Keyed alike cylinders

Keying cylinders alike means making several doors open with the same key. Each door has its own cylinder, in the size it needs, but they are all made for the same combination. You carry one key instead of five and you do not have to try them one after another at the door.

Where it is used most

Bungalows and townhouses

This is the most typical case in Torrevieja. The house has a front door, a door to the patio or garden, a door to the upstairs terrace, sometimes a door from the garage into the house, and a pool pump room or outdoor storeroom. With keyed alike cylinders all those doors open with one key.

Flats with a storeroom

The flat and its storeroom with the same key. It may not seem much, but when the storeroom is rarely used, it is the way never to lose its key.

Rental properties

For both the owner and the guest, handing over one key that opens the flat door and the terrace door is far simpler than handing over a bunch. Fewer keys to lose and less confusion on arrival.

Shops with two entrances

A shop with a door onto the street and a back door to the storeroom or loading yard. With both cylinders keyed alike, whoever opens up in the morning does not need two keys.

Keying alike is not master keying

They are similar, but they are different things. With keyed alike cylinders every door has the same key and there are no levels: if the key opens one door, it opens them all. With master keying there are keys that open some doors and not others, and a master key that opens them all.

If in your case different people need to open different doors, for example neighbours in a residential community or staff in an office, what you need is a master key system.

What you need to know first

Every door needs a euro cylinder

Keying alike works with cylinders. If any door has a lever lock, the kind with a long key and a flat bit, it cannot be keyed alike as it is. It has to be switched to a cylinder first, and we explain this in lever lock to cylinder conversion.

Each cylinder in its own size

The front door may need a long cylinder and the aluminium terrace door a short one. That is fine: the cylinders in a keyed alike set can be different sizes. What matters is measuring each door properly. If you want to check it yourself, there is a guide on how to measure a lock cylinder.

The same security level on every door

When keying alike, the same model is usually fitted on every door. Make the most of it and choose a good one. There is not much point in a high security key on the front door if the same key opens a back door with a cylinder that is easy to manipulate. If you want to step up, have a look at security cylinders.

The drawback of a single key

It has to be said: if you lose the key, you lose it for every door. And if someone takes it, they can open everything that key opens. That is why it is worth thinking carefully about which doors to key alike. Some people prefer to key alike the outside doors of the house and leave out the storeroom or the room where they keep their tools.

If one day you lose your keys or do not know who has one, the sensible thing is to change the whole set. We explain it in cylinder replacement.

How we do it

First we draw up the list of doors with you. Then we measure each cylinder, check that every lock will take it and see whether any door needs an escutcheon or an adjustment. With that we give you a fixed quote. We order the set of keyed alike cylinders, tell you the preparation time and, once we have it, come and fit it.

When fitting, we change one cylinder after another and test the key on each door, from outside and inside, with the door open and closed. We do not leave until they all turn smoothly.

In houses by the sea

The outside doors of a coastal house suffer from salt air. When keyed alike, the terrace and patio cylinders are just as exposed as the one on the entrance. If a cylinder starts to feel stiff, lubricate it with a dry product and do not force it. That way the shared key will keep going in smoothly on all of them.

Ask for your set of cylinders

Send us a photo on WhatsApp of each lock you want keyed alike and tell us how many there are. If you prefer, write to us in your own language. We give you a fixed quote before we start. We work in Torrevieja and right across the Vega Baja, and you can pay by card, Bizum or cash.