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Marina, Cow Hollow and Pacific Heights: Edwardian flats with two keys, and a milder salt off the bay
Edwardian and 1920s flats between Lombard and the crest of the hill, garages at street level through the Marina, shops along Union, Chestnut and Fillmore. Fifteen minutes from Divisadero, and the only part of the north side that takes salt off the water rather than the ocean.
: ", CA"} — ~15 Min Arrival, 24/7
Avg. arrival
$89
Service call
24/7
Availability
The typical building here is a flat in a two- or three-unit conversion, which means two keys before you are home: the street door and your own. Neither is dramatic on its own, and the combination is what generates calls, because a household eventually carries one of the two and props the other. A lockout is $135 to $249, and a rekey is $28 to $46 per cylinder with the second cheaper than the first because the van is already at the kerb. If both keys are being brought onto one blade, say that on the call: whether the street door can be included depends on whether the building agrees, and that is a five-minute conversation now rather than an argument later.
The Marina flats sit over garages that open straight onto the street, which is unusual for this part of town and is where the salt gets in. Bay air is gentler than ocean air, but it is not clean: a garage cylinder facing north within a few blocks of the water runs six to ten years rather than the ten to fifteen you would get on the crest. The symptom is the same as it is on the west side, only slower. The key stiffens, then wants a wiggle. On this side of the city that usually means a clean and a lubricate rather than a replacement, which is a visit at $89 and not a purchase.
Up the hill the hardware gets older and better. Mortise sets from the 1900s and 1910s in Pacific Heights are worth keeping: the case is heavy, the parts are serviceable, and a competent repin at $28 to $46 a cylinder leaves you with a lock nobody sells any more. Replacing one of those with a modern deadbolt is usually a downgrade, and we will say so before taking the work. What does get replaced is a landlord's 1980s addition sitting above it, which is normally the lock actually failing.
Shops along Union, Chestnut and Fillmore run the commercial half: storefront and suite doors at $169 to $479 per opening, exit devices at $299 to $769, and a business lockout at $155 to $279. A glass storefront within sight of the water gets the same salt as the flats above it, so a hookbolt that has started to feel gritty is a warning rather than a nuisance. Evening calls carry $55 and calls after midnight $95, both inside the figure before you agree to anything.
Name the cross street and whether the door is the street entrance, your own flat, the garage or a shopfront. If a shared street door is to be rekeyed rather than opened, the owner or the association has to ask. Say if you are within two or three blocks of the water, because that changes what we expect to find inside the cylinder.
Most requested in Marina, Cow Hollow & Pacific Heights
FAQ
Asked about Marina, Cow Hollow & Pacific Heights
Is the salt here as bad as it is in the Sunset?+
No, but it is not nothing. Bay air carries less than ocean air and the buildings mostly face away from the worst of it, so a cylinder here runs six to ten years against three to six on the ocean side and ten to fifteen up on the crest. In practice that means the honest answer on this side is more often a clean rather than a replacement, and that is a cheaper visit.
Can you rekey the street door of my building?+
Only with the building's agreement. Your own flat door is yours to arrange on the spot. The street door is shared, so it goes through the owner, the manager or the association. We will still open it for you tonight if you are locked out of it and can show you live there.
My flat has an old mortise lock. Replace it or keep it?+
Usually keep it. A mortise set from the 1900s in this district is a heavier and better-made lock than anything at the same price today, and repinning it at $28 to $46 costs a fraction of replacement. The exception is a case that is cracked or a lock that has been forced. If yours is genuinely finished you will hear that, with what would go in its place and what it costs.
Open 24 hours, 7 days
Say what the key is doing, hear the figure, get back inside
San Francisco plus Daly City, Colma, Brisbane, South San Francisco and Pacifica, 24 hours, holidays included. Stiff, halfway, snapped, or a healthy lock on the wrong side of a closed door: one number comes back with the $89 visit and the hour of the night already inside it, and it is the number on the receipt.