Locksmith Work in Sunset Hills, from 1950s Ranches to New Builds
Locks R Us Locksmith covers Sunset Hills, from the streets off South Lindbergh Boulevard and Watson Road to the quieter roads running down towards the Meramec. We work for homeowners, tenants, landlords and businesses on lockouts, rekeying, lock repair, replacement and new hardware. If you are standing outside a locked door right now, start with our lockout service.
We are mobile, so we come to the property. Call (636) 628-7803 with the address, say which door is giving trouble, and we will tell you what we can do and when. Open every day from 8 AM to 10 PM.
One City, Sixty Years of Different Front Doors
Sunset Hills was farmland and orchards before it was a suburb. It only became a city in 1957, when the old farms were being subdivided a piece at a time, and that piecemeal growth still shows on the ground today. One street is 1950s and 60s ranch houses on wide lots. The next has been rebuilt or heavily extended in the last fifteen years. A third has both, side by side.
For lock work that matters more than it sounds. An original ranch door is usually a narrow-stile wooden door with a small bore and a short backset, and a modern lock ordered off a shelf will not always fit it without cutting. A rebuilt or extended house often has a wide, heavy entry door that needs proper hardware to hang right. We measure the door before anything is ordered, rather than turning up with one lock and hoping.
Usually It Is the Door, Not the Lock
Most Sunset Hills calls that start with “my lock has stopped working” turn out to be the door instead. A key that only turns if you pull the handle towards you, a deadbolt that catches halfway, a door that latches in winter but not in August: those are alignment problems. The lock is fine. The door has dropped on its hinges, or the frame has moved, or the strike plate is no longer where the bolt wants to go.
There is a local reason this comes up so often here. The EF3 tornado that came through around Lindbergh Boulevard on New Year’s Eve in 2010 damaged a swathe of homes and businesses, and storm seasons since have added to it. Doors and frames that were repaired or replaced after damage rarely sit as square as the original build. Fifteen years on, that shows up as a lock that sticks. Replacing the lock does not fix it. Adjusting the door, the hinges and the strike does, and it costs a good deal less.
What We Do in Sunset Hills
Lockouts
House, apartment or business, ring with the address and describe the door before we set off. We open it carefully rather than drilling out hardware that was working perfectly well an hour ago. More on getting the door open.
Rekeying
Where the locks are sound, changing the key that works them retires every old key without buying a single new lock. This is the usual answer after a house move, and Sunset Hills homes often come with a long history of keys behind them: builders, cleaners, a lawn service, the family who lived there for thirty years.
Lock Changes and New Hardware
Worn or damaged hardware gets replaced, and on the larger entry doors around here the finish and the feel of the handle matter as much as the lock inside it. We check the door thickness, backset and bore first. More on changing house locks.
Door and Frame Repair
Sticking, dropping and misaligned doors, worn strikes, split frames and hinges that have pulled loose. This is the work that solves most of the “the lock is broken” calls in this city. More on lock and door repair.
Business Premises
The Lindbergh and Watson Road corridor carries a lot of retail, offices, medical suites and restaurants, and staff turnover is what keeps key control coming up. We handle rekeying, hardware changes and door repair on commercial doors, and we can work around your opening hours. More on locks and doors for business.
Keypad and Smart Locks
A code suits a household where children, family and a cleaner all need to get in without a key each. They do not fit every door, so we check the door before anything is ordered. More on fitting keypad and smart locks.
Sunset Hills Areas We Cover
- South Lindbergh Boulevard and the streets either side of it
- Watson Road, the old Route 66 alignment through the city
- Gravois Road and the Route 30 side of town
- Rott Road, Robyn Road and the streets around Laumeier
- The Geyer Road end, on the Kirkwood boundary
- The Interstate 44 and Interstate 270 interchange and the businesses around it
Most of Sunset Hills sits in ZIP code 63127, with parts of the city falling into 63122, 63126 and 63128. Give us the exact address and we will confirm what we can reach and when.
Local Landmarks We Work Near
- Laumeier Sculpture Park – 105 acres of open-air museum on Rott Road, with more than sixty outdoor sculptures and a walking trail, run with St. Louis County Parks.
- Watson Trail Park – the city’s largest park, with the aquatic centre, fishing lake and courts, and views out over the Meramec valley.
- Sunset Hills Plaza and the Lindbergh strip – the retail and office run that brings us most of our commercial work here.
- The I-44 and I-270 interchange – the corner of the city that puts Sunset Hills within easy reach of our Ballwin base.
- Watson Road – carried Route 66 from 1932, and still the road most people navigate the city by.
The Meramec Side of the City
The south and west edges of Sunset Hills drop towards the Meramec, and the low ground down there behaves differently from the ridge. Damp gets into a door long before anyone calls it a flood: frames swell in summer, latches stop meeting the strike, and cylinders on garage and basement doors seize from the inside where nothing shows. Where property has genuinely taken water, we have a page on flood-damaged doors and locks setting out what can be saved and what is past saving.
Getting Out To You
Our base is in Ballwin, so Sunset Hills is a short run down I-270 or across through Kirkwood. We cover the neighbouring towns on every side of it, including Fenton across the river, Webster Groves to the north east and Valley Park to the west. Every town we cover is listed on our service areas page.
There is no Sunset Hills shopfront to call at, because we are mobile and we come to the property. Our technicians are licensed and insured, with more than eleven years of local work behind them. Vehicle work is door unlocking only: no key cutting, no fob or remote programming, no ignition work. Open daily, 8 AM to 10 PM.
Sunset Hills Locksmith Questions
My address says St. Louis, MO 63127. Am I in Sunset Hills?
Very probably, and it makes no difference to us either way. Plenty of Sunset Hills addresses carry a St. Louis mailing city, and some homes on the edges sit in 63122, 63126 or 63128 instead. We work by address, not by city limits, so just give us the street and number on (636) 628-7803.
My key is getting harder to turn. Do I need a new lock?
Usually not. A key that needs the door pulled or lifted before it will turn is telling you the door has moved, not that the lock has failed. That is an adjustment job on the hinges and strike, and it costs far less than new hardware. We will say plainly which of the two you are looking at once we have seen the door.
We have just bought a Sunset Hills house. Rekey or replace?
If the existing locks are decent quality and in good order, rekey. It retires every key that is out there, which is the actual point of doing it after a move, and it costs a fraction of new hardware. Replace when the locks are worn out, when they are builder-grade on an otherwise good door, or when you want a different look on the front of the house.
Can you match hardware on an older ranch house?
In most cases, yes, but it needs measuring first rather than guessing. Older doors here often have a narrower stile and a smaller bore than modern hardware assumes, so we check thickness, backset and bore before ordering anything. Where an exact match is not made any more, we will show you what comes closest rather than cutting into a good door to force a fit.
Do you work on shops and offices along Lindbergh and Watson?
Yes. Rekeying between staff, replacing worn commercial hardware, repairing doors that no longer close properly, and lockouts. We can usually work around trading hours if you tell us when suits, and we are out until 10 PM every day. For managed or leased units, check first who owns the hardware, because that decides who signs the work off.