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Doors are installed in any apartment or house - both interior and entrance. They can separate rooms and also act as a space limiter. Locks are often built into doors, regardless of their intended purpose (interior or entrance).
Locks on interior doors are as simple as possible, but on entrance doors they can be quite complex. Doors are often equipped with automatic locks that close if the door is accidentally slammed.
With this development of events, many people panic, not knowing how to open the locking mechanism and what, in general, to do. The situation may reach a dead end and there may be no other solution than knocking down the door. A similar problem can arise if the locking mechanism breaks down.
There is no need to rush; you can knock down the door at any time. You need to collect your thoughts and find another way to unlock the door.
How you can open doors using available tools will be discussed in our article.
Reasons when a slammed door does not open
Before attempting to open the doors, you should understand the cause of the breakdown. There can be many such reasons. The main reasons for the impossibility of opening a locked door are:
- Tongue jamming;
- latch wedge;
- Leaving the key in the lock;
- Leaving the key on the back of the door;
- Broken key in the keyhole.
For each of these problems there is a way to solve it.
Door lock tongue stuck
When an interior door slams shut, one of the possible reasons for this may be that the lock tongue is jammed. How to open a stuck lock? In this case, a regular plastic card (bank card, discount card), or any knife can help. If you don’t have such items at hand, any other – durable and thin – will do.
The selected item is inserted between the canvas and the box in the place where the tongue is located. Next, with light movements up and down, left and right, you should act on the jammed mechanism. If it moves a little, you need to press the door handle to open the door. A slammed door will open in most cases. If this does not happen, you need to try a more effective, but also more dangerous method for the lock - using a chisel. The algorithm of actions is the same; you need to try to squeeze out the jammed tongue using more brute force.
Door latch wedge
There are a wide variety of doors on the market, some of which are equipped with latches. If it was the latch that caused the door to slam shut, you should try turning the handle in different directions. If this does not help, the handle should be disassembled to access the mechanism. As a rule, for disassembly you can use a screwdriver or any other similar object (spoon, knife, nail file).
After removing the handle, you need to take a thin object (pencil, pen, knitting needle), insert it into the body of the lock, feel for the locking mechanism and press, while simultaneously turning the handle to unlock the mechanism.
There are cases when doors are equipped with a latch, which is a key on the inside of the lock. Such a key may be accidentally pressed, making it impossible to open the door from the outside. The most common situation is that the button was pressed, after which the door was slammed, and there was no one inside the room.
In this case, a slammed door can be opened using a special hole provided in the lock design. It is located under the handle. A thin object (knitting needle, nail) is inserted into the hole, after which the locking mechanism relaxes and the mechanism is unlocked.
The key is on the other side
It also happens that the locking mechanism can only be unlocked with a key, the door slammed, but the key remained on the other side. The door cannot be opened and a reasonable question arises - how to open it? In such a situation, a sewing needle or any other thin object, as well as an ordinary newspaper, can come to the rescue. The method only works when there is a gap between the canvas and the floor sufficient for the key to pass through. The newspaper is placed on the floor under the door, and the key is pushed out of the keyhole. The goal of the action is to ensure that the key falls on the newspaper, and then pull it towards you. With proper skill, there will be no difficulties with opening.
The key was left in a locked room
In a situation where the key was left in a locked room (if the door slammed or was simply closed), you can try to open the locking mechanism using various available means. It is necessary to understand that locks for interior doors, as a rule, do not have a complex mechanism; with some skill they can be easily broken.
To do this you will need:
- Knitting needle or hairpin.
If you look inside the lock, you can see the locking mechanism. There are moving parts inside the structure that, when pressed, unlock the lock. The procedure consists of tightening the lock elements and then turning the mechanism. The operation may not work out the first time, but if you practice for a long time, the lock should yield.
The key broke right in the hole of the interior door
It is not uncommon for a key to break directly in the keyhole. How to solve the problem depends on how the key broke. If part of the key is visible from the keyhole, you can use tongs or pliers to pull the key out and then duplicate it.
If the key fragment does not stick out of the hole very much, you can try to turn it using a jigsaw file. It is inserted with the teeth up and turned in the lock.
What to do if the front door slams?
How to open the front door is an obvious question for people who find themselves in an unexpected situation involving a broken door at the entrance to their home. There are often situations when a property owner, in desperation, turns the key too much to open the lock, which further worsens the situation. This should not be done under any circumstances, as this will increase the cost of repairing the lock due to its complexity.
How can you open a door if you can’t apply force to the key? With a hairpin! Of course, this option does not always work, but sometimes this method works. The pin breaks into two parts, one of which must be bent so that it can be used as a lever. The second part recesses the pins in the mechanism.
This method does not always work; it is only suitable for certain situations and types of locks.If a cross-shaped cylinder mechanism is installed on the door, a hole is drilled above the key hole, and then the stopper is lifted with a pick, pushing back the deadbolt.
If the door is equipped with a pin mechanism (cylinder), a hole is made in it, a wire is inserted, and the cylinder is turned using a master key. There is another way to open a door on which a cylinder lock is installed - with a paper clip. The procedure is painstaking - you need to comb the pins over and over again. A specialist can complete opening the lock in 10 minutes, but a beginner may need several hours. To save your nerves, it is recommended to call a specialist.
How to open the front door with a lever lock? To do this, the canvas is pulled away from the box, and the levers are moved inward.
If the frame is not strong enough (wooden), you can simply knock out the door, and then, after removing it from its hinges, take it to a specialist for repairs.
What to do if the key to the front door is broken in the lock?
To remove the key, you will need a jigsaw file, which is inserted with the teeth up and turned, and then taken out along with the key. In this case, you can kill two birds with one stone - get the key and open the door.
If the lock does not open, but the key is obtained, then the mechanism is broken. In this case, if you have certain skills, you can break it, but this procedure will vary depending on the type of lock. If an “English” lock can still be cracked by drilling out the cylinder and removing the cylinder or cutting the bolt with a grinder, then other types of locks are unlikely to be able to be hacked in this way.
The easiest way to solve any problem that arises with the front door lock is to call a specialist who has the necessary tools and experience. Yes, this procedure requires certain financial costs, but it can save certain money if an inexperienced master aggravates the situation with incorrect actions (breaks the lock, breaks down the door, etc.).
So, it is quite possible to open slammed doors on your own - both interior and exterior. If the locking mechanisms break down, the situation becomes more complicated, but a way out can be found. In any situation, you should not despair - a solution to the problem can almost always be found.
Carefully opening a lock without a key without damaging either the door or the lock itself is an art that people have been learning for years and never stop doing, just as, in general, manufacturers never cease to improve locks, protecting them from unauthorized opening . It is for this reason that the question of how to open doors without a key, or rather, solving it with your own hands, can be called a dubious undertaking - without skills and experience in this matter, you can only make things worse, especially when it comes to opening entrance doors. Be that as it may, in this article, together with the website, we will look at this issue in as much detail as possible - we will study some methods that will allow you to open a door lock without a key.
How to open a door without a key photo
How to open a door without a key: opening the lock of interior doors
Interior doors, or rather their locks and latches, can be said to be the simplest in terms of opening without a key - locks for internal interior doors are usually not made complicated, and opening them even for an inexperienced security guard will not be difficult. The main thing is to know how to do it and which “levers” to press.
Naturally, all these manipulations must be performed carefully so as not to damage either the door frame or the leaf - if you squeeze something out with a crowbar, then you need to put something under it. In most cases, interior doors and their lining are not particularly durable and they are easily damaged by metal objects, which, as a rule, are used to solve the question of how to open an interior lock without a key? Naturally, all these methods are by no means suitable for opening a lock without a key - this is a completely separate topic, and you can watch about it in this video.
How to open a door lock without a key: entrance doors
If a broken lock on interior doors is, as they say, not so bad, then a front door that won’t open is a real disaster! Each person tries to solve this problem on their own, and the first thing that comes to mind is to enter the apartment through the window. It’s good when it’s a private house or the first floor of an apartment building - but what if you live on the second floor or higher? “Mountaineering” without preparation and skills is a very risky undertaking. First you need to make sure that there are no other options. Or have you simply tried the entire arsenal of methods, and nothing helps solve the problem of how to open an iron door without a key?
- The simplest situation is when the key breaks in the keyhole. Under no circumstances do we rush or try to pull out the fragment with our hands. The most important thing is not to push it deep. Instead, we knock on a neighbor’s door (one, then another, and, if necessary, a third) and ask to rent pliers, wire cutters, and an old-style jigsaw file. In general, with all this, we first try to grab the broken edge of the key and carefully pull it out, and if that doesn’t help, then we try to carefully pick up the fragment with a jigsaw and pull it out a little from the keyhole. In general, we direct all our efforts to remove the fragment - this must be done very carefully so as not to damage the secretion.
How to open a lock without a key using a paper clip photo
- The question of how to open the door of a house without a key is much more difficult to solve, and to a large extent it all depends on the type of lock - if the locking mechanism is of high quality and has a lot of degrees of protection, then you don’t even have to think about opening the lock yourself. There is only one outcome - without special skills, you will not only not be able to open the lock, but you will probably ruin it. In general, in such a situation it is better to turn to professionals. If we talk about simpler, as they say, down-to-earth lock designs, then among the 100% methods we can distinguish two options. Firstly, this is drilling out the secret, after which it can be opened with any flat object. And, secondly, elementary knocking out the lock - we just take it and hit the cylinder with force with a hammer. We hit it so that the internal rotary cracker breaks - in most locks you don’t even have to put much effort into this. The cracker breaks along with the screw holding the lock cylinder - after that all you have to do is remove the cylinder and open the lock with a knitting needle or strong wire bent into the letter “L”. In general, you won’t be able to restore the castle, but you will get into an apartment or house, and that’s good.
- How to open a lock without a key using a paper clip or a hairpin. By and large, the operation is dubious, especially if we talk about a person who has never been involved in opening locks before - you can spend an eternity on this matter and still achieve nothing for one simple reason. It is generally impossible to open a lock of your type in this way - not every locking mechanism can be opened with a paper clip or hair clip. And in general, skills are needed here.
- Alternatively, you can get a universal master key, but even in this case, in order to solve the problem of how to open a mortise lock without a key, you will need a certain amount of skill. In general, this is a delicate matter and has a lot of nuances - you can’t do it without special training, knowledge of how locks are constructed and other so-called “little things”.
How to open an iron door without a key photo
In general, you need to look at the place - the circumstances themselves will tell you what to do and what to do. For example, in some cases, when the lock is closed one turn, you can try to disengage it from the door frame using a crowbar or crowbar. You can also try to disassemble the lock - first remove it, thereby gaining access to the core. Doors can also be opened by cutting off the hinges - this option is possible if the hinges are not hidden and the doors do not have burglar-proof pins. Among other things, you can resort to extreme measures - simply put, apply physical force to the doors and knock them out. This trick works great with doors, but not with doors, and even more so - it’s definitely not possible to break them down without a press.
In conclusion to the topic of how to open a door without a key, let me remind you once again that it is better not to do such things on your own. There are organizations that provide professional assistance in this matter - you just need to call and wait for the arrival of a person who will do everything quickly, and most importantly carefully, causing minimal damage to your doors.
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Sometimes life forces a person to solve quite complex problems. One of them is emergency opening of door locks. There are different situations - the front doors may slam shut, in another case the keys may simply be lost. Also, the key sometimes simply breaks right in the hole. Those who found themselves in such a situation, being in a confused state, called the Ministry of Emergency Situations or used the services of specialists. But there are ways to open a door without a key and the need for someone’s services. We will conduct a short master class and learn how to open any locking mechanisms.
Main types and designs of lock mechanisms
So, the situation is that upon returning home the person realized that the key was irretrievably lost. In this case, people can act in different ways - some people try to knock down the door, others try to ruin the canvas or cut out the lock. At the same time, no one uses a set of master keys for opening - there is an opinion that this procedure is quite complicated. But the basic set of skills that are enough for hacking is available to everyone.
All door locks existing today can be divided into several types - padlocks, overhead locks, mortise locks and inset locks.
In this case, there is no particular point in considering padlocking mechanisms - they have not been used on entrance or interior doors for a long time. They are used only for doors to utility or other types of non-residential premises.
Overhead locks are used on wooden doors. They can be found on metal ones, but very rarely. The advantage of such locking systems is that when they are installed, the integrity of the door leaf is maintained. The downside is the appearance of the door - the back of the locking system is visible from the reverse side.
Mortise locks are already a popular solution for all types of modern doors. They are located inside the door leaf, which supports the mechanism and performs protective functions. These models are aesthetically pleasing and quite reliable. Disadvantage - it is necessary to violate the integrity of the door leaf frame when installing them.
And finally, the fourth group is the best choice. At the factory where the door was made, the lock is installed even before the door block begins to be assembled. The main advantages are a high level of reliability, minimal damage to the integrity of the door leaf, and a beautiful appearance.
Now it’s worth considering the secret parts of the mechanisms. There are two popular types - lever and cylinder.
A lever lock works as follows - when a person inserts a key into a hole, the teeth of the secret magazine arrange the relief parts or levers in a certain sequence - the lock will turn only in this sequence. These mechanisms are considered one of the most reliable, and the level of burglary resistance depends on the number of these plates.
Cylinder locks work differently - the cylinder mechanism has pins that are aligned in height according to a certain pattern. Instead of pins, there can be anything - various blocks with the ability to rotate, washers, moving parts. During the opening process, the mechanism inside the cylinder acts on the crossbars through a special drive. This is how the door opens.
Classification of secret lock mechanisms
Cylinder locks vary in security level - the first group of low security can have up to 10,000 different combinations. The average level of secrecy is up to 5,000,000 combinations. The maximum level is up to 100 billion different variations.
The first option is often manufactured with low precision. This mechanism is also practically not protected from the effects of master keys and is made of inexpensive materials. The main representative of this group is the so-called lock with an English key. An experienced burglar can deal with such mechanisms in less than a minute. The opening process takes a little longer for an ordinary person, but he will cope with the task.
The second category is a high level of reliability. Here the pins are made with a high level of precision, and their arrangement is very complex. There are various protective elements here, and all parts are made of more durable materials. To open this mechanism, a professional will have to spend about 5-10 minutes.
The mechanism of the third category is equipped with all protective elements made from the most wear-resistant materials. The pins are arranged with maximum difficulty. This lock is practically unbreakable. The key is a “punched card” or “Finnish key”.
The lever mechanism is much easier to classify - here there are single-bit or butterfly keys. The quality of locks and keys depends on the cost of the mechanism. Experienced burglars claim that if a mechanism has more than 6 levers, then it can be considered reliable. These systems have special protection against drilling, the keys are made with high precision - it is very difficult to hack them, but it is possible. Let's find out how it's done.
Opening a lock with an English key
This is done as simply as possible. Various pieces of wire, hairpins, and paper clips are suitable for this. Anything will do as long as it's made of metal and doesn't bend.
The first step is to prepare a master key. The paperclip should be bent at an angle of 90° so that the bent part can fit into the hole. Then the end of this segment is flattened - this should make turning easier.
The second wire should remain flat - you can only bend it a little at the edge. The result should be a small hook. You will need it when working with pins.
To open the lock, the first wire is inserted into the top of the keyhole. In this case, you need to pull it a little in the direction of turning the key. During the interaction of this master key, the cylinder should rotate slightly. Then the device is deepened to the very end and the pins are raised with wire. This must be done clearly, lifting one pin after another. When the process is completed and all the pins are raised, the lock will open with a slight movement.
We work with a two-way English key
The principle of operation in this case is the same as with a regular English key. The only difference is that here you will have to lower the lower set of pins.
How to open a door without a key with a cross mechanism
There is nothing easier than opening a lock with a cross key. This mechanism is characterized by low secrecy - in various models there are only 600 to 1000 possible combinations.
To work you will need a Phillips screwdriver. It should be pressed firmly into the well and simply cut off the pins of the secret mechanism. Metal doors with locks of this type are easy to open. This is an example of when a lock spoils a good and reliable looking door.
"Finnish" keys
These locks are difficult to pick using master keys. In this case, it is much faster and more accurate to dismantle the outer cover and remove all the insides. Then the mechanism can be easily turned using a screwdriver.
Locks are different, and this is not possible with every mechanism. However, everything will work out with Chinese and domestic ones.
Level locks
Here the opening principle is slightly different. You need any lever wrench except the “butterfly”. Next, you should make an L-shaped master key. One by one, the levers need to be lifted with this “tool”. When all the plates are raised, the key can be turned. These operations must be repeated until the door opens.
other methods
You can fight locks with homemade master keys - the locks open quite successfully. But if you don’t have time or something doesn’t work out, then you can simply drill out the secret, and then the mechanism will open with a simple screwdriver.
The second working option is to simply knock out the lock. To do this, you need to hit the cylinder quite hard with a hammer. Hit with such force as to break the internal joint responsible for turning. If this part breaks along with the screw that holds the cylinder, all that remains is to pull out the cylinder and open the lock with a bent wire or knitting needle.
Of course, working in this way, the locking mechanism can then simply be thrown away - it will no longer be able to perform its tasks. But it will still be possible to get into the apartment or house.
How can you close the door if there is no key?
It all depends on the type of lock. There are no problems with systems that slam shut. With others, the task of closing the door is more difficult. But nothing is impossible.
If the lock has a handle that moves down or up, then any metal pipe will be needed. You can use a mop pipe. Tape the pipe to the handle so that it points toward the floor. Then the door simply closes - and that’s it, it can no longer be opened. The pipe will simply hit the floor when you try to press the handle. This is one of the possible options for how you can close the front door without a key.
An interior door can be a chic addition to the interior of our home or office. But it often happens that it can cause serious stress when it breaks at the most inopportune moment and cannot be opened. The reasons can be a variety of factors: the door tongue is jammed, or the key is broken, the handle does not want to turn. But what to do? Who to call in such cases?
If the door slams, what should you do?
Where to contact
The most important thing in this situation is to pull yourself together and not panic, but to think about who you need to contact. It can be:
- Door repair companies. The best way out of the situation is to contact a special service that is qualified in such cases;
- Door installation companies. If there are no special companies in your city, door installation companies can deal with similar situations, you can contact them;
- Ministry of Emergency Situations or fire service. If an emergency situation arises: a small child is left in the room, dangerous electrical appliances are turned on, you must contact the rescue service; when calling, be sure to clarify the emergency of the situation.
But it happens that there is no way to call anyone, for example, when the door to the toilet is stuck and you are alone at home. What to do in such a situation? You can wait for your loved ones to return, or you can try to cope with it yourself. Below we will look at options on how you can help yourself in a situation where an interior door has slammed shut, without spoiling its appearance.
Causes of failure
First you need to understand the reasons for the breakdown, there may be several of them:
- tongue stuck;
- the latch is jammed;
- the key stuck on the back side;
- the key was left in a locked room;
- the key in the lock is broken;
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The locking tongue of the interior door is stuck
This situation happens quite often with door locks that are quite worn out and have not been lubricated for a long time. An ordinary plastic card or a knife can help you deal with a stuck tongue with your own hands. If none of this is at hand, any thin but durable object will do.
To begin, insert a card or knife into the place where the door tongue is located between it and the door jamb, as shown in the photo. Using smooth movements from top to bottom, and then from side to side, try to influence the tongue. You need to ensure that it moves back a little, as soon as you hear a characteristic click or see that the tongue is moving back, try pressing the handle and opening the door.
A more crude method would be to press the tongue out with a chisel or something similar.
The door latch is jammed.
Often the interior door is equipped with special latches. If the door structure slams shut due to its own reason, first try turning the door handle several times. When this action does not help, you need to disassemble the handle itself and get to the insides of the locking mechanism. A screwdriver is best for this, but if you don’t have one at hand, use anything suitable for this: a nail file, a spoon, a knife, even your own nails.
After you have managed to remove the handle from the door, you need to use a thin object, a pencil or pen is best, to feel for the locking mechanism (watch the video) and press on it, while at the same time turning the door handle to open the door that has slammed shut.
Sometimes the interior door design comes with a latch in the form of a key on the inside. When the door leaf is closed and this key is pressed, it is not possible to open it from the outside. It often happens that the interior door slams with the latch already pressed when there is no one in the room.
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In this case, it is already difficult to get into the room. For this case, the design of such locks should have a small hole under the door handle, as shown in the photo. Take a closer look, if you find it, you need to insert a knitting needle or a thin nail there and press on it. This action should return the key to the open position and unlock the latched door structure that has slammed shut.
The key was left on the back of the door
It often happens that an interior or office door, or even a toilet door, can only be opened with a key. In situations where it slams shut, but the key remains in the lock on the other side, a thin knitting needle or any sufficiently thin object and newspaper can help. This rescue option can be real if there is space between the door leaf and the floor. In order to get the key, first of all you need to push a newspaper or anything that can be pushed underneath, so that the fallen key can end up on it. The next step is to use a knitting needle to try to push the key out of the keyhole. When it falls on the newspaper underneath, carefully pull it towards you - and the key is in your hands.
The door key was left in a locked room
It may happen that the interior door slammed shut, or it was simply buried, and the only option for the key to it remained inside the locked room or was lost. In this case, you can try to open the lock using improvised means. Interior door locks have a simple design, so you can easily do it yourself.
To do this you will need a knife, a thin knitting needle, a nail file or a regular hairpin.
If you look inside the keyhole, you can see that some parts inside are movable. The principle of opening such a lock with a key is to press down these moving parts of the lock, but the key has a special shape for this, so it is easy for them to do this.
The whole point of opening such a design of a lock without a key is to press all the moving parts above and below in the keyhole using improvised means, while at the same time turning it like a key. This may not work the first time, but if you practice, the result will please you.
