Jammed & Broken Lock Repair in Vancouver
A lock that won’t turn, a bolt that’s stuck half-thrown, or a key snapped off flush in the cylinder — we free it, extract it and get the door working again, any hour of the day or night. We come to you across Greater Vancouver and fix it without wrecking the door or the hardware wherever the mechanism allows.
When a lock seizes or a key snaps
Locks jam for reasons that build up slowly and then fail all at once — worn pins, a dry or gummed-up cylinder, a bent bolt, swollen doors in wet weather, or a cheap key that finally sheared under a normal turn. When the key snaps off inside, half of it stays wedged in the plug and the door is effectively welded shut. Forcing it only drives the broken piece deeper or cracks the cylinder, which turns a small repair into a full replacement.
Our approach is to slow the problem down instead of powering through it. We work out why the mechanism is binding — a broken key, a failed spring, a misaligned strike, a frozen or corroded cylinder — then extract, free or repair it with the right tools. Picks, extractors and bypass first; drilling is a last resort we quote before we reach for it. The goal every time is to keep the door and the hardware you already own working, not to sell you a new lock you didn’t need.
What a jammed-lock call covers
- Broken-key extraction. We pull the snapped-off piece from the cylinder with proper extractor tools, not glue or force.
- Free a seized cylinder. A plug that won’t turn gets cleaned, lubricated and re-tensioned so the key moves smoothly again.
- Stuck or jammed deadbolt. A bolt caught mid-throw is released and the strike alignment corrected so it stops binding.
- Frozen & weather-swollen locks. Winter-frozen mechanisms and doors that swell in the rain are thawed, eased and set right.
- Worn-mechanism repair. Failed springs, ground-down pins and loose cams are rebuilt or replaced so the lock holds.
- Fresh key cut on the spot. Once the lock works, we cut you a clean replacement key so a worn one doesn’t snap again.
From stuck door to working lock
Diagnose the jam
We check the key, plug, bolt and strike to find exactly what’s binding before touching a tool.
Extract or free it
Broken keys come out, seized cylinders get freed, and we quote any drilling before it happens.
Repair & test
We rebuild or replace what failed, cut a fresh key if needed, then cycle the lock until it runs clean.
Save the door, not just the day
A jammed lock is the moment a door is most likely to get destroyed — by a well-meaning neighbour with a screwdriver, or by whoever drills first and asks questions later. We’re on-site in about twenty minutes on average, fully mobile from Downtown and Yaletown out to Burnaby, Richmond, New Westminster and the North Shore, and we lead with non-destructive methods so your hardware survives the call. You’ll hear a fixed, upfront price before any work starts — no call-out surprises and no after-hours markup.
Licensed, bonded & insured · BC Security Worker Licence #E106677 · fixed pricing agreed before we start.
