Breaking into a cylinder lock - URGENT! HELP!

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

Smash the window,its cheaper to replace glass than call a locky out. :-(

[Lobster]

Disaster... trying to unlock the door of a house this afternoon, the lock is knackered...

It's a cylinder lock - Yale style - the key inserted fine but was really stiff to turn and wouldn't spring the catch at all. Resorted to drilling out the cylinder; managed that fine, then inserted a screwdriver down the hole to turn the keyway, expecting it to spring open - but no, the keyway turns equally stiffly, (ie, the original problem was within the latch part of the lock on the inside, not the cylinder part on the outside) so the mechanism simply won't budge. Don't know what's gone wrong but presumably something's come seriously adrift inside the casing of the latch.

Any ideas what to do next? I'm stumped. It's either a locksmith (aargh) or I have to smash a 2' square window to gain access (aargh).

Help please.........!!

David

[Scabbydug]

If its possible pry off the door frame so that you can see the lock bolt through the gap, insert a thin bar or old chisel through the gap against the bolt and whack with hammer. Let's know how you get on whatever method you use. Good luck.

[Grunff]

[Grunff]

I'd smash the window.

[Phil Anthropist]

"Lobster" wrot:

1) Spray WD40 into lock, insert strong screwdriver and turn, if no luck 2) Break window 3) Board up/reglaze window 4) Buy and fit new lock

[Dave Fawthrop]

|Lobster wrote: |> Disaster... trying to unlock the door of a house this afternoon, the |> lock is knackered... |>

|> It's a cylinder lock - Yale style - the key inserted fine but was |> really stiff to turn and wouldn't spring the catch at all. Resorted |> to drilling out the cylinder; managed that fine, then inserted a |> screwdriver down the hole to turn the keyway, expecting it to spring |> open - but no, the keyway turns equally stiffly, (ie, the original |> problem was within the latch part of the lock on the inside, not the |> cylinder part on the outside) so the mechanism simply won't budge. |> Don't know what's gone wrong but presumably something's come seriously |> adrift inside the casing of the latch. |>

|> Any ideas what to do next? I'm stumped. It's either a locksmith |> (aargh) or I have to smash a 2' square window to gain access (aargh). |>

|> Help please.........!! |>

|> David | |Smash the window,its cheaper to replace glass than call a locky out. :-(

Unless it is double glazed :-(

[Weatherlawyer]

Then saw through the catch on the inside if you have anything like decent security. The rebate will be a problem but not impossible. A grinder would make it easy.

If its just a Yale, lean on the door and then thump it with your shoulder. The brasswork should "give" fairly easily.

It may be that the snib has fallen as it wears with age but it might have been forced by a kid trying his luck.

[Grunff]

I've just replaced 3x 100x50cm DG sealed units, they were £25 each.

[Rob Morley]

Take a really bendy filling knife and wiggle it gently in the side of the door frame by the lock. Open up as much of a gap as you can by pressing your shoulder against the door as you do this. This is assuming that the latch is too stiff to be shifted by a credit card, which will wiggle in more easily but might not be stiff enough to move the latch. Alternatively take a cold chisel and a large hammer, and knock the lock out the back of the door through the cylinder hole, then glue it all back together later, or kick the door in (you need to get your foot near the lock, which I wouldn't manage too well these days) and replace the splintered frame later.

[Doki]

Locksmith we had out a while ago had a selection of the sides of pop bottles of varying thicknesses which he used to open yale locks.

[John]

Has the little button been engaged that dead lock it? (does it have one?) Doesn't solve the problem though.

John

[Scabbydug]

Wouldn't work in this case. Strange a proper locksmith he would have had to resort to pop bottles when the correct material would have been available from any locksmith supplier..

[Doki]

Well, they were proper locksmith things, but he reckoned it was basically the same as pop bottle plastic.

[Doki]

Just a thought: Could you have been broken into? Burglars tend to push the deadlock button on yale locks to stop them being disturbed.

[Keith]

In message , Dave Fawthrop writes

In which case you could probably pry out the glazing beads, or rubber seal strip, quicker than you could find a hammer, and refit the whole lot in minutes once you're in.

[Lobster]

Thanks a lot for all the advice!

Well - job is now a "good'un".

The door concerned was the front door - but it turns out that the back door (which had its mortice key in the lock, inside the house - grrr) which was apparently half-glazed, was actually fully glazed (four panes), but with the bottom two panes covered in plywood panelling. So I pried off the outside panel, smashed the pane behind, pushed the inside panel through and was able to retrieve the key. 5 mins later the plywood was back in place with virtually no evidence it had even been removed. (I'd better replace the actual broken - hidden - pane today with a decent lump of ply as it's not exactly very secure now).

As for the cylinder lock on the other door... I couldn't even open it from the inside by turning the knob, but that's probably because by then I'd comprehensively stuffed it by thumping it from the front using a drift down the keyhole! - which also prevented me from seeing what exactly had gone wrong with the internals, once I'd unscrewed it from the door.

David

[Lobster]

[snip tale of woe]

Just out of interest, are there any users of the Thunderbird newsreader looking at this? Mine is configured so it automatically 'watches' any thread I've started or contributed to, so I can just select "View watched threads with new unread messages" to see if anyone's responded to my pearls of wisdom. However, this particular thread "Breaking into a cylinder lock" still appears as if it has unread messages in it, despite me repeatedly clicking on "Mark thread as read".

Do any other T-bird pilots see the same thing on this thread, or is just me?!

David

[Chris Bacon]

I can't see that thread at all, maybe this newsfeed's thrown a wobbly. Selecting other threads and marking as read seems to work OK. Perhaps there's a "forum" at Mozilla? There does not seem to be a dedicated newsgroup, 'though ICBW....

Have you found any good "extensions"? I got the ROT one, but sorces for other useful ones would be great.

[Mungo]

On some old locks, if the key is left in the lock then there isn't a "lock" as such, more like a "thumb turn" bolt. So with that circumstance you may be able to rotate the mechanism from the outside since the key (on the inside) is holding the tumblers at the right height to allow the cylinder to rotate!

Many insurance policies won't pay out if you leave keys in a lock. Balance this with the need to escape during a fire...

Though actual security ought not to be discussed in an open forum, for the times that I need to leave a key in a (locked) door lock I try and withdraw the key a centimetre or so, so that some tumblers fall and prevent the cylinder from rotating. Somehow on modern locks the external cylinder is disconnected from the internal one, making my suggestion unnecessary.

HTH

Mungo

P.S. A friend went out hill walking one day and many hours later he returned to his car to see his keys contentedly nestled in the ignition. He then resorted to smashing a window to gain entry to the vehicle. And then he found the passenger door unlocked... sigh.