Non-destructive entry first, always - and we re-key Schlage, Kwikset, and Baldwin locks on the spot while you watch
You get a price before we start. It does not change when we arrive. No surprises.
Fast, Reliable Lock Installation & Rekey Across Baltimore
Lock installation and rekeying in Baltimore usually costs $95-$210 for a standard cylinder swap and $165-$385 for a new deadbolt installed in a brick-set rowhouse frame. We tell you the exact price on the phone before anyone is dispatched, and that number does not change when the technician arrives. No call-out surcharge added at the door, no revision because the job “looked harder” once we saw it. You reach a live person at (331) 310-8471, day or night.
Most Baltimore lock work happens in pre-war brick rowhouses where the front door sits directly in masonry, not in a standard wood-side jamb. That changes how a lock has to be anchored, what a proper strike plate looks like, and why some hardware that works fine in the county binds up here by February. Daniel Novak founded this company in 2002 on one rule: the price named on the phone is the price on the invoice, written down before any work starts. That rule has never had an exception. We carry the tools, anchors, and mortise-specific parts to do the job correctly in Baltimore’s housing stock, not just quickly.
Why Novak Lock & Security Is Baltimore’s Preferred Lock Installation & Rekey Company
Baltimore customers research before they call. They read the three-star reviews. They want a number in writing, and they want to know who’s actually coming to the door. That’s why we built the entire business around the written quote. Dispatchers give a firm price before scheduling, and our technicians are contractually prohibited from changing it on arrival. That’s Haven Standard Clause 1, and it has been company policy since Daniel Novak opened the doors.
Our technicians are background-checked and uniformed on every visit. When the job is done, you leave with a documented photo record of the work, the lock condition we found, and the parts we touched. You also get the 365-Day Done Right Promise: if the installation or rekey isn’t right, we make it right. No argument, no re-inspection fee, no chasing. We are independently owned and operated, not part of a franchise, and we answer calls with a live person around the clock. No voicemail queue, no automated phone tree.
We work across the whole city: Hampden, Canton, Fells Point, Mount Vernon, Station North, Remington, Greektown, Park Heights, and every rowhouse block in between. When you call, the person who answers knows the difference between a mortise lock in a 1910 Canton rowhouse and a cylindrical deadbolt in a post-1990 rebuild. That local knowledge is the difference between a job done in one visit and a job that leaves you locked out again the first cold snap of January.
Our Lock Installation & Rekey Services in Baltimore
Smart Lock Installation
A smart lock on a Baltimore rowhouse door is not the same job as a smart lock on a suburban jamb. Most rowhouse doors are original solid wood, and many frames are set into brick with no side jamb to accept a standard reinforcement plate. We install smart locks from brands like Yale and Schlage, but the anchor points have to be cut into masonry or set through the door with a steel insert, not just screwed into a wooden jamb that isn’t there. The frame has to be true first. If the brick has shifted over a century of settle and the door sags a quarter inch, no smart lock will work reliably until we adjust the hinge leaves and recut the strike pocket.
Keyless Entry
Keyless entry is the fastest-growing request in Baltimore apartments and condos, and it changes how a multi-tenant building handles access. A resident with a keypad or app entry doesn’t carry a key to copy at the hardware store, which matters in a city where restricted key control is a building-wide problem. For single-family rowhouses, keyless entry also solves the lockout that happens when the deadbolt binds in the January cold and the resident left their keys inside. We install keyless entry on original rowhouse doors frequently. The hardware matters less than the frame prep: the bolt has to travel freely through the strike with the door fully closed and latched, or the first temperature swing will bind it.
Keypad Lock
Keypad locks are useful on multi-tenant entries in Mount Vernon, Station North, and similar neighborhoods where unit turns happen monthly and key control becomes a management headache. Instead of rekeying a lock every time a tenant moves out, the manager changes a code. We install keypad locks on Baltimore rowhouse conversions and apartment buildings, and we always walk the building owner through adding, deleting, and auditing codes before we leave. A keypad lock on a shared vestibule entry in a converted rowhouse requires a strike that holds against a shoulder push; we anchor into the brick, not just the trim.
Biometric Lock
Biometric locks are still a niche product in Baltimore, but we do install them, mostly in commercial suites and a few single-family homes where a resident wants restricted access without a key or phone. The sensors work fine in Baltimore’s climate, but the same installation restrictions apply: a biometric lock mounted on a door that isn’t properly aligned will fail prematurely. You can’t add biometric hardware to a sagging 1920s door and expect the fingerprint reader to outlast the hinge adjustment it needed. We make the frame right first, then install the lock. All price ranges are quoted in writing before we start.
What happens when you call
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A real person answersNo phone trees - you reach a local pro.
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You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched.
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A background-checked tech heads outLicensed & insured, dispatched right away.
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You approve before work beginsNothing starts until you say go.
Trusted Brands We Service in Baltimore
We install and service the full range, from entry-grade Kwikset and Schlage to high-security Medeco, Mul-T-Lock, and Abloy cylinders. Baltimore specificially: when you ask for a Baldwin lock on a Fells Point restoration or a Mul-T-Lock high-security cylinder on a Mount Vernon apartment entry, we know exactly which tailpiece, strike, and mortise body your era of rowhouse takes. We stock the parts that matter here; original mortise body spares, masonry anchors, extended lip strikes, and narrowed hinge leaves for doors that have settled out of plane. We do factory-authorized work, and we can key Medeco and Mul-T-Lock restricted systems in the branch. No mix of hardware and no substitution on a high-security system.
Common Lock Installation & Rekey Problems We See in Baltimore Homes
- Brick-set strikes that fail. In a pre-1950 rowhouse, the front door typically has no wood side jamb. A standard ANSI strike plate or reinforcement kit won’t fit, and if a previous installer forced it, the plate is hanging on two masonry screws that pull out with one kick. We recut the strike pocket into the brick itself and anchor with steel inserts. That’s the only fix that holds.
- Binding deadbolts every winter. Chesapeake humidity and freeze-thaw cycles cause the brick facades and original wood frames of Baltimore rowhouses to move seasonally. A deadbolt that works in August jams every January. The door has shifted out of plane; the bolt no longer travels through the strike. You can replace the lock three times and it won’t fix the rack. The door has to be rehung or the strike recut to the new position.
- Mis-matched hardware layered over original mortise pockets. Years of handyman work in gentrifying rowhouse blocks (Station North, Remington, Greektown) leave doors with a modern deadbolt installed in a hole drilled through a 1910 mortise lock body, then another deadbolt added above it when the first one failed. We see this constantly. Rekeying a door like that is possible, but the better fix is usually pulling the layered hardware, filling or restoring the original pocket, and installing one lock that belongs in the door.
- Restricted key copies gone wrong. A resident copies a Medeco restricted key at a big-box store, the copy turns halfway and breaks in the cylinder, and now the whole multi-tenant entry is jammed. We extract the key, replace the cylinder if it’s damaged, and work with the building owner on a resync or rekey. Restricted key systems are worth protecting; one copied key is a building-wide liability.
Pricing for Lock Installation & Rekey in Baltimore, MD
Every price is named before we dispatch. No one shows up and revises it. You get a written record of what we did, a photo record of the hardware as we found it and as we left it, and the 365-Day Done Right Promise on top. For a specific number on your door, your locks, and your building, call (331) 310-8471. The estimate is free and binding.
We Also Serve Cities Near Baltimore
Novak Lock & Security serves Baltimore and the surrounding metro. We do lock installation and rekey work in Dundalk, Towson, Glen Burnie, and Randallstown regularly. The same written-price rule applies everywhere we go, including every job outside the city line. If you are in Baltimore County or Anne Arundel County and need rowhouse or standard framing work done by a crew that knows Baltimore’s housing stock, call the same live answer at (331) 310-8471.
Serving Baltimore, MD - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Baltimore area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage - if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs - Lock Installation & Rekey in Baltimore
Yes, we can rekey the original cylinder on a 100-year-old mortise lock and keep the original door and lock body intact. Most Baltimore rowhouse mortise locks from the 1880s through 1940s use standard Yale-compatible cylinders that we can rekey in place by pulling the cylinder and repinning it to a new key. The lock body, the trim, and the original door stay exactly as they are. If the mortise body itself is worn beyond repair, we can source a period-correct replacement body rather than drilling a modern deadbolt through the door. That’s the right fix for character-preserved buildings in Fells Point, Hampden, and similar districts. Call (331) 310-8471 for an exact quote; estimates are free.
It is almost always a Baltimore brick problem, not a hardware problem. The brick facade and original wood frame of a rowhouse shift with freeze-thaw cycles, and a door that was hung true in 1925 moves a quarter inch out of plane over decades of seasonal settling. The deadbolt stops lining up with the strike, and the door jams. Replacing the lock doesn’t fix it. The fix is a hinge-leaf adjustment and a recut of the strike pocket into the brick or frame. That repair stops the binding. We do that work weekly in Fells Point, Canton, and every other old rowhouse corridor in the city. Call (331) 310-8471 and we will diagnose it over the phone and give you a written price before sending anyone out.
Yes, we install smart locks on original Baltimore rowhouse doors with brick-set frames and no side jamb, but the anchoring is completely different from a suburban install. There is no wood side jamb to accept a standard strike plate or reinforcement kit, so we cut the strike pocket into the brick itself and anchor with steel inserts. If the door has settled, we adjust the hinge leaves first, because a smart lock’s bolt retraction is less forgiving than a mechanical deadbolt. We have installed keyless and smart locks on original doors in Canton, Hampden, and Mount Vernon. The job runs $180-$320 in labor plus the lock hardware, quoted in writing before we start. Call (331) 310-8471 for a firm number on your specific door.
The fastest way to regain control of a copied Medeco restricted key is to rekey the affected cylinders to a new keyway or new top-level master, which is the only way to invalidate the copied key entirely. A Medeco restricted key should never be copyable at a retail store, but when it happens, you are dealing with a breach of the restricted key control. We are a factory-authorized Medeco service provider with branch-level key cutting and pinning for the full system. This is a scheduled survey, not a dispatch-and-go job: we assess the compromise, recommend whether you need a partial rekey or a full system reset, and deliver a written scope with a flat per-lock price before any work starts. Daniel Novak has been handling Medeco master key systems since 2002. Call (331) 310-8471 to schedule the survey.
The fastest way is a non-destructive lock picking or bypass by a licensed locksmith who carries the right tools for Baltimore’s housing stock, because the door you are standing behind is likely an original solid wood rowhouse door in a brick-set frame and it belongs to a landlord. We can get you back in without drilling, without kicking the door, and without breaking the lock. That matters in Greektown, Canton, and every rowhouse block where the freeholder owns the door and you do not. We respond across Baltimore in under an hour in most calls, and the price is named on the phone before a technician is dispatched, and that is the price you pay. Call (331) 310-8471.
If you have a lock installation, rekey, or lockout in Baltimore, call (331) 310-8471 now. You get a live person, a written price, and a technician who understands rowhouse doors and brick-set frames. The quote is free, and it will not change at the door.
Written by Daniel Novak, Owner at Novak Lock & Security, serving Baltimore.