A New Home on Chandler Blvd — and a Smart First Move
Maria called us on a Tuesday afternoon in March. She’d just closed on a two-bedroom bungalow off Chandler Boulevard, a couple blocks east of Tujunga Avenue in North Hollywood. Her voice had that mix of excitement and low-key anxiety that we hear a lot from new homeowners.
“I got the keys yesterday,” she said. “But I keep thinking — who else has copies? The old owners, their dog walker, a neighbor, maybe an old contractor. I just want to know that the only people who can get into my house are the people I choose.”
Totally fair. We told her we could be there the next morning.
Why a Lock Change Made Sense Here
We always talk through the options with customers. Sometimes a lock rekey in north hollywood is all you need — it’s faster, cheaper, and works great when the existing hardware is solid. But Maria’s situation was different.
Her house still had the original builder-grade locks. We’re talking basic Kwikset knobs from probably the early 2000s, the kind with a Grade 3 rating that you can practically open with a credit card and a firm nudge. One of the deadbolts on the side door had visible rust around the keyhole. The back door leading to the small patio? No deadbolt at all — just a knob lock.
A full lock change in North Hollywood was the right call. New hardware, new keys, new everything.
What We Did at Maria’s Place
Our tech, Danny, pulled up to her place around 9:30 AM. North Hollywood mornings are pretty calm once the Lankershim Boulevard rush dies down, and he found parking right out front.
He walked the property with Maria and counted five entry points: the front door, a side door off the driveway, the back patio door, a door from the garage into the house, and a side gate with a padlock. That’s a lot of access points for a small bungalow, but these older North Hollywood homes were built that way.
Here’s what Danny installed:
Front Door
Schlage B60N deadbolt — Grade 1 commercial-rated — paired with a matching Schlage handleset. This is the door guests see, so Maria picked a satin nickel finish that matched the porch light fixture she’d already bought.
Side Door and Garage Entry
Same Schlage deadbolts, Grade 1, with heavy-duty knob sets below. The side door frame had a little bit of dry rot around the strike plate area, so Danny reinforced it with a 3-inch screw kit and a metal strike plate reinforcer. Takes an extra ten minutes. Makes a huge difference.
Back Patio Door
This one needed the most work since there was no deadbolt prep hole in the door. Danny drilled and installed a new deadbolt from scratch, plus replaced the flimsy knob lock. Maria mentioned she liked sitting out back in the evenings — the patio looks toward the Tujunga Wash — so she wanted that door to feel solid. It does now.
Side Gate
Swapped the rusty padlock for a new Masterlock shrouded padlock. Simple fix, but it keeps the side yard locked up properly.
The whole job took about two and a half hours. Maria got four matching keys that work on every door except the gate padlock, which has its own key pair. She labeled them on the spot with a Sharpie — front, spare, mom, boyfriend. We liked that energy.
The Part People Forget
Before Danny left, he reminded Maria about something a lot of new homeowners overlook: window locks. Her casement windows were fine — the crank mechanisms act as their own locks. But two sliding windows on the north side had broken crescent latches. He didn’t have the right parts on the truck for those, but he gave her the part numbers so she could grab them at the hardware store on Vineland Avenue and swap them herself. Five-minute fix with a screwdriver.
That’s the kind of thing we try to flag during a lock change in North Hollywood — the full picture, not just the doors you called about.
Tips If You Just Bought a Home
Based on jobs like Maria’s and hundreds of others across North Hollywood, here’s what we’d suggest:
- Change or rekey before you move furniture in. It’s way easier for us to work on doors when your couch isn’t blocking the entryway.
- Check every entry point, including gates. Walk the full perimeter. You’d be surprised how many access points you forget about.
- Go Grade 1 or Grade 2 on deadbolts. Grade 3 is residential minimum, and “minimum” is not what you want protecting your home.
- Reinforce strike plates. Most break-ins aren’t picked locks — they’re kicked doors. Long screws into the stud framing make a real difference.
- Keep a spare key with someone you trust. Not under the mat. Not in a fake rock. With a person.
We’re Here When You’re Ready
If you just bought a place — or you’ve been meaning to upgrade those old locks for a while — our team handles lock change North Hollywood jobs like this every week. We know the neighborhoods, the house styles, and the hardware that actually holds up. Check out our full range of North Hollywood locksmith services or give us a call at (818) 398-9391 and we’ll set something up.
