Having a safe in your house is an extra precaution that many homeowners may not even think of.  Instead, safes seem to belong to public spaces while a home seems to offer no need for its security.  Unfortunately, break-ins and other accidents can happen to everyone, and a safe can be an extra precaution that will pay out dearly in the long run.  Break-ins are on the rise and tend to be done in groups, rather than a single burglar.  With a team of burglars, the objective is to strip a place as efficiently as possible.  While you might not be able to pack the big things, like a flat screen TV, into a safe, having a reliable safe will keep what is most important to you safe from thieves looking to pick you clean.  Use a gun safe if you have guns.  Gun accidents are almost entirely preventable through the use of a gun safe, which can keep your children’s hands off your firearms and allow you peace of mind.  With a gun safe, you can be sure that these accidents will not happen.  Plus, a gun safe can be used for the storage of other valuables that need special security.  Using a fire safe will keep special documents and other valuables secure in case of a fire.  Fires are an accident that you can never predict, so making sure your items of value have a safe place in case of an emergency will be extremely helpful.  An extra precaution is to ensure that your safe is bolted or attached to your house in some way, so that it cannot be carried out.  Not taking this extra step makes your valuables more mobile for burglars.  Are you looking to install a fire safe, gun safe, or any other kind of reliable safe?  Then visit us at King Safe and Lock and find the right safe for your needs today.

Losing your car or house keys can be very stressful.  If you can’t find them, then there are things you can do to regain access to your home or car.  In this post we’ll discuss what you should do when you lose your house or car keys, or if they get stolen.  Losing a house key while at home is not a big deal.  But if you live alone and are out, no one will be home to let you in.  Get a locksmith to open your doors for you.  Most locksmiths provide 24-hour emergency services, but none are as responsive or professional as King Safe & Lock.  We’ll be there to let you in shortly after you call.  You should also have your locksmith change your locks during the same service call.  Even if you live with other people and have access to a copy of your home key, there is still that extra copy floating around in someone else’s hands.  Don’t take any chances, change your locks immediately and make sure your entire family has a new copy.  Losing the keys to your car may be a little trickier.  You have two options for getting a new key for your car.  If you tow your car to a dealership, then they will be able to produce a new key that fits your car.  Again, this leaves a working copy of the key unaccounted for and is very unsafe (especially if you know for sure that your keys were stolen).  To be safe, you should also get the door locks and starter key changed.  While this option works, it could cost you hundreds of dollars after marked-up dealership services and towing fees.  Having a locksmith do it for you can be much cheaper.  King Safe & Lock specializes in both car and home lock services and can even produce specialized transponder keys for your newer model car.  Our top-notch 24-hour emergency lockout service will get you back in your homes in no time flat.  Visit our website or call us today for information on any of our services.

Need to change a lock?  Rather than having the entire lock replaced, you can ask your Houston locksmith to rekey it.  This means realigning or changing the pins inside the lock so that it works only for your new key.  Rekeying is useful in a number of circumstances:   You cannot account for all existing copies of the key.  It’s always smart to rekey a new residence.  Not only may the previous occupant still have a key, but copies of that key may be floating around.  If you have lost your car keys, rekeying your car door locks will help keep your car safe.  If you think your car keys have been stolen, then have your ignition lock rekeyed as well.  Your building’s security has been breached.  If your home has been burglarized, or an employee with a key to the building has recently quit or been dismissed, have all locks rekeyed immediately.  Even minor security breaches may warrant rekeying.  If you have let a contractor use your key while remodeling your building, consider that they may make copies, which you cannot keep track of.  You want to add additional locks to your home or business.  If you want to make all of your doors secure but do not want to weigh down your keychain with three or four additional keys, a locksmith can configure each lock so that it works for your existing key.  You can also slim down your keychain by rekeying your locks so that one key unlocks every door in your home.  When you need rekeying, find a locksmith with experience. King Safe and Lock offers the best 24-hour emergency locksmith services in Houston.  We have been keeping Houston homes and businesses secure for more than 30 years, and we offer complete locksmith services, from rekeying to high security locks.  We also offer a wide range of gun and fire safes, as well as transponder chip keys, for all of your security needs.  When you need a Houston locksmith you can trust, visit our website or call (713) 465-0055.

Houston, Texas 4/26/2011 – King Safe & Lock, a Medeco Security Center (MSC), participated in the annual MSC Conference in Charlotte, NC. in February, working with more than 200 other security professionals from across North America to identify solutions for local and national security challenges.  The conference featured two days of intensive sessions focusing on new products from Arrow and Medeco as well as an indepth study of how new Federal regulations such as FERC, NERC, HIPPA affect most businesses plus the identification of solutions to help businesses stay complaint.  Some of the new products shown included M3 Logic; Nexgen XT; and Arrow Revolution.  All the sessions provided the information necessary to remain a leader in providing security solutions to their local customers.  Medeco, one of the two featured company’s at the conference, has a longstanding reputation as the respected leader in the high security marketplace.  Since their beginning, Medeco has effectively controlled duplicate and replacement keys through a range of methods.  This superior control over unauthorized key duplication, combined with innovative engineering and patented technology, has made Medeco the lock of choice for a wide range of industries for more than 40 years.  Arrow, the other featured company at the conference, makes a point of making locks for security professionals who earn their living installing, recommending and servicing locks.  These professionals know that only one brand offers the widest variety of locking hardware, key systems and door controls.  King Safe & Lock’s locksmiths are available to help review your facility to see what solutions are needed to help keep you complaint with today’s every changing regulations.

There is nothing more frustrating than getting home after a long day and realizing that you have locked yourself out.  If you’re not as skilled with creative solutions as MacGyver, then you might find yourself unsure of what to do.  If you do find yourself in this unfortunate situation, then here are some things you can do to get yourself into your home and out of this tricky situation.  Call Someone Who Has a Key: It might seem obvious, but before you call a locksmith service, it is best to contact someone else who has a spare key.  If you are married or have a roommate, then get in contact with the other occupant and see if they are available to let you in.  Look for an Open Window: If you are lucky, you might find a window ajar and can potentially get back in that way.  Take a quick look around the house, but don’t spend too long trying to break in.  You don’t want someone else to see you and think you are actually breaking in to your own home.  Call a Locksmith: If you don’t have a spare key and did not entrust one to anyone else either, then you should call a locksmith to help you get in.  For a small fee, a locksmith can get you safely back into your house.  After you have safely gotten into your home, it’s a good idea to keep a spare house and car key in your wallet or with a trusted friend or family member.  That way, in the future, you can get back into your home with ease should you ever find yourself locked out again.  For a quality Houston locksmith, there’s no one better than King Safe & Lock.  Our 24-hour locksmith service is here and waiting to help you get back into your home.  We also have a nice selection of gun safes, fire safes, and transponder chip keys to keep your belongings safe in your home.  Call us today for any and all home security needs.

We have all had that oh-no moment when we realize we have been locked out of our house, our car, anything: it happens.  Sometimes, with a little extra elbow grease, you can pop a lock open, but occasionally there is nothing you can do except call in the professionals, like your local Houston locksmith.  Locked out?  Here are some tips to try:  Get inventive.  Explore your house and see if some crack or cranny will allow for an opening.  See if you can get in through a window.  If you have two stories, and can safely get onto the second story, see if one of the windows up there will let you in.  Consider a bit of breaking and entering.  If you can, pull off a screen or pry up a window.  If you cannot see any other method of getting into your house, call a Houston locksmith.  A locksmith can help you get into your house with maximum ease and without causing a lot of damage to your house.  To prevent being locked out of the house, you should:  Keep a spare key nearby.  Find a place where a spare key can be hidden, and keep it there.  If you have a good memory and are particularly paranoid, you might consider moving it occasionally. Tell only your family about that key.  Give a spare key to a trustworthy friend or neighbor.  That way you can call or visit them to let you into your house.  Look into replacing your locks with locks that cannot lock behind you without a key.  Are you looking for a Houston locksmith to get you into your house or for any other needs, like gun safes, fire safes, and more?  Visit us at King Safe and Lock, and find a reliable locksmith in Houston who can work for you.

You can never anticipate the tragic, unforeseen circumstances of life, but you can prepare.  This is why it’s a good idea to have a place to keep your possessions safe.  One of the best places for this is in a fire safe, which allows you to keep what’s important in one place and free from harm.  Once you get your fire safe, here’s what you can put inside.

Cash Money

Banks aren’t open 24/7, even though accidents can happen any time of day.  This is why it’s a good idea to store money in the form of cash in your fire safe for a rainy day.

Insurance Information

If you do have a house fire, one of the first people you will need to contact is your insurance agent.  So always keep your home owner’s insurance safely stored in your fire safe.

Receipts

In addition, your claim for damaged property may require receipts to prove the value and cost of the items destroyed in a fire.  Therefore, it’s a good idea to keep the receipts for furniture, the oven, the refrigerator, the washer and dryer, any electronics, and other purchases of significant value in the fire safe.

Personal Documents

Your birth certificate, social security card, and maybe your college diploma are all documents that warrant a space in the safe.  In similar fashion, put items of personal significance in, as well.  This could include baseball cards, yearbooks, or even the scorecard from your low round of golf.  It’s your fire safe, so use it to keep what’s valuable and important to you!  At King Safe and Lock, we offer the highest quality fire safes, gun safes, and composite safes on the market.  Visit our website today to see our selection.  We also have the expertise to open and repair your safe.

Houston Safe and Lock’s Fred Trotter, a leading Locksmith and Security Consultant/Safe Cracker in the Houston area, tells some trade secrets about Lock Bumping, High Security Medeco Locks and American Security Products Safes.

All Safes and High Security Deadbolts are not created equal.

If you’ve missed the recent news reports on lock bumping, simply Google “Bump Key” and you’ll find over 2 million results! Lock bumping is a technique thieves are using to open pin tumbler locks covertly. Lock bumping is not a new technique. It has been used by locksmiths for decades as a method to open a majority of all residential & commercial locks. Unfortunately, due to the internet, this information had gotten in to the hands of crooks. The majority of all residential & commercial locks can be Bumped. You can better protect yourself by changing your locks to Medeco High Security Deadbolts and is the best way to increase your security. These Medeco Deadbolts give you a lot more protection against bumping & other methods of attack.

Get a risk assessment to determine how much protection you need. As a full service locksmith, we can offer solutions to fit your budget. Please give us a call to discuss the protection of your home or office @ 713-659-3951. In this day and time with the banks offering such low interest rates many homeowners are choosing to keep their money and precious metals at home or office. Don’t be cheap when purchasing a home or office safe. If your assets are of any value you should spend the bucks to protect them. Always bolt that safe to the floor. Once properly bolted to a concrete slab your safe will gain 2000 lb per square inch of bolt down pressure. Avoid purchasing a safe from the big box store chains. Why because the general public has long wanted a big pretty safe at budget prices and the big box store chains gave it to them by removing security features and (UL) Underwriters Laboratories fire ratings to reduce cost. This leading locksmith and security consultant states that he can gain access to most of those types of safes in ten minutes with a cordless drill.

Please never ever purchase a safe on line which offers some really low pricing. Why if it sounds too good to be true it probably is. First you will need to look for hidden freight charges; secondly many of these online safe products are imports, knockoffs or seconds and may be damaged and or scratched. Finally when and if you find the real deal it will be delivered to you driveway by a non licensed locksmith and may sit there for hours or days in view of cars driving by, now you will be at the mercy of a second person to move that safe into your home and a third to bolt it down and now all of a sudden you have three or more persons that know you have a safe.

Your best value is to purchase a safe from a licensed locksmith with a shop and showroom. He has a fiduciary duty to provide you with top quality security advice and a trouble free safe move plus a warranty after the purchase. Try to buy American safes as they tend to be of better quality than imports and are easy to get parts for if they ever need service with name brands like American Security Products who have produced over 60,000 safes each year and take protecting their customers’ assets very seriously. That’s how they got to be the largest security safe manufacturer in the world, and that’s why you can’t buy a better gun, fire or burglary safe than an American Security Safe.

Locking yourself out of the house can be a very stressful situation in Houston, TX. But knowing some basic information about how much a locksmith in Houston TX “should” cost, can keep “panic” from getting you ripped off. So how much should a simple door opening cost? Some people find that out the hard way.

Rip off Report, From Miss Helpless:

I went quickly out and slammed the door and said, “Oh, I’ve locked the keys inside.” Without a phone book, and on a Sunday, I searched the internet and found a locksmith close by. When he arrived, he couldn’t pick the lock so he said it will destroy your lock, but I had to get into the house, so, he went ahead and did it.

Miss Helpless says the locksmith quoted a price and upon arrival. It didn’t match the bill. “I said, you told me $75, he said, “No, I said $275. That’s when I first heard about that, I thought, I’m not hard of hearing.” And I looked at the invoice and here it was $351 and I said “What? That’s extremely high.”

The locksmith also added $26 just because Miss Helpless paid by debit card- not cash. Miss Helpless says she called the locksmith several times looking for the manager, and every time she heard the same thing. She said give me your name and number, I’ll have him call you back in the morning, well, of course there was no call.

Security expert and locksmith Fred Trotter says he hears stories like Miss Helpless all the time; mainly because consumers don’t know what locksmith services should cost. Fred Trotter with Houston Safe and Lock says a weekend service call should run no more than $75 to $95, depending on distance and time of day. He says drilling is rarely needed; maybe one in a hundred basic locks.

“I usually charge about $20 to $45. Extra for drilling and you don’t necessarily ruin the lock, just ruin the cylinder.” Mr. Trotter says replacing the cylinder should run no more than $30. That’s a top price of $95. For the weekend service call, $45. To drill, if needed, and $30 to replace the cylinder– for a total of $170. no where near $351! Now that you know what it should cost, ask whoever you’re talking to on the phone, if for some reason you can’t pick the lock, how much is it going to cost if you have to drill and replace.

$170 represents a “ballpark” of what a basic locksmith service should cost from a reputable company. If you do need a new lock, that can cost from $25-$200 depending on the brand and strength of lock you want. Make sure you call a licensed local locksmith, ask for the license # and the address where they are located. Even ask for the owner and managers name. If they won’t give you that information as required by law then keep looking until you find a reputable locksmith.