The question of what to do if the door to the apartment does not open arises first in situations with a jammed lock or a broken key. This can happen to anyone, regardless of the type of door; it can be either metal or wood. How to get into an apartment without a key?
The door won't open
Common ways to open a door
You should not risk your life and health and climb from your neighbors onto the balcony of your apartment. You should realistically assess your capabilities. And if such an attempt is made, you need to seriously take care of insurance.
General opening methods may work if you have a metal or wood structure. For the operation, it is advisable to have with you: a knife, brushes, machine oil in an oil can, a hammer and a wedge.
You can try to replace these items with improvised means. Olive or sunflower oil can replace the lack of machine oil. The oiler can be easily replaced with a syringe or pipette. If you don't have a knife, you can use a screwdriver.
The door won't open
A possible reason why the lock does not open may be that it is clogged. You need to check if there is any small debris in the castle. In such a situation, it is necessary to clean the lock. Using a knife and brush, we try to remove all debris from the structure.
The design of the lock in some cases becomes an obstacle to entering the apartment. You can lubricate the lock with oil. If the method does not help, there is a possibility of a broken lock spring.
How to ensure the safety of your home when opening doors
Calling such a master does not threaten the owner in the future. The service guarantees the safety and integrity of the home and enters into an agreement with the owner, where he undertakes to pay for the work, and the master agrees to non-disclose information about the lock mechanism in the apartment.
The master’s task is not only to open the door without a key, but also to ensure the safety of the customer’s home
Opening a door with a knife or screwdriver
The disadvantages of some locks are frequent breakage of the springs in the latches. This applies to English castles. To remove the latch, you need to try using a knife or a thin screwdriver by inserting it into the gap between the blade and the box.
You need to determine the place where the latch is located, then apply pressure in this place. Usually the tongue in an English lock is weak, so it will not be difficult to push it away. Movements must be smooth so that incorrect actions do not aggravate such a situation.
If the door structure is not very strong, the lock can be broken. For example, use a hammer to knock out the lock cylinder. This method will entail the need to change the lock. However, this option is unlikely to work if the door is metal or opens outward. It won't be easy to hack it.
Cost of lock opening service
Calling a specialist is usually free. The locksmith arrives at the address, assesses the situation and names the preliminary cost of the service, which depends on the type of lock and the complexity of the work. It does not matter what material the front door is made of: metal or wood, the specialist’s task is to preserve the integrity of the door for further use. The cost of opening a domestic lock starts at 700 rubles, and an imported one starts at 1,500 rubles. Opening a safe door can cost up to 2000 rubles.
From the above we can conclude: you should not wait for a negative development of the situation when the front door does not open. At the slightest jamming or incorrect operation, you need to immediately repair or change the lock, which will prevent the problem and will not force it to be solved urgently.
How to get into an apartment if the key is broken
If the front door does not open, the main thing in such a situation is not to panic. Don't be in a rush to break down your front door, otherwise you'll have to incur costs to replace it. You can try to open the door yourself if you have a crowbar, screwdriver, grinder, pliers and drill.
Procedure:
- The main task is to remove the key from the lock. You can borrow a jigsaw file from your neighbors, which needs to be inserted into the keyhole with the teeth facing up;
- Next, we try to turn the saw and pick up a piece of the key stuck in the lock. We pull the key out of the hole with a file;
- Pliers will help if a piece of the key is sticking out of the hole. We grab the edge of the fragment and carefully try to turn it in the direction of opening the lock with the key;
- If we managed to enter the apartment in this way, we take out the fragment by pulling it towards ourselves.
Possible consequences
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False fire call
Fines and liability
To prevent false calls to rescuers, I would like to remind you once again:
- A broken door is most likely beyond repair;
- Administrative fine and reimbursement of expenses associated with the departure of rescuers;
- It is useless to attract rescuers who came to you, and at this moment someone may really need their help and someone’s life may be in danger while they help you and your dishonesty.
How to open a door if the lock device is jammed
In situations where you managed to remove the key, but the front door still does not open, you can judge that the lock is broken. To deal with its structure, you need to get to the internal mechanism. The task will be simplified if an English lock is installed.
The step-by-step sequence of actions will be as follows:
- First you need to start drilling the cylinder, then remove the larvae of the structure;
- Next, you will need to use metal hooks that engage the drive mechanism. This will cause the bolts to get caught in the lock body;
- If the crossbars can be seen in the space between the door frame and the leaf, they can be cut with a grinder;
- In situations with small gaps, you can pry up the blade with a crowbar and a strong screwdriver. Thus, it is possible to determine the weak point of the door, which will allow you to cope with its opening without much damage.
If you called rescuers to open the door
Rescuers make every minute count, so you don’t have to wait for them for hours; very soon they will arrive at the call site. The inventory for opening doors usually includes a mechanized firefighting tool, for example GASI Bear, a gas cutter, IRAS and of course the good old heavy fireman's crowbar.
With the help of this minimal set, rescuers will dismantle your front door in a matter of minutes, and since minutes count, no one will spare your property (we are talking about the door leaf). At best, the door will be cut off its hinges and bent with a crowbar; at worst, another opening will be cut out of it.
Who will help you get into the apartment?
What to do if all possible methods have already been tried, but the front door still does not open or you do not have the necessary tools at hand. What to do in situations if you are a fragile woman and cannot cope with a stuck door? Who should you call in such a situation?
You can call the management company (Housing Office) that services the house and call a locksmith. Housing office specialists do not always act delicately. Sometimes, after opening them, it becomes necessary to replace the lock or the entire structure.
In situations where the door does not open, an alternative to a locksmith is to call the Ministry of Emergency Situations. They will arrive quickly and help you get into the apartment without charging a fee only if there is any danger to the life and health of people. Examples of such situations are the fact that a small child is left in the apartment or food is being cooked on the stove, which can lead to a fire. Otherwise, the arrival of the Ministry of Emergency Situations employees will need to be paid for. Rescuers use rather crude methods to open doors.
In many large cities there are many companies and organizations that offer various lock opening services. Specialists from such organizations usually arrive at the scene of an incident earlier than a mechanic from the management company. Such masters also work much more carefully, and the consequences of their work are also less destructive. The quality of work is compensated by its cost, which is quite high in such companies. But metal or wooden doors will open quickly enough.
You can resort to the help of industrial climbers. They can quickly go to the scene of the incident and enter the apartment through a balcony or window. The cost of their services is also high. However, if the front door or lock is broken, the cost of repair and replacement will be significantly higher.
What additional services can a door opening specialist provide?
Specialists not only open locks and leave the customer with an open door, but also solve the problem comprehensively. If a certain element of the locking mechanism fails, the technician can replace it. In addition, the service specialist, having found out the cause of the malfunction, may advise replacing the lock with a more complex and reliable one. Craftsmen always have new locking mechanisms and door hinges in their arsenal, which may be required for the normal opening and closing of the door.
In addition to door locks, the service, represented by its specialists, provides services such as opening safes and cars - this is also considered an emergency situation that requires a quick solution.
Possible causes of failure
In second place after accidental slamming of the door are the following reasons for possible malfunction of the mechanism:
- The key remained in the keyhole on the reverse side of the canvas;
- Tongue jamming;
- The latch is stuck;
- Broken key in the locking mechanism;
- Lost key.
Each of these problems has its own solution.
The door slammed
What to do if the door slams? This is an issue that requires immediate resolution. Most often, this problem occurs with a metal door structure equipped with a deadbolt lock, which automatically slams shut when closing.
To begin with, you shouldn’t panic, but turn your head on and start using the means at hand that can help you get out of the current unpleasant situation. You can try using a plastic card or a small piece of wire to open the door. But these items can be effective if the mechanism is not a crossbar type. Then you take a plastic card and insert it into the gap between the door leaf and the box, you need to try to press the tab so that it moves away and the door opens.
If the mechanism is crossbar, then heavy artillery enters the entrance - a grinder, with the help of which the crossbars are cut. After such an opening, you will have to completely replace the lock on the front door.
If the front door slams, and there are small children in the apartment or something is being cooked on the stove, then you should not waste time trying to open it yourself, but urgently need to call a rescue team who will do everything quickly and, in some cases, without damaging the door structure .
If the interior door slammed or a child accidentally locked it, you can use the plastic card method discussed above or try to disassemble the lock and get to the latch.
The lock is jammed
Interior doors, as well as entrance doors, are equipped with a latch, and if they slam shut due to a wedge, then first of all you should turn the handle in different directions, trying to activate the mechanism. If these manipulations do not give a positive result, then it is worth starting to disassemble the mechanism. To do this you will need a screwdriver, but if you don’t have one at hand, you can use a spoon, nail file or knife.
First of all, the handle is removed, after which an ordinary pencil is taken and inserted into the body of the lock, thus feeling for the mechanism. You need to press on it, releasing the latch.
What to do in a situation where the door to a room slams, which is equipped with a latch and its operating principle resembles a key? It is this that can be accidentally pressed, causing the structure to slam shut. Most often, this problem occurs due to the fact that the key was accidentally pressed first, after which the door was slammed.
For such cases, the design of the lock provides a special hole under the handle, into which it is necessary to insert a thin object, for example, a nail or wire. After this, the mechanism relaxes a little and it can be unlocked.
The key remained on the other side of the door leaf
There are handles that can be unlocked using a key, but how can you open an interior door if the key remains on the other side and it slams shut? There is no need to take radical measures and break down the door; you should find an ordinary knitting needle or any other thin object, and also take a newspaper. This opening method will only work if there is a small gap between the canvas and the floor through which the key will pass.
The newspaper is pushed under the door, and the key is pushed out of the keyhole using a knitting needle. The purpose of this method is to push the key out so that it falls on the newspaper, by pulling on which you can pull out the key under the canvas.
The key was left in the locked room
As you know, interior doors do not have a complex unlocking mechanism, so with proper skill it can be easily broken. You can open the lock if the interior door slams shut for some reason using a knife, knitting needle or hairpin.
Inside, each lock is equipped with a mechanism that, when pressed and then turned, unlocks it. It may not work the first time, but if you are patient, the lock should definitely yield.
The key broke off in the lock
This is a fairly common problem and its resolution depends entirely on how the key broke. If a small part of it is visible from the locking mechanism, then you can try to carefully grab it with pliers and pull the piece, and then make a duplicate of the key.
If it is not possible to get the fragment out, then using a nail file or jigsaw you can try to turn it inside to unlock the door.
Paid professional help
There are situations when a person cannot find a solution on his own. There may be children, elderly people, or electrical appliances turned on in a closed apartment. Then the help of experts is simply necessary.
If the door slams, the company https://newzamok.ru/, which provides similar services, will help you open it. You can also turn to private craftsmen, but, unlike the first option, they will not give a guarantee for their work.
Other advantages of professional help:
- the work of craftsmen who understand locks and own special tools;
- speed;
- the likelihood that the door will remain intact.
Specialists will perform the work after the customer confirms ownership. To do this, you need to provide the same documents as when calling the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
