Rockridge locksmith for Craftsman mortise locks, College Ave storefronts and the side gates that swing shut behind you

Rockridge is old wood and old hardware. The Craftsman and brown-shingle houses on the streets off College Ave were built in the 1910s and 20s, and a good share of them still open with a mortise lock set into the door edge or a rim lock screwed to the inside face. Those work fine when they are maintained, and the tech works them open without damage before anything else is considered. Rekeying an old mortise cylinder costs the same $21–$36 as a modern one when the mechanism is sound. When an owner wants a deadbolt added above the original set, the bore is measured so it does not split a century-old stile, and lock replacement runs $99–$275 per door.

The side gate is the Rockridge lockout. Someone carries the recycling out through the gate to the driveway, it swings shut, and the front door is locked from inside. House lockouts run $105–$185 and the gate latch is often the fastest part of the visit. College Ave is a long row of small storefronts with wood and glass doors that need adjusting more than replacing, at $139–$430. Rockridge BART and the commuter streets along Hwy 24 produce the car calls, mostly a fob that died on the train home from SF; programming runs $94–$165 at the curb. Arrival is about twenty minutes, a little longer above Broadway Terrace where the streets start to curve.