Redwood City neighborhood · 24/7
Mount Carmel and Edgewood Park locksmith work, for 1920s doors with the mortise set still in them and quiet streets where the van is the only thing moving at midnight
The older streets west of El Camino Real climbing toward Edgewood Park, with Sequoia Hospital at the Alameda end: 1920s and 30s houses with original mortise locks, glass knobs and brass escutcheons, garages built for one small car, side gates onto narrow driveways, and very quiet nights.
4.9 / 5· 231 reviews from Redwood City & the towns beside it
21 min
Avg. arrival
$89
Service call
24/7
Availability
Mount Carmel has the oldest working hardware in the city, and most of it should stay. A mortise lock sits in a pocket cut into the door edge, with the latch and the deadbolt in one case and a cylinder threaded through the face of the door. After a century the springs soften, the knob spindle works loose in its hub, and the key turns halfway and stops. Most of that is a repair, not a replacement: the case is cleaned and re-sprung, the spindle is refitted, and a modern cylinder on a standard thread goes into the old housing. A rekey is $25 to $41 per cylinder. Where the case is cracked or the maker vanished before the war, a new mortise case is a replacement at $115 to $309, and the escutcheons and the glass knobs go back on afterwards.
Lockouts here are the night latch closing behind someone carrying groceries, or a side gate dropping its latch. A house lockout is $119 to $205, and on a mortise door the technician works the cylinder rather than anything that would mark a door that has survived since 1926. Many owners add a modern deadbolt above the mortise set for the strength of a longer bolt and a strike screwed into the old-growth fir behind the casing. That is a replacement at the low end of $115 to $309 and it leaves the original lock doing the daily work. Safes are found in these houses more than anywhere else on the map, usually inherited with the house; opening one is $179 to $505.
The streets are narrow and steep toward the park, and the van stops at the driveway mouth rather than in it, since the driveways were laid out for a car half the width of the van. Arrival is about twenty-one minutes by El Camino Real or Alameda de las Pulgas. The trailhead lot at Edgewood Park brings weekend car lockouts at $99 to $189. Nights here are quiet, and an overnight call carries $85 from midnight, evening $50 from 8pm, both inside the figure settled on the call with the $89 service call already in it.
Say whether the front door still has its mortise set, and whether the trouble is the key, the knob or the door itself. Mention any deadbolt added above it. If the driveway is the narrow original, say so and the van stops at the street.
Most requested in Mount Carmel & Edgewood Park
Nearby
Across the town line, the same van
FAQ
Asked about Mount Carmel & Edgewood Park
The driveway was built for a 1926 car. Will the van fit up it?+
It stops at the mouth of the drive rather than in it, which is how these streets are worked anyway, and the case is carried to the door. Mention a house number hidden behind a hedge or a porch light that has failed, since the streets climbing toward Edgewood Park are dark and very quiet after ten.
We inherited a safe with the house and have no combination. What happens to it?+
It is opened where it stands, by manipulation rather than cutting, at $179 to $505. What turns up in these houses is usually a mid-century floor or wall safe on a dial, and the lock survives the process, so a fresh combination can be set the same day. Photo ID and something showing the house is yours come first.
How long does the van take up here, and does the climb toward the park slow it?+
About twenty-one minutes by El Camino Real or Alameda de las Pulgas. The grade is mild; it is the narrow streets and the parked cars under the trees that cost the time. The trailhead lot at Edgewood Park sits on the same run, so a weekend car lockout up there is a Mount Carmel call rather than an out-of-town one.
Open 24 hours, 7 days
One call, one figure, settled before the van turns the key
Calls answered 24/7 for Redwood City and the towns beside it. One figure for the visit, the labor and the parts, with the $89 service call inside it, and a receipt that matches it line for line.