Old Fourth Ward Locksmith: High-Security Locks, Car Keys and Lockouts, Day or Night

4Keys Locksmith is a mobile locksmith serving the Old Fourth Ward of Atlanta around the clock, NASTF VSP authorized for vehicle security work, an ALOA certified company that is insured and bonded, set up as 4Keys Locksmith LLC on the Georgia Secretary of State's register. There is no storefront to drive to: the key machine, the programming equipment and the cylinders travel in the van, dispatched out of Brookhaven, and the typical wait in the ward is 15 to 30 minutes. The difference between that and a shop is laid out in how a mobile locksmith works.

Homes, cars and businesses are all covered below. The house comes first, because the question answered in depth here is the one owners ask once a plain deadbolt stops feeling like enough: what makes a lock high-security, and what a restricted key restricts.

You hear the price on the phone before the van moves, built from the lock or key involved and the hour of the call. An after-hours surcharge applies only between 9 PM and 7 AM local time, and on Sundays and federal holidays, and it is part of that same quote; the published rate card lives on the 4Keys pricing page. The line answers in English and in Spanish, and Spanish speakers can also start at Cerrajero en Atlanta.

An ordinary pin-tumbler deadbolt keeps honest people out. Its keyway is common, blanks for it hang at any key counter, and whoever holds your key for ten minutes can walk away with a copy. A high-security lock changes three things at once: how hard the cylinder is to defeat, who is allowed to make its keys, and how strong the deadbolt is around it.

UL 437, the Underwriters Laboratories standard for key locks, puts door cylinders through timed attacks: ten minutes each of picking and impressioning, and five minutes each of forcing, drilling, prying, pulling, punching and sawing. The builders hardware association rates high-security cylinders under ANSI/BHMA A156.30 in levels A, B and C, C being the highest, and its drill test runs five minutes at level B and ten at level C. Inside, the resistance comes from parts a common lock lacks: hardened anti-drill pins and a second locking system that has to line up along with the pins, like the sidebar and finger pins in Schlage Primus or the biaxial pins in Medeco M3 cylinders.

Key control is the restricted part. A restricted keyway uses a blank protected by a patent and supplied only through the manufacturer's authorized channel, so no kiosk or hardware counter can cut it; Schlage manages Primus duplication through Allegion's restricted product system and can make a keyway exclusive to one user, locally or nationally. The cleaner, the dog walker or the contractor who borrows a key cannot come back with a copy you never approved. The business side, with signature cards and a list of who may order copies, belongs to the Fairburn locksmith page.

The cylinder is only part of the deadbolt, and a hardened cylinder in a weak body still loses to a kick. BHMA’s Certified Secure Home label scores residential locksets and deadbolts (ANSI/BHMA A156.39 and A156.40) on security, durability and finish, each rated A, B or C with A the best. The Medeco Maxum residential deadbolt, as one example, pairs a UL 437 listed cylinder with a BHMA Grade 1 body and fits the standard 2-1/8 inch cross bore most entry doors already have, so an upgrade is a swap rather than new holes.

Put it on the doors someone can reach from the street: the front, the back and the door from an attached garage. In a condo or managed building the unit cylinder may belong to the building's master key system, so ask management first; building masters and unit turnover are covered on the Sandy Springs and Midtown pages. Schlage notes that Primus keys also run non-Primus cylinders on the same keying, which lets the front door be upgraded first and the rest later. For one key across every door, see keying doors alike. Have a photo of each lock face and the number of keys you want when you call.

The ward runs on two ZIP codes, both in Fulton County: 30308 north of Freedom Parkway and 30312 south of it. A street address settles it, and so does a cross street: Boulevard, North Avenue, Ponce de Leon Avenue, Ralph McGill Boulevard, Highland Avenue, Irwin Street or Edgewood Avenue. From the Downtown Connector, exit 248C puts the van on Freedom Parkway and northbound exit 248B lands on Edgewood and Auburn Avenues.

Along the Eastside Trail, name the street where you left it, since the trail crosses Ponce de Leon, North Avenue, Ralph McGill, Freedom Parkway, Irwin and Edgewood on this side. Historic Fourth Ward Park has no parking lot of its own, so a car near it is on the surrounding streets: give the street and the nearest corner. In a Ponce City Market deck, say whether it is the Main, North Avenue or Lower Level deck, then the level and the row.

The building changes the job. The single-family houses, concentrated south of Freedom Parkway and above all below Irwin Street, have their own entry doors and garages, which is where high-security cylinders earn their keep. The brick apartment buildings on Boulevard and the newer complexes around the park and along the BeltLine, Ponce, North Avenue and Highland usually have a controlled front entry and management that holds keys, so bring the unit number and how the technician gets in. The bars and restaurants on Edgewood near Boulevard are late-night commercial calls.

The same dispatch reaches Midtown to the north, Inman Park to the east and every other part of Atlanta.