New Door Lock Installed Neatly, Working Smoothly from Day One in Warwick

Two very different jobs with one name

"Installing a new lock" covers two situations worth separating. The first is adding a lock to a door that has none — a garden shed, a workshop, a cupboard, or an internal door that needs privacy. That involves cutting a recess in the door's edge for the latch and drilling the face for the cylinder or handle, which is genuine carpentry and needs care to get straight and true. The second is fitting a lock where the door has the cut-outs already — replacing an old setup entirely, or completing a new door. The second is quicker and less invasive; the first is where workmanship really shows, because a badly cut door can't be uncut.

Choosing the right lock for the job

The lock has to match the door and the purpose. A thin internal door can't take a heavy mortice lock designed for a 45mm external door — the hardware physically won't fit. A shed needs something different from a front door; a bathroom needs a lock that can be opened from the outside in an emergency, which is a safety point rather than a nice-to-have; a shared house bedroom usually wants a privacy set rather than a key lock. Timber doors accept most lock types; uPVC and composite doors generally don't take added locks in the same way, working instead through their multi-point system — if yours is one of those, we'll assess what's actually possible before promising anything. We also fit smart-lock hardware where it suits: that means compatible retrofit products installed to the manufacturer's instructions, with the honest caveat that we can't guarantee app, network or battery behaviour — those depend on the product and your setup, and we'll say so before you buy.

How the fitting is done

For a door with no existing lock, we mark out from the manufacturer's template, drill the face holes and cut the edge recess cleanly, keeping everything square and at the right depth. Rushed morticing shows forever — splintered edges, a latch that sits proud, a cylinder that binds — so this is done with care, tested, and adjusted before the hardware goes on. For doors with existing cut-outs, we check their size and position against the new lock, modify only where a clean adjustment is possible, and fit. Then comes the part that separates a fitted lock from a working one: we check the bolt meets the keep squarely, the key and handle run smoothly through dozens of turns, and the door closes under its own weight.

What a new lock can't do

A new lock inherits the door's existing weaknesses. If the door doesn't meet its frame squarely, the bolt will fight the keep and the lock will feel stiff from day one — alignment may need sorting first, and we'll tell you if so. If the frame is soft or thin, no lock fitted to it will perform as designed, and we'll say what's realistic. And if what you're after is certified security for an insurance requirement, that's a specific question with specific answers — check what your policy asks for before the visit, because the right lock depends on it.

Aftercare

A newly fitted lock asks for very little: use it normally, don't force a stiff key, and mention it early if the action changes — new hardware that goes stiff usually has an alignment or fixing issue that's easy to correct while fresh. For smart locks, follow the product's own guidance on batteries and updates. Keep the instruction leaflet and spare keys somewhere findable; the most common follow-up we see is a perfectly good lock whose keys have migrated.

Booking and cost

Tell us the door, whether it currently has any lock or cut-outs, and what you want the lock to achieve — privacy, shed security, or a main-door upgrade. You pay a booking fee on booking; labour is charged hourly, with the rate depending on how soon you need the visit; and we quote the full cost before starting, including any lock or hardware identified and quoted separately from the labour. Nothing is cut until you've approved the plan — a door only gets cut once.