to the point for most people, controls keys: the blanks are restricted and copies need your authorization. Worth it when you hand keys to staff or tenants, when there's been a break-in nearby, or when you simply want to know how many keys exist.
Not worth it on a door with a glass panel beside the deadbolt until the glass is dealt with. We'll tell you where the weak point actually is, and it's often not the lock. For what's inside the house, a bolted safe is the other layer.
Salt air and finishes
Within a mile or so of the bluffs, hardware ages fast. "Brass-look" plated hardware pits and turns green in a couple of years. Steel strikes and screws rust from the holes out. Sand gets into thresholds and slider latches.
Real living brass and unlacquered bronze will patina. That's not damage, and a lot of people like it. PVD finishes hold their color for years and are what we recommend west of 101 if you want it to keep looking new. Stainless internals matter more than the outside.
Care schedule: once a year, wipe the exterior hardware with fresh water, dry it, and put a dry lubricant in the cylinder. Never the aerosol under everyone's sink; it gums the pins. We'll do it as part of an annual visit if you'd rather not.
Mortise locks in older homes
The 1920s to 50s cottages in Leucadia and Cardiff often still have their original mortise locks, some with glass knobs. They're better made than most of what's sold today, and they're rekeyable. Don't let anyone drill a tubular deadbolt through that door out of convenience. We rebuild and rekey mortise sets, find period-correct parts where we can, and add a discreet modern deadbolt above when you want the security without losing the door.
Smart locks for your own home
A smart lock is only as good as the door it's on. We fit them properly: strike aligned so the motor doesn't strain, door swing checked, batteries or hardwired power sorted, and the app set up on your phone before we leave. Battery models suit most doors; hardwired options exist for new doors and remodels.
If the lock is for a rental, per-guest codes and turnovers are on the rentals page.
Gates, casitas, and outbuildings
Olivenhain properties come with a gated drive and a keypad pedestal, a main house, a casita, a barn or workshop, a pool gate, and too often a different key for each. We plan them onto one key system, so the house key opens the workshop and the gate, while staff and guests get keys that open only what they should. More on Olivenhain and its gates.
Pedestrian gates by the beach get the same sand-and-salt treatment as front doors.
Working with your contractor or designer
Remodels across the ~1980 custom homes here usually mean new doors, and a new door with the old hardware is a missed chance. Give us the door schedule and we'll spec backsets, bore sizes and handing, order the hardware, and fit it once the painter is done. We work happily with designers who've already chosen the finish; we just make sure it works. In Encinitas Ranch and around Quail Gardens, we match the finish to what the HOA allows.
Storefronts along 101 get a shorter version of all this: commercial-grade deadbolts, cylinders keyed to the owner's system, and door closers that actually close. Ask.
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Send a photo of your door. We'll spec the hardware.
Call, or text a photo of the door and the finish you're after.
- Hours
- Mon–Sat 8am–8pm
After-hours lockouts by phone - Credentials
- Licensed and insured
- Area
- Encinitas & Cardiff-by-the-Sea
92024 · 92007