Smart locks
House lockouts
Re-keying
Deadbolt upgrades
Schlage
Kwikset
Car keys & fobsNon-destructive entry first, always - and we re-key Schlage, Kwikset, and Baldwin locks on the spot while you watch
You get a price before we start. It does not change when we arrive. No surprises.
Get your free estimateFast, Reliable Emergency Locksmith Across Highland
When you’re locked out of your house in Highland at 2 a.m. or your key snaps off in an aging deadbolt on Baseline, you need someone who knows the difference between a 1950s mortise lock and a 2005 builder-grade Kwikset. Our Emergency Locksmith team works across all of ZIP 92346, from the older grid near the historic downtown core to the stucco tract developments east of the 210. We answer calls from Highland residents around the clock, and our technician gets dispatched with the right tools for your home’s hardware, not a generic set someone grabs off a truck in Riverside. Call (855) 791-2710 when a lockout or a broken key can’t wait, and we’ll tell you exactly what to expect before we send anyone out.
Why Glendale Lock & Key Is Highland’s Preferred Emergency Locksmith Company
Highland isn’t Glendale. We know that. The housing stock here runs a full spectrum, from original mid-century ranch houses that still have their mortise locks to 1990s stucco builds with builder-grade hardware that’s never been rekeyed. A technician who only knows new construction can do real damage to a vintage door on a 1950s home near the old downtown. That’s exactly why our crew is trained on the lock systems we actually encounter in Highland, not the ones a textbook says should be there.
We’ve built a strong local reputation in Highland by getting to homes quickly without the drama. Our emergency call response for Highland neighborhoods, including the areas near Greenspot Road and Victoria Avenue, is consistently under an hour, and in many cases much faster depending on where the call is coming from. Highland customers keep our number saved because they know the person who shows up will recognize the hardware, say the name of the brand back to them, and offer a rekey where it makes sense instead of automatically replacing a perfectly good cylinder. Noel Tarkanian set this company up on a simple principle: handle the lock you’re standing in front of correctly, the first time.
Styles & brands we work with
Our Emergency Locksmith Services in Highland
24/7 Emergency Lockout
A house lockout in Highland usually comes down to one of a few things: a deadbolt that’s failed from years of desert heat cycling, a key that’s worn down to a nub, or a latch that’s shifted because the door frame swelled during winter rain. We open doors without drilling when the lock allows it. That matters a lot on older Highland homes, where the original mortise hardware is no longer manufactured and a drill-and-replace would mean sourcing a trim plate from a salvage house. Call (855) 791-2710, describe what you’re seeing, and we’ll bring the right tools for the entry, not a one-size-fits-all kit.
Broken Key Extraction
A snapped key in a Highland lock often traces back to a cylinder that should have been rekeyed years ago. The hotter, drier summer cycles here accelerate internal brass wear. The key takes more force to turn. Eventually it breaks. We extract broken keys from Kwikset, Schlage, Yale, and the older mortise locks we still see near the historic downtown, then we inspect the cylinder and tell you honestly whether it’s salvageable or whether a replacement makes more sense.
Safe Opening
Highland residents call us for safes for the same reasons anyone does: lost combinations, dead batteries in an electronic lock, or an inherited safe from a relative who left no combination and no manual. We open home safes without destroying the contents, and we do it on site. If the safe is salvageable, we’ll say so. If it’s time to retire it, we’ll tell you that too instead of patching it back together for one more season.
Eviction Lock Change
For landlords in Highland, an eviction lock change is a legal and security matter, and it needs a paper trail. We rekey or replace the exterior locks on a rental property, document the work, and hand you keys that only the people you authorize will have. In multi-unit buildings near the older parts of town, we often find original cylinder hardware that can be rekeyed economically instead of swapping every lock. We’ll always show you the path that protects your asset without wasting your money.
What happens when you call
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A real person answersNo phone trees — you reach a local pro.
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You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched.
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A background-checked tech heads outLicensed & insured, dispatched right away.
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You approve before work beginsNothing starts until you say go.
Trusted Brands We Service in Highland
We work on the lock you already have, not the one we’d prefer to sell you. In Highland, that means a lot of Schlage deadbolts on the mid-century homes, Kwikset knobs on the 1980s and 1990s tract builds, and the occasional Medeco cylinder on a small office or a homeowner who took security seriously before the smart-lock era. We stock common pins, cylinders, and latch assemblies for these brands so we can finish most rekey jobs in a single trip. If you have a Yale or Baldwin lockset, we handle those too, and we’ll say so before we roll out.
Common Emergency Locksmith Problems We See in Highland Homes
- Builder-grade Kwikset knobs still accepting the builder’s master key. In Highland’s 1980s – 2000s stucco tract homes, many original locksets were never rekeyed after construction. The builder’s key still works. A simple rekey eliminates every other key floating around, and it’s a fraction of a full replacement.
- Swollen wooden doors during winter rain throwing off the strike alignment. Highland gets enough wet-season weather to swell older door frames. The latch and strike no longer line up, the deadbolt binds, and eventually a key snaps under pressure. Fixing the strike alignment solves the root cause instead of just the symptom.
- Heat-accelerated cylinder wear in summer. Months of 100-degree days dry out the lubricant and accelerate pin wear inside Highlander locks. A key that worked in June starts sticking in September. That’s a sign the cylinder is telling you it needs servicing before it fails completely during a late-night lockout.
- Vintage mortise locks with worn skeleton keys in the older neighborhoods near the historic downtown. Many original Highland homes still have mortise locks that use flat skeleton keys. Decades of wear leave them unreliable. We can often retrofit a modern ANSI Grade 2 deadbolt while preserving the original trim, which keeps the door looking period-correct.
Pricing for Emergency Locksmith in Highland, CA
A typical after-hours home lockout in Highland runs $85 – $180, depending on the time of night and what’s on the door. Broken key extraction usually lands between $60 and $120 when the lock is otherwise healthy. A full rekey of a typical Highland entry set runs $65 – $150 for most Kwikset or Schlage cylinders, and we’ll quote a flat price per lock before we start. If we’re opening a mortise lock on a 1950s door, expect the labor to run higher, since those cylinders can’t be forced without doing real damage. The price we quote on the phone is the price on the invoice. No call-out surcharge appears after the fact, and nothing gets replaced without your approval. Call (855) 791-2710 for a free estimate tailored to your exact lock.
We Also Serve Cities Near Highland
While this page is written for Highland residents, our Emergency Locksmith in Highland crews also take calls from San Bernardino, Muscoy, Redlands, and Loma Linda. If you’re on the edge of town or the San Bernardino foothills, give us a call and we’ll confirm coverage and an ETA before you go anywhere.
Serving Highland, CA — Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Highland area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage — if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs – Emergency Locksmith in Highland
The first thing we tell every new Highland homeowner is to have the exterior locks rekeyed immediately. In many of the 1980s – 2000s stucco tract homes, the original builder-grade Kwikset knobs and deadbolts were keyed alike during construction, and the builder’s master key may still turn your lock today. A rekey costs a fraction of replacing all the hardware and ensures no subcontractor or prior owner’s key opens your front door. Call (855) 791-2710 and we’ll rekey every exterior cylinder in a single visit.
No, it’s a sign of cylinder wear and dried lubrication, and it’s extremely common in Highland because of the long stretches of 100-degree heat. The brass pins and springs inside the cylinder wear faster in dry, hot conditions, and the key begins to bind before it eventually fails. We’ll service the cylinder, extract any imminent breakage before it happens, and tell you if the lock just needs lubricant or a full rekey. Most sticking-key calls we run in Highland are fixed in under an hour.
Yes, in most cases we can open a vintage mortise lock without drilling, and we do it regularly on older Highland homes where the original skeleton-key mortise locks are still in place. Drilling a mortise lock is a last resort because replacement internals for these old units are scarce. We got a call from a homeowner on Fifth Street near historic downtown Highland who was locked out of her 1950s ranch house. The original mortise lock had a worn skeleton key that finally failed, and our tech used non-destructive entry to get her in without damaging the vintage door. We then retrofitted the mortise lock with a modern ANSI Grade 2 deadbolt, keeping the original trim intact.
Rekeying changes the internal pins so the old key no longer works, but the hardware stays in place. Replacing means removing the entire lock and installing new hardware. For most Highland homes, rekeying is the smarter first move; it’s faster, cheaper, and preserves original trim, which matters on older houses with vintage mortise locks. We’ll only recommend replacement when the lock itself is failing, the finish is destroyed, or you’re upgrading a builder-grade Kwikset to a Grade 2 deadbolt worth owning.
We do, and we’ll tell you up front which smart locks we’d put on a Highland door. The heat here can kill battery-powered smart locks faster than in coastal cities, so we often recommend a hybrid approach. Keep the mechanical deadbolt for the primary security layer and add a smart lock only where the convenience is worth the battery maintenance. We install and troubleshoot most major smart lock brands, and we almost always recommend pairing one with a rekeyed Schlage or Grade 2 deadbolt underneath it.
Written by Noel Tarkanian, Owner at Glendale Lock & Key, serving Highland since our first call to these neighborhoods. If you need an emergency locksmith in Highland or have a question about your lock, call (855) 791-2710.