Arleta Locksmith, Homes and Cars
Arleta is a neighborhood of family houses, and plenty of them hold more than one family now. When a garage becomes a rental or grown kids move back home, the locks need to keep up.
Working in Arleta
Arleta is a small, mostly residential pocket between Pacoima and Panorama City, with the 5 freeway along one side and streets like Osborne, Woodman and Arleta Avenue running through the middle. Homes are modest single-story houses from the 1940s and 50s on decent lots, nearly all with a driveway, a gate and a backyard. In recent years a lot of those backyards have gained a converted garage or a new back unit, rented out or used by relatives. Front yards often have an iron fence and a rolling or swinging gate. It is quiet, and most of our work here is for people who own their homes.
The locks we meet here
A typical Arleta house has knob locks on most doors, a deadbolt on the front, an iron security door, and a padlocked side gate. Back units add another door that needs its own key, plus sometimes a keypad. Owners often want the main house and the back unit kept separate, while still having a key for both themselves. That is a simple master setup, or just two key sets cut correctly. Key copies are a big topic here too, because families make a lot of them, and some keys are stamped do not duplicate, which confuses people at the hardware store.
How fast we get there
Arleta is roughly 3.7 miles from Van Nuys as the crow flies, so we usually get there in 20–35 minutes. Text (657) 478-8248 your address and a photo of the lock. If the job is on a back unit, say so, and tell us how the tech gets past the side gate.
What people in Arleta call us for
Common questions
We are renting out our back unit for the first time. What should we do with the locks?
Give the unit its own key that does not open the main house, and rekey it before each new tenant. If you want a key for both, we can set that up too. Check your lease and local rules on landlord access, since those decide who holds what.
My key is stamped do not duplicate. Can you still copy it?
On a regular key, that stamp is a request, not a lock. We copy it if you are the owner or have permission. A patented high-security key is different: copies come only through the authorized owner, so bring the card or paperwork that came with the lock.
Several relatives have keys to our house. Can we change that without changing every lock?
Yes. Rekeying keeps the locks you have and changes only the pins, so every old key stops working. Then we cut as many new keys as you actually want to hand out. It is the fastest way to start fresh.