If you like building snowmen, or singing songs from Frozen while you wait for us to come fix your doors, then – by all means – when it comes to cold weather and locks – let it go.
Cold weather can cause problems with locks and doors. Sure, we can fix it – but you can prevent it. For the problems that you can’t prevent, we’re here. When someone at your office or home sings “Do You Want to Call a Locksmith?” – think of us. And good luck getting that song out of your head, now.
Oil your locks and hinges. In the cold, metal parts can contract and bind up: doors jam, locks catch. Forcing locks to turn or doors to open might get them to work, but it can just as easily break something. If you don’t break something, the forcing will definitely grate on the parts and create a lot of wear in a very short time. In the short term, you’ll feel good because you got it to work, but really you just hastened the breakage.
Note that the WD in WD40 stands for Water Displacement, so a shot of that lubricant will displace and prevent moisture and freezing, but – only if you do it before it’s freezing outside. It supposed to be 6 degrees tomorrow night, so we thought to walk around the shop and give the keyholes and hinges a shot.
Hurray for oiling your locks and doors, but know that lubrication won’t solve all your problems. Sometimes, when frames, hinges and locks contract, not only will parts bind up on themselves, but entire door frames can warp out of true and so even a perfectly functioning lock can end up misaligned.
Most doors and locks aren’t installed in extreme temperatures. It follows then that these extreme conditions – hot or cold – can move parts out of true and cause problems. You may have seen this with a certain door that binds up on foggy days or sticks when it rains. This is typcially from wood absorbing moisture and swelling the door or frame until parts rub or bind up.
In the Winter, with drier air, it’s not only the contraction of metal parts that can be problematic, but the shrinking of wood parts as they dry out can put parts out of alignment.
Don’t Let It Go – Oil your locks. If you still have problems, then remember to think of Us when someone asks, “do you want to call a locksmith?”
