Needless to say when it comes to the locksmith business or the commercial door business quick response is a must. When locked out of your house or locked out of your car or business you can't schedule that. It is an absolute emergency at times. Businesses have to open on time. People get locked out of offices that are critical to the function of not only businesses but also places like the police stations and hospitals and schools.
As hard as it is to believe even business doors Just fall of...
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News
Safe openings
In the twenty years of offering safe service and being a locksmith for Cartersville, Kennesaw, Acworth, and surrounding areas we have opened thousands of safes. We do Sentry safes, Winchester safes, Cannon safes, Brinks safes, and probably far more Safe openings than what I could even begin to list.
How much is a safe opening?
This depends on the safe, but Sentry safes are $150 Some of the Cannon safes are about $200 but any safe that has hard plate will be more expensive. Hard plate is a...
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Getting your locks changed or rekeyed
I was changing some locks in Cartersville and I was speaking to a customer and evidently, a lot of people don't realize that you don't have to replace all of the lock hardware on your home anymore. You can just simply have your locks rekeyed. At a fraction of the cost.
Is it less expensive to rekey locks or replace them?
Most locksmiths charge somewhere around $15 per keyhole to rekey locks. After a lock is rekeyed anyone that previously had a key will no longer have an operational key. "...
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We open safes and this one in Rockmart, Ga had to be drilled.
We open safes. Here are a few of the safes we've unlocked, and serviced:
Sentry
Cannon
Winchester
Safari
Amsec
Fire King
Needless to say, if you're looking for someone to unlock safes we've unlocked hundred of different models. The list of safes that we've opened continues to grow. We can unlock safes without a combination. Most importantly we can change the combination to your safe if you should lose an employee.
We can change rotational dials to push-butto...
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Master Key Systems
Master key systems, when implemented by the wrong company, can be extremely complex, confusing and frustrating. For example, we recently worked on a church in Cartersville, and I could kind of see the early signs of what I call the master key system haze. Confusion had set in. But most importantly she had at least figured out what employees were going to be given access to what areas at the church. Which is extremely untypical by the way.
Master keyed lock setup
Master key setup is the mo...
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Is it cheaper to rekey locks or replace them?
In short if your looking to rekey more than two locks YES!
The cost of quality lock hardware has gone up significantly in the last few years and the quality has gone down, so re-keying is a great alternative. Although they may have self re-keyable locks now they simply don't hold up. Just as a precaution before I start offering a new product I always use it. The new Kwikset smart key locks that I installed on my home only lasted 18 months.
The average cost to rekey locks is somewhere arou...
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Hollow metal doors with full glass installed in Atlanta
I was really excited about this particular install in Atlanta. We installed 2 new hollow metal doors with full glass, 2 new door closers, and 2 new panic bars with ADA compliant lever handles "handicap compliant".
This particular opening previously had two wood doors with tiny little rectangular pieces of glass. The limited natural light made the whole hollow way very dark. This door had also started to swell "like most commercial wood exterior doors" so it was time to change the doors. The...
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New Push-Button LSDA Combination Grade 1 Lever Lock
Lsda in the past has introduced many push-button locks to their lineup however most of them were residential combination locks, and to be quite Frank most locksmiths wouldn't sell them. Because they were kind of an Asian import that wasn't of shall we say "exceptional quality".
This new LSDA commercial push-button lock is extremely high quality. The first thing you notice when you hold the lock is the weight of a lock. This is not a rinky-dink contraption that isn't going to last. This is a...
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Installed a few hollow steel doors in Cartersville
Hollow steel door installations can get a little hairy at times. This is one of those rare occasions where we both walked away from the job and agreed it went super smooth. We installed two hollow steel door with two rekeyed lever locks on two new panic bars, with two new door closers . Lastly we installed two full surface continuous hinges
One very rusty door in Cartersville with a perfect frame gets a door swap.
After installing the new hollow steel door in the doorway with a faul...
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We unlock big rigs / semi trucks / or big trucks
We unlock big rigs and unlock semi trucks quickly and professionally. Unlocking semi trucks or big rigs has been part of our business for 20 years. We offer emergency response to unlock semi trucks or big rigs in Emerson, Cartersville, Kennesaw, Adairsville, Calhoun and White Georgia. We also unlock big rigs or big trucks in Kennesaw, Acworth, and Marietta. Our response time is just 45 minutes to an hour in that area, and we don't necessarily consider that an emergency response time. However a ...
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Push-button locks installed in Rome, Ga today
I just installed some push-button locks. We also install deadbolts otherwise known as bolt locks in Rome, Ga. I asked the customer if there was a reason why they had chosen to put combination locks on all of their doors? Laughing they responded because we keep locking ourselves out over and over again.
A few Other locks other to consider
Well needless to say push-button locks have become very affordable here lately. Installing them has not always been an affordable option. Here's somet...
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Northstar a Marietta locksmith that installs doors
Today's required Marietta locksmith installs doors and today was a pretty simple install "for a professional that is." It was in my old stomping grounds in the Marietta area. I originally started my locksmith business off Whitlock Avenue in Marietta.
Today we installed a new set of commercial doors with windows. We then installed a new threshold and 2 vertical rod panic devices. Northstar installs doors all over but today we did the work for a church in Marietta.
This is one job that was...
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Commercial door repair vs replacement
One of the services that we have consequently become very good at is commercial door repair as well as commercial door replacement. Keep in mind a lock is only going to be as secure as the door you put it on. Even hollow metal doors will eventually rust away. This is the calling card of an inexperienced Atlanta locksmith company or door company. This kind of commercial door repair is preventable.
A correctly installed door cap on the door below would have kept water from seeping into the top...
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Problems with the Kwikset smartkey product line.
Sounds like the perfect solution anytime you want to re-key your locks you can just simply do it yourself, right? I was one of the first locksmiths serving the Marietta area that found out the product was made from poor materials. Within weeks there was a YouTube video on how to unlock Kwikset SmartKey deadbolt locks with a flat head screwdriver in seconds. Kwikset has come a long way however with their smart key product. Kwikset smartkey locks aren't quite as vulnerable as it was when it was f...
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Door Closers
Door closers have many uses other than just closing a door. First they help commercial buildings be more energy efficient. They make sure doors that have limited access close behind the people that are key holders. Door closers also control the rate in which they close so that the door doesn't hit you in the back. Most importantly they control the rate a fire can spread through a building. As a result many local fire codes require them.
Door closers work with springs and hydraulic fluid to c...
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Replacing Storefront hinges or pivots Vs. Installing A Continuous Hinge
We went out on a Kennesaw Locksmith Call and found one of the most common problems with commercial storefront style doors are failing storefront pivots, otherwise known as storefront hinges. Storefront pivots attach to the top and the bottom of the door and sometimes you'll see one or two more holding the storefront door to the frame of the door. Overtime with wear and settling these hinges will either cause a door to rub at either the top or side of the aluminum door frame or on the threshol...
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Adams Rite Storefront Locks
Adams Rite Storefront Locks
Adams Rite Storefront Locks are found in most aluminum-style storefront doors. They all come with very similar problems, most of which are very easy to solve. For instance, when the cylinders just suddenly start rejecting keys or not releasing the keys There are only a few different styles of Adams Rite locks and they come in similar back sets.
Firstly the deadbolt
Available in 3 back sets 1 1/2" 31/32" 1 1/8"
This lock works great for single or double aluminum gl...
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The risks of social media
The risks of Facebook
Here are just a few pieces of information you can learn from the average Facebook account.
where you live
if your married
If your single
Age
where you work
what you drive
what you wear
what schools your kids go to
what schools you go to
where you shop
work history
what your email address is
what your phone number is
what hours you work
who your family members and friends are
where they work
what schedule they work
where they live
what...
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We unlock cars trucks and big rigs

Unlocking cars trucks and big rigs, semi trucks, or tractor trailers certainly takes a professional. In short these locks require the locks to be picked. To clarify using traditional tools to unlock one of these vehicles can very easily lead to injury as a result of the height of the vehicle. Subsequently, Northstar has 22 years of experience unlocking these vehicles.
Consequently any inexperienced tow truck drivers have gotten very injured attempting to unlocking unlocking cars trucks and ...
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