Help! Locked myself out!

[Stewart]

Hi all! I know I'm a moron - however, I found some strange keys in a kitchen drawer and asked if anyone knew what they were for. No-one did, so I threw them away in the rubbish. Now it turns out they were the keys to the back door - which is locked. And I can't open it. Because the keys are at the bottom of tons of rubbish at some council tip somewhere... Oops. SO - is there a reasonably easy way to remove a locked mortice from a door without causing too much damage? Or am I going to have to chisel away the door frame????

[Palindr☻me]

Are the hinge pins accessible? If so, you may be able to drift these out and open the door the "wrong" way.

If it is a 3 lever lock, a locksmith should open it in no time. Even a novice should get it open in a few minutes..

You won't even need these:

[Phil Anthropist]

From the inside the hinges are the weakest point. If you can't get the pins out of the hinges using a hammer and chisel you could try an angle grinder on the hinges, while someone holds a suitable guard to try to protect the door and frame from getting damaged. Obviously wear goggles and gloves. If you are going to cause damage it would be better to damage the door because that is fairly straightforward to repair or replace compared with the frame. From the outside you could drill a series of stitch holes in the door around the lock and remove it that way. Then buy a new door and lock. A locksmith will open it in a few seconds but get some quotes.

[Stewart]

Thanx for that Sue - it is only a very cheap, basic mortice so I assume it is indeed a 3-lever mortice lock

- you say "Even a novice should get it open in a few minutes.." - well that's me, so how EXACTLY would I get it open?!?! Thanx for your reply :)

Pal> Stewart wrote:

[Stewart]

Thanx also Phil! It is not a security back door - it just leads into a utility room where there are then doubleglazed French doors into the house - it might be easier just to cut a bit out of the frame, replace the lock in the door, then bodge the frame back together with a bit of wood and filler? Then I don't have to buy a new door and put a new cat-flap into it!

Phil Anthr> "Stewart" wrote:

[Phil Anthropist]

Assuming it is softwood, not hardwood, you might find it easier to drill holes and then chisel out the section of frame that the lock fits into instead of trying to use a saw, if you can accept that the repair to the frame might be very noticeable.

[Palindr☻me]

The first thing is, do any of your neighbours have the same style lock?

You may even find one of their keys fits..even if not, it will show you how many levers it does have and where the levers and wards are.

The next is to buy a cheap lock and take it to bits and see how it works. There are books and tools but, once you see how they work, even bits of metal coat hanger will do. You can practice on your cheap lock, with the face plate off so that you can see what you are doing. Better, replace the faceplate with a perspex one, so all the bits stay in place.

The Complete Guide to Lockpicking

A locksmith won't show you how he does it...

[Stewart]

[Palindr☻me]

If the bolt is plain brass with no sneaky steel rollers, it may be possible to put a padsaw through the gap and saw through the bolt...

[Stewart]

[Phil Anthropist]

Before I went anywhere near this door with a drill, chisel or saw, I would want to have exhausted the possibility of 'picking' the lock. Having said that, apart from those small Chinese-made padlocks, and a Ford Escort that could be unlocked with a nail file, I have never managed to pick a lever or cylinder lock.

[the_constructor]

This isn't a solution but a bit of nostalgia. When at School back in the 1960's, the Deputy Head loaned me a master key to get to the roof because we were doing a weather project. Seeing the key and noticing that it looked like a key from home, I got a spare cut of the house key then went to work with a file. It fitted every door in the school that I tried. Needles to say, someone blabbed and it was confiscated, parents called and I got a thrashing with the cane. They then changed all the locks. I save all old keys now and have helped many out over the years.

[Olly]

[John]

Cheers

John