The buildings and the hardware
The housing stock in and around Aston tends to mix older single-family houses with multiunit buildings, which affects the type of hardware you see. On older homes the doors and frames are often set in thicker jambs and use mortise or heavy tubular deadbolts; the strike plates may be recessed and the latch faces worn smooth. Apartment entries and small rental units more commonly have lighter, stamped knobs and cylindrical deadbolts that show evidence of repeated use: loose trim screws, compressed latch springs, and thin-faceplates. Those physical differences change what we replace and what we adjust; a heavy mortise cylinder requires different tools and parts than a light-gauge apartment lock.
