DIY enthusiasts sometimes talk about how easy it is to change your locks yourself, and there are certainly times when swapping one lock for another can be an at-home job—especially if you're only dealing with interior doors. It's important to know when you really do need to call in the professionals, however! Read on to learn about three important times when a real locksmith is the only person for the task.

#1: When you've just moved into a new property

Over the course of someone's time living in a particular property, copies of their keys may end up in all sorts of places: with their friends and family, in the hands of cleaners and dog walkers and other hired professionals, hidden in false rocks in the garden they might forget to tell you about, inside bags that get stolen or left lying about in old jars nobody remembers. Do you really want all those strangers to have access to your home?

A professional locksmith is trained to assess the overall security of your home, and when you've just moved in, that's valuable information. They'll help you understand what your points of vulnerability are, and what you can do to improve them. What better time to focus on this than when you've only just moved in? For true peace of mind, a visit from a locksmith is an essential step.

#2: If a lock's barrel is loose or spinning where it sits in the door

Sometimes when you're opening your front door, you can just tell there's something going on with its locking mechanism. Over time, they can work loose or develop faults, which might make them rattle or spin. Sometimes they get stiff instead, becoming unusually hard to turn. You might think this problem will be solved with a new lock, but that's not always the case: sometimes the issue is actually with the door itself, and even when it isn't, the two problems are often connected. Problems like this are likely to damage the part of the door in which the lock sits, making it difficult to properly install a replacement and putting you in a position where the same issue seems to come up over and over again.

An accredited locksmith won't simply replace the lock itself—they'll be able to figure out why it needed replacing in the first place.

#3: When you're trying to improve your fire, flood or earthquake safety

Most homeowners know how important it is to think about what they'd do in the event of a fire, flood or natural disaster, but many overlook how valuable a good locksmith can be in planning for these contingencies. To move on from a catastrophic event, you're going to need your paperwork in order—and that means storing it in a watertight, fireproof safe. Improperly installed, these safes can be vulnerable to thieves (even if there's nothing valuable inside, they're often picked up wholesale to be cracked into later) or simply let in the water and not do their job. A good locksmith will make sure your documents are safe from as many eventualities as possible—and give you the security advice you need to keep your home and contents safe too.

Talk to a locksmith for more information.