Taking back the key secret, or taking back the mechanism
The cylinder is the barrel your key slides into. It carries the secret, one screw on the edge of the leaf holds it in place, and it comes out without disturbing the mechanism. That is what gets taken back after a move into one of the blocks on the plain, where copies have circulated for years between tenants, letting agents and passing tradesmen.
The lock is the whole mechanism: case, bolts, the linkage of a multipoint, the faceplate visible on the edge of the door. It is dealt with when the bolt no longer throws, when the linkage of a 1970s door has gone out of true, or when the faceplate has been forced. On doors of that age the original part has sometimes left the catalogue and the whole unit is replaced.
In a co-owned block, first check what your key opens besides your own home. In the residences between the railway and the marina, one key ring often covers the hall door, the cellar and the bike store. Those cylinders belong to the building: your own door can be taken back freely, while the master key plan is decided at a general meeting.
A village door does not take the same parts as a villa at Les Pugets
In the village, solid timber doors are frequently of non-standard size, with centre distances and faceplates that match no current model. Measurements come before ordering, and it is often better to adapt the keep or rework the mortice than to force a stock lock into old joinery that will not forgive an approximate fit.
On the heights, an address rarely has a single opening: the gate on the private track, the garage door, the service door onto the terrace. Taking back the front door cylinder alone while everything else stays on the old key ring makes little sense, above all when the missing keys also opened the gate at the bottom of the hairpin.
Near the marina and the beach, salt air works on everything left exposed. A cylinder on a cellar, a garage or a service room facing due south ages quickly and seizes long before a sheltered flat door does. So the choice of model also turns on how well it is protected; it all gets looked at on site, and the itemised quote comes before anything is removed.
How does this service work?
Techniques, typical situations, standards and things to watch out for: it is all on our lock and cylinder replacement page. This page focuses on what the service involves in Saint-Laurent-du-Var.