Guides
Six things worth knowing about an old door, each a few minutes long.
Why a keypad will not sit on a slab hung in 1962, what is still on the door of a 1950s house and how much life it has left, which of the two Eichler doors actually holds the place, a keypad that has gone dark, five doors brought onto one key, and where to start in the first month after you buy. Written for these streets and no others.
Aug 2026 · 7 min read
You Bought the House for the School Zone: Where to Start With the Locks in the First Month
The median inside the Monta Vista attendance zone runs about $3.55 million against roughly $2.8 million a street outside it. That difference bought an address, and the address arrived with a list of people who have held a key to it. Four weeks, in order, with what each step costs.
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Jul 2026 · 6 min read
Five Doors on One Key: What Rekeying Is, and Why It Is Not New Locks
Rekeying changes the pins inside the cylinder you already own. The lock stays on the door, the finish stays as it is, and every key handed out before today stops working. It is $29 to $47 a cylinder, and there is one limit worth understanding before you book it.
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Jun 2026 · 6 min read
A Dead Keypad, and Why the Mechanical Key Should Be Cut Before You Need It
A keypad deadbolt warns you for about three weeks. Then it stops, usually on the evening your hands are full. The key that would open it is very often still in the bag it came in, uncut, untested, or belonging to whoever owned the house last.
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May 2026 · 7 min read
The Eichler Atrium: Two Doors Instead of One, and Which of Them Holds the House
Fairgrove is about 220 Eichlers built in 1960 and 1961: glass walls, and a walled entry court with a gate of its own. Two doors stand between the sidewalk and the living room. Only one of them is doing the work, and it is usually the one nobody thinks about.
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Apr 2026 · 7 min read
What Is on the Door of a 1950s House Here, and How Much Life It Has Left
Rancho Rinconada went up between 1950 and 1953: 1,562 houses by Stern & Price, most of them 800 to 1,000 square feet. A good number still open with the knob set that came with them. What that hardware actually is, four tests you can run on your own step, and the point at which it is finally done.
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Mar 2026 · 7 min read
Why a Smart Lock Will Not Sit on a Door Built in 1962
The box shows a screwdriver and twenty minutes. The door has a narrower hole than today's standard, a different backset, and sixty years of settling on its hinges. Three measurements, one free test you can do yourself, and why the door gets made right before the lock goes on.
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Say the year the house was built, and the rest of the call is short
Cupertino and the west valley, every hour of the day. The age of the door decides the work and the work decides the figure, so the number comes back on the call with the $89 service call and the hour already inside it, and it is the number on the receipt. Ninety days on the labor, in writing.