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A Short Guide About What To Do If You Are Locked Out Of Your House

At least once everyone faces such a dreadful situation. Lost or forgotten keys, lock malfunctioning cause lots of troubles we don’t need and don’t have time to deal with. To get that door opened effortlessly, quickly, and without damage, you definitely should call a locksmith. But there’s a bunch of solutions you can try yourself. And we’re here today to suggest some helpful and easy ways to get inside your house asap. Remember, Sure Lock & Key is your most reliable helper when it comes to locksmith issues!

Check Another Door Or Windows

It is said that when God closes a door, he opens a window. To try all the accessible windows and a back door (or a front one, it depends on your case) never hurts. Being so obvious, this way may not occur so easily. Even being highly secure and watchful, you or your roommates can forget to lock all the windows before leaving (finally someone’s forgetfulness is useful). Especially, if the door got locked while you were picking a newspaper or having a conversation with your neighbor, the chance of an open window is pretty high. However, we highly recommend you not to try windows on the second floor. Even if it is surely open, even if you think you can easily reach it - better don’t. If this method isn’t suitable for your case, then you should try something else.

Ask Someone To Help You

Solving a problem of a lost or misplaced key can be easy if you have a roommate or live in a rented house. Your friend or relative or a landlord can come and let you in using a spare key. The apartment buildings’ residents can try and seek help from their superintendent. Usually, they can help but in some cases, they surely will recommend calling a locksmith nevertheless.
You should understand that such a solution is temporary. In the end, you will have to call a locksmith in any case because you need rekeying or a lock replacement. However, calling for residential locksmith services is way easier from the warm and cozy home than from the cold outdoors.

Improvisation Is A Key

If the previous solutions turned out to be ultimately unsuccessful, but you need to get inside without delay, you can try to open the door using improvising tools.
At least once (but likely a thousand times) everyone has seen how easy it is to open a door using a paperclip or pin in movies. Those super cool characters do it in a blink of an eye. But in real life, the situation is quite the opposite. It takes some time to learn how to do it correctly. However, if you have nothing to lose, you can try it. If in the end you will need a new lock installation, then you can be calm about the damage you might cause. Or maybe you even have such experience, then your chances to do everything correctly are good. So, let’s check in detail the sequence of actions.
You need two pins or paperclips. If you have only one, that’s not a big deal. You can cut it in half and make the “tools” we need out of it.
Now, when we have a necessary quantity, you need to bend one into L-shape (that would be our tension tool) and straighten the second one and bend only the end of it making a small “V” (that would be our pick).
Insert a tension tool in the bottom of your lock. Put the pick into the barrel and try to gently manipulate each pin, so the top pin is above the shear line.
new doorknob on old door
If all the pins are right where you want them, you can remove the pick and try to twist a barrel. If you did everything correctly, you opened that lock!
Also, you can try to open a door using a credit card. This trick seems a bit too cinematic, but it may be very useful. The only thing you need to know, that is you have a deadbolt lock it won’t help. The only type of lock you can open in such a way is a standard spring bolt.
new doorknob on old door

Call For Professional Services

So, you’ve tried all of them and all of them were unsuccessful? What is next? Obviously, you need to call a locksmith. Professional residential services are the best solution to such a situation. After you’ve called for help, all you have to do is to wait. The technician will come and unlock that stubborn door of yours. But some difficulties may occur if you don’t have your to-go locksmith. Then you will have to waste some time on searching that would be very inconvenient. That’s why we always recommend people to have their own reliable time-tested locksmith just the way they have their doctors or favorite hairdressers. We already prepared for you a step-by-step guide on how to find your best locksmith. Use it if you’re not sure how to choose the correct one.

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