Locksmith in Alfama

About our service in Alfama

The first thing we do on an old Alfama door is work out what is original and what is later damage. A heavy timber leaf with good ironwork on it may need nothing more than the moving parts freed, the keeps refitted and a modern cylinder placed where the previous owner already cut for one. Handles, escutcheons and the decorative plates that give these doors their face can usually be repaired, straightened or refitted rather than discarded — the metal was made thick and it has survived this long. Where a fitting really has come to the end, we look for something in keeping instead of the first thing available, because a door onto a stairwell in this quarter is seen by everyone who passes it. Security on an old door is a question of what the leaf and the frame can actually carry. There is no point specifying a heavy mechanism if the frame around it is soft or the wall behind the keep is loose rubble; the door would give up before the lock did. So we look at the whole assembly: the state of the timber where the fixings bite, whether the frame is still tied into the masonry, how many points the leaf closes on, and whether the alignment is being helped or hindered by a floor that has not been level for a century. Very often the useful improvement is a properly anchored keep and a second closing point, done discreetly, rather than a new door. The other reality here is turnover. Alfama has a dense concentration of short-stay flats and a constant traffic of guests, cleaners and managers, and keys spread accordingly. Owners ask us to change cylinders between seasons and to keep the number of copies in circulation under control; long-term residents ask us for the same thing when a flat above or below them changes hands. We also cut keys for the shared street doors that half the building can no longer turn. Access shapes everything: we agree a time, park where we can and walk in, so tell us the address and the floor when you write. What a job comes to depends on the state of the door, how much ironwork is being saved, the type of lock and the number of keys.

Typical jobs we take on in Alfama:

Services Included

• Period ironmongery, handles and escutcheons repaired and refitted rather than replaced
• Modern cylinders fitted into old timber doors without spoiling the face of the door
• Keeps and frames re-anchored into old masonry so the lock is not doing the work alone
• Cylinders changed between seasons on short-stay and rented flats
• Keys cut for flat doors and worn communal street doors

Areas We Serve

We cover the Castelo, the Sé, Mouraria, Santa Apolónia and the addresses off the Escadinhas de São Miguel, and we plan the walk in with our tools before the day rather than discovering the steps on arrival.

Work Gallery