Locksmith in San Marco, Jacksonville

A neighborhood built in the 1920s

San Marco sits on the south bank of the St. Johns River, across from downtown. Developer Telfair Stockton broke ground in 1925, and the neighborhood filled with homes in a mix of revival styles: Mediterranean, Tudor, Colonial and more. San Marco Square, with its three lion statues and the 1938 San Marco Theatre, is still the heart of it. South along San Jose Boulevard, San Jose, Miramar and Lakewood add a mix of 1920s estates and mid-century ranch homes.

Older houses need a locksmith who is willing to work with what's there. That's our approach in San Marco.

Original doors, original locks

Many San Marco homes still have their first front door, and some have their first lock. You'll see:

• Mortise locks. A lock body set inside a pocket in the edge of the door, often with a separate thumb latch or a skeleton-key keyhole below the knob.
• Solid wood doors, heavier and thicker than modern doors, sometimes with glass panels.
• French doors to porches and sunrooms, with narrow wood frames that leave little room for a deadbolt.
• Interior skeleton-key locks on bedrooms and closets that nobody has had a key for in decades.

We don't start by drilling or replacing. Many of these locks can be cleaned, have their springs replaced and get a new cylinder, and then they work smoothly again. Our door lock repair page covers how we restore older hardware. If you'd rather have a modern lock, we can install a new deadbolt sized to the thicker door and fill old holes neatly.

Why your door sticks in August

A door that locks fine in January and won't latch in July isn't broken. Jacksonville's humidity makes wood doors and frames swell, and the latch drifts out of line with the strike plate. People often replace the lock and find it doesn't help.

We check the gap around the door, the hinges and the strike. Usually the fix is to tighten or shim a hinge and adjust the strike, which is quicker and less expensive than new hardware. If the frame has rotted from years of rain, we'll point that out so you can get it repaired before we reinstall the lock.

San Jose and Lakewood: mid-century homes

South of San Marco, many homes in 32217 are 1950s and 1960s ranch houses. The common problems here are worn knob locks with no deadbolt, carport doors that don't latch, and rekeying after a sale. Along the river in Epping Forest, larger estates often need several doors keyed alike, or high-security locks with keys that can't be copied.

After buying any house here, old or new, a lock rekey makes sure the previous owners' keys stop working.

Shops and offices around the square

The storefronts around San Marco Square and along Hendricks Avenue often have aluminum-and-glass doors. These use narrow-stile locks, a slim deadlock built into the door frame. With years of use, the cylinder wears and the hook bolt stops catching. We repair and rekey these locks, and we handle business lockouts when a manager is stuck outside before opening. Small offices in converted houses nearby have the same older residential locks as the homes around them, so we treat them the same careful way.

How we get to San Marco

From our base in 32258 we come up I-95 or San Jose Boulevard. We reach the square and the streets off Hendricks Avenue through Atlantic Boulevard or University Boulevard. Most visits take 20 to 35 minutes. The I-95 stretch near the Fuller Warren Bridge is the usual slowdown.

What goes into the price

Older locks sometimes need parts that take a bit more time to find or fit, and we'll tell you that before we start. Otherwise the price depends on the job and the number of locks. Our pricing page explains more. You get the full price on the phone before we drive out, and we confirm it before any work starts.

Around San Marco

Across the river, we serve the historic homes of Riverside and Avondale. To the south, we serve Mandarin, right next to our base.

Have an old lock that's giving you trouble? Call (904) 509-0907 or text us a photo of it. We're available Mon & Fri 7 AM–2 PM and Tue & Thu 7 AM–6 PM.