Post Break-In Lock Repair in San Jose
Same-day securing after a burglary.
4.9 / 5· 312 reviews from San Jose & South Bay
$165–$415
Typical price
20 min
Avg. arrival
24/7
Availability
After a break-in: the jamb, the strike and the lock made to hold again the same evening, with a written line for the insurer
The call usually comes twice. Once from the pavement, an hour after finding the door, when what is needed is for the house to be closeable tonight. And once a few days later, when the insurer wants to know what was actually done. Both are the same job here. Most forced entries in this city come through one of three places: a front door kicked at the strike, a sliding patio door lifted out of its track or prised at the latch, or the garage-to-house door, which is the one people forget has a hollow-core leaf and a builder's knob on it. What breaks is almost never the lock. It is the strike plate, its two short screws, and the section of jamb they were holding.
So the repair is about wood and steel before it is about hardware. The split section of jamb is reinforced or replaced, a box strike goes in on three-inch screws that reach the stud behind rather than the trim in front, the door is checked for square, and the bolt is made to throw its full length into the new strike instead of catching on the edge. A deadbolt that was hammered gets replaced; one that was simply pushed through a weak strike often does not need to be. On a patio slider the fix is anti-lift blocking in the top channel and a secondary foot bolt, because a slider that can be lifted an inch does not care what the handle latch is made of. Where the door itself is beyond saving that is said plainly, with the figure for a slab and the figure for a repair side by side, so the choice is yours rather than the technician's.
Post break-in work is $165 to $415. A single strike and jamb repair with the existing deadbolt reused is at the bottom. A replaced door edge, a new deadbolt, a rekey of the other doors so the missing keys stop mattering, and blocking on a slider takes it up. The $89 visit is inside the figure. Between 8pm and midnight the $165 job reads $205, and between midnight and 7am $240. If the house cannot be made secure tonight — a door that has to be ordered, glass that needs a glazier — you are told that on the phone, and the visit becomes a board-up and a temporary lock at the lower end of the range rather than an open-ended bill.
The paperwork matters as much as the hardware. The invoice names each door, what was found and what was fitted, which is what an insurer asks for and what a landlord needs. Photographs before and after are taken on request and emailed with it. If the police have given you a report number, say it on the call and it goes on the invoice. And the rekey conversation is worth having in the same visit: after a burglary the front door key is often still in the hall, but the spare that lived in the kitchen drawer, and the one on the ring by the back door, are not accounted for. Repinning them all at $26 to $42 a cylinder ends that question in one go.
“One in the morning, my daughter asleep the other side of the door, and the mortise key on the kitchen table. The figure I heard on the phone was $193 with the overnight rate already in it, and $193 is what the card was charged. Nineteen minutes, no drill, and the old lock still turns the way it always did.”
Every quote is confirmed on the phone before a van moves — and it's what your invoice says.
- Daytime (7am–8pm)standard rates
- Evening (8pm–12am)+$40
- Overnight (12am–7am)+$75
About post break-in lock repair in San Jose
The police told us not to touch anything. When can you actually come?+
As soon as they have finished. Ring anyway while you are waiting: the job can be scheduled for the moment they release the scene, the parts can ride on the van, and you are not starting the search at nine in the evening. If the house cannot be left open in the meantime, a board-up and a temporary lock can be done first and the proper repair booked for the morning.
Do I need a whole new door, or just the frame?+
Usually just the frame, and specifically the six inches of it around the strike. A kicked door tears the jamb because the original screws were three-quarters of an inch long and never reached the stud. The leaf itself is only finished when the lock bore has split or the stile has cracked through, and if that is what you have, you will be shown it rather than told it.
Our sliding patio door was lifted out of its track. Can that be made secure without replacing it?+
In most cases, yes. Blocking in the top channel takes away the lift, a foot bolt into the sill takes away the slide, and the original handle latch stops being the only thing between the garden and the living room. Where the frame itself has been bent, that is a glazier's job and you will be told so rather than sold a lock that will not help.
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