How to Unlock a Door is a bleak situation …. whenever faced without a key. Whether you’re using all your knowledge to open that mystery closet or been unfortunate on luck and got stuck in a bathroom of your hotel room, or lost your key to open the main door of the house, here’s are some of the escape routes. Stay composed and read on.
METHODS : How to Unlock a Door
- Opening a Locked Door without the Key
- Opening a Jammed Lock
Method 1 : Opening a Locked Door without the Key
Step 1
Use a credit/debit card on a spring lock although this method is not applicable on deadbolts. It will work for spring locks that are slanted and a part of a handle. But take care to pick that card which is cheap, easily replaceable and you don’t need too frequently. You may consider the situations that will arise if it breaks. No harm, no foul scene should be created. The best is that one which is bendy, laminated.
Push it between the lock and the frame on the wall, force it against the frame. Bend it back to force the lock back into the door thereby, opening it. If there’s no room between the lock and the frame, you may also try to push it between the door and the wall frame just above the lock, then swipe swiftly downward with an angle of the card towards the wall frame. The thicker, the sturdier, the better… so try to choose a card accordingly.
Step 2
Use a small screwdriver on interior doors. This method is suitable for doors with “privacy handles,” which are locked by pushing a button in the doorknob. Whenever locked on the other side, try to locate a tiny hole on the doorknob. Push the thinnest screwdriver or a paper clip which must be hammered flat, or a small butter knife that can work into the hole. Push it straight through the hole as far as you can, keep on turning and twisting it until the thing catches a groove in the lock and the clicks open it.
Step 3
Pick the lock. This can be not very easy, so read the full instructions carefully. Start with inserting the short end of an Allen wrench into the lower edge of the keyhole. Applying light pressure, turn the lock slightly in the direction the key generally turns itself. Keeping the weight as steady as possible, and using an unbent paperclip with a small hook shape arc at the end, pick the lock.
Scrubbing method: Push-in the paperclip gently at the lower part of the keyhole to lift it back and upward. Repeat this procedure in a circular motion while increasing the pressure on the Allen wrench slightly with each push, until there is a slightest of the feel of the lock shift. When it happens, keep the pressure on the lock as steady as you possible and keep repeating the motion till the door unlocks..
Pin by pin method: Failing to succeed with the scrubbing method, keep the pressure on the Allen wrench light and steady, gradually push-in the paperclip. When paperclip hooks with a pin, try to remain sturdy to bend and lift it upward until the lock clicks into place. You may repeat using extra pins until the lock turns open.
Step 4
Remove the hinges. For this standard-sized flat head, screwdriver comes handy. Just wedge it between the bottom knuckle and the pin. Keeping the handle of the screwdriver in a downward direction, push with a hammer. Removing the head and pin will loosen the hinges enough to be detached from the door. Repeat this step for all the hooks. Feel free to use Phillips head screwdriver, whenever pin doesn’t come out quickly.
Step 5
Annihilate the lock with a hammer. It should be kept as a last resort. And there is the perfect reason of this to be the final step — it finishes the lock, and it becomes mandatory to replace it as it is non-repairable after a sound bashing done to it to open it.
Accessing the urgency of the situation, you may bash downward repeatedly until the doorknob or lock breaks away from the door. In most cases, people call a locksmith or a non-emergency number of the local fire station.
Method 2 : Opening a Jammed Lock
Step 1
Push or pull the door. Keeping pushing and pulling the door as you turn the key. With many older models, you are required to put pressure on the door while fiddling with the key, as the jammed door may be having some bending of the lock at an awkward angle. Apply pressure in each direction: up, down, forward and backward. Use force without losing balance once the door opens.
Step 2
Turn the key both directions. There’s no universal rule that you always have to turn clockwise to open a lock, as a key may unlock a door turning another way round too. So “lock” may become “unlock” sometimes leading the lock to unjam. You may turn keys both ways to check the situation .. it might work to help you catch the missing groove of the lock, and you may overcome the jam.
Step 3
Lubricate the lock. Unless you plan the replacement of the lock, choose a grease-free lubricant like graphite powder, as the oil will jam the lock even more once it dries out.
A single, short spray or squeeze directly into the keyhole could be enough. Too much of lubricant can be counterproductive. In case you are trapped in a room, use any oil available to you in that room, or rub the key tips with a graphite pencil tip that was there in your handbag.
Step 4
Examine the keys. The problem may be with the key, so look carefully for any bend or severely damaged teeth of the key. Bending the key to get it back into a flat position sometimes serve as a temporary fix. So use a soft hammering to do it. Replace the keys at a hardware store as soon as possible. Otherwise, overuse of such key may lead to a broken key inside the lock.
Step 5
Know when to apply force. Whenever you hear a click with the turn of the key, then in that situation the door is most probably unlocked but jammed at a place, and a few hard thumps will be enough to open it. If the lock is jammed very grimly, bumping the lock several times help only after the lubrication is done to shift the sticky turners.
Step 6
Try other methods. You may have to set aside the key and use the lock picking methods described in the section above. In most cases, people call a locksmith or a non-emergency number of the local fire station when everything of your knowledge about how to unlock a door fails.
Conclusion
By the end of the article, you must have become able to access, how grim your situation is, and will act accordingly with above piece of advice in your mind.