High-Security Locks & Mul-T-Lock

An ordinary lock keeps out casual attempts. High-security locks are built to resist the methods a determined person uses: picking, bumping, drilling and, most commonly of all, a copied key. We are a Mul-T-Lock Super Center and a Mul-T-Lock certified high-security professional, and we install Mul-T-Lock for businesses and homes across the Tri-City.

What makes a lock high security

The term gets used loosely, so here is what it should mean in practice:

• Pick and bump resistance: more complex pin designs that don’t respond to the tools and tricks that open standard cylinders. Mul-T-Lock’s pin-in-pin design is one example.
• Drill and attack resistance: hardened inserts protecting the parts of the cylinder someone would target with a drill or a puller.
• Key control: keys that can’t be copied without authorization. This is the feature most businesses actually need, and the one most often missing.

Why key control matters most

Think about how keys usually go wrong. Nobody picks the lock. A summer student copies the back-door key at a hardware counter, or an ex-tenant still has a spare. A “Do Not Duplicate” stamp is only a request; plenty of key machines will cut the blank anyway. Real key control comes from a restricted keyway: a key profile whose blanks aren’t sold to the general trade, protected so they can’t be legally manufactured by others.

With Mul-T-Lock, the keys for systems we set up are cut under Cote’s own Mul-T-Lock account. Only an authorized dealer can duplicate them, which means the owner of the system decides who gets keys. When you need another copy, you come to us, we confirm you’re authorized, and we cut it. No one else can cut it for you.

Where high-security locks make sense

• Exterior doors on commercial and industrial buildings, especially where staff turn over often.
• Rooms with sensitive records, stock, cash, servers or controlled materials.
• Multi-unit buildings, where the property manager wants to know every key that exists.
• Homes: a front-door deadbolt with keys that can only be copied with your say-so.

Working with your existing hardware

You don’t always need new locks. In many cases a high-security cylinder can replace the existing cylinder in the lever, deadbolt or exit device you already have, keeping the hardware and changing what the key does. Where the existing lock is worn out or not suited to a high-security cylinder, we recommend a replacement that is. We’ll tell you which applies when we see the door.

What switching looks like

1. We look at the doors and the existing hardware, and agree which doors move to high security.
2. You decide who is allowed to order keys for the system. That list is what we check against whenever copies are requested.
3. We supply the cylinders or locks, keyed to your plan, and install them.
4. Keys are handed over and recorded, so you know exactly how many exist.

Keep the list of authorized people short and up to date. When a manager who could order keys leaves, tell us, and remove them from the list the same week.

Combining high security with a master key system

Restricted keyways and master keying work together. A building can run a full master key system on Mul-T-Lock, so each person has one key, the manager has one key, and none of them can be copied outside the authorized process. For larger buildings, that combination is what we usually recommend.

Keys at home

At home, the same idea gives you a front-door deadbolt whose keys can’t be copied at a kiosk. That is useful if you rent out a basement unit, hand keys to trades during a renovation, or simply want to know that the three keys you were given are the only three that exist.

If a high-security key is lost

Because copies can’t be made casually, a lost key is a smaller worry than it is on a standard system: whoever finds it can’t duplicate it. If the key could identify the building, or if it is a master, rekeying the affected cylinders is still the safe move, and we’ll walk you through the options.

To see Mul-T-Lock hardware or order keys for an existing system, visit the shop at 300 Manitou Drive, Unit D, or call 519-894-7055. For a home, see our door locks and deadbolts page; for a business, request a quote.