Property Security
The lock is rarely the weak point on a New York gate. The gate is. Areaway gates, rear-yard gates and side passage gates live outdoors in salt, rain and freeze-thaw, hang on posts that move with the ground, and get slammed by delivery drivers and bin runs. Pick hardware that tolerates weather and a gate that no longer hangs true, mount it so water runs out instead of in, and confirm before you lock anything that the gate is not sitting on an exit route.
Almost every call we get about gate hardware is one of these four, and they want different answers.
An apartment lock lives in a heated hallway. Gate hardware has none of that, and the failures are predictable.
These are usually iron and usually not built to carry a lock. Most end up with a padlock through a welded eye or a chain. The things that matter are a shrouded or closed-shackle padlock so a cutter cannot get purchase, a hasp or eye that is actually welded rather than bolted through thin metal, and a mounting position where the keyway does not face the sky. If the areaway is also where packages land, the gate is doing real work - the thinking in package room locks and basement and garden-level entrance security applies to the recess behind it.
This is where to spend money, because a rear gate is a quiet, unobserved entry point. A purpose-built gate lock with a proper deadlatch and a cylinder on the outside beats a padlock here, both because it is harder to attack and because residents will actually use it rather than leaving it hanging open. Reinforce the keeper side of the post; a strong bolt into soft wood is the same mistake as a good deadbolt in a weak frame, which we cover in strike plate and frame reinforcement.
Width and weight are the problem. Heavy gates need either a drop bolt into a ground socket plus a lock, or a cane bolt arrangement, because a single latch on a wide leaf will always work itself loose. Expect to adjust these every couple of years as the posts move. Fit a drop rod socket that drains rather than one that fills with water and freezes.
Keep it simple and keep it usable. A weather-rated padlock with a code shared among the staff who need it, or a keyed-alike padlock set, is enough. Anything slower than that gets left unlocked, which was the whole problem.
We fit, repair and rekey gate hardware on areaway, rear-yard and passage gates across all five boroughs, and we will tell you when the real fix is the hinges rather than the lock. Licensed and insured, available around the clock.
Nothing on this page is legal advice, and gate conditions vary by building, lot and use. When a gate sits anywhere near an exit path, get it confirmed by the city or a licensed professional rather than assuming.
Most gate hardware in the city is a padlock. Four things decide how long it lives.
If the gate guards bicycles or equipment, the same reasoning in bike room and storage cage locks applies, and so does the honest limit: hardware buys time and deters opportunists, it does not make a yard impassable.
The most common thing we fix on multi-gate properties is not a broken lock. It is a loop of nine keys that nobody can identify, which means gates stop being locked at all.
For the front of the building, brownstone vestibule door locks and improving apartment door security cover the layer behind the gate. A secure yard and a weak back door is a common combination and not a useful one.
To have a gate assessed, a seized lock replaced or a set of gates brought onto one key, call (718) 412-1332 or use the contact page. We work on gate and exterior hardware in Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island, and we will say plainly when the gate needs a welder or a carpenter rather than a locksmith.
For most residential gates the practical answer is a weather-rated padlock with a boron or hardened shackle through a shrouded hasp, or a purpose-built gate lock with a stainless or brass internal mechanism. The deciding factor is almost never the lock's rating. It is whether the gate still lines up after a few winters, because a sagging gate defeats good hardware.
You can, and plenty of buildings do, but check first whether that gate sits on a path people would use to leave the building. A gate that needs a key to get out is a serious problem on an exit route, and the requirements are worth confirming with the Department of Buildings or the fire department rather than guessing.
Outdoor-rated usually means the body resists weather, not that the internals are immune to it. Rain runs down into an upward-facing keyway, grit washes in with it, and nothing ever dries out. Mounting the lock so the keyway faces down or sideways, and lubricating twice a year, does more for its life than paying for a higher grade.
Usually not. Gates sag at the hinges, posts shift as the ground moves, and the latch stops meeting the keeper. Before you replace any hardware, lift the gate at the latch edge. If it latches when you hold it up, the problem is the hinges or the post, and a new lock would not have helped.
Often yes. If the gate hardware takes a standard cylinder, it can usually be keyed to match the house, and a padlock set can be ordered keyed alike. On a multi-unit building the better approach is to bring the gates into the building's key hierarchy so the super carries one key instead of a loop of twelve.
Yes, for a reason people underestimate. Most trouble at a yard or areaway gate is opportunistic: a hand reaching over a latch, a wheeled bin taken, a package grabbed from a stoop recess. A lock turns a two-second opportunity into a deliberate climb in full view of the street, and that alone redirects most of it.