Even minor everyday troubles can unsettle you for a long time. A slammed interior door is a small problem, but if there are children inside the room or there is something that is needed right now, then the lock must be opened immediately. It is important not to rush; knocking out the canvas or breaking the lock is a last resort. You can return the mechanism to the “open” position using available means.

To successfully open a door, you will need available tools that are found in every home. In order to open a lock of a simple configuration, you may need:

• a plastic card;
• knitting needle;
• a large sheet of paper (for example, newspaper);
• knife or nail file;
• thin screwdriver;
• pliers.

And what kind of improvised object to use, you will have to decide on your own.

Based on blockbusters

Figure 1. The principle of opening an interior door using a card or a thin knife.

Typically, the lock on an interior door is not particularly durable or has a complicated mechanism. Often the problem is the involuntary rotation of the mechanism on the inside of the blade. The lock tongue on the interior door is soft and does not resist intervention at all. To open the lock, just insert a plastic card or a thin knife between the door leaf and the door jamb and push the tongue (Fig. 1). After such an impact, the mechanism will move slightly. All that remains is to turn the handle and calmly enter the room.

If the interior door has a lock of a more complex configuration and after slamming the key remains in the hole on the inside, it will be even easier to solve the problem. It is enough to remember the actions of the clever heroes of spy films and repeat them.

Figure 2. Use a thin knitting needle or file to find the moving part of the lock and press on it.

A newspaper or sheet of paper must be carefully pushed under the door at the level of the lock so that there is a corner left outside by which it can be removed. After this, use a thin object, such as a knitting needle, to push out the key. You should act without haste, carefully so that the key does not bounce off the floor and roll into the far corner. After the mission is completed, you can pull the paper and remove the saving part of the lock. That's it, the door can be opened from the outside.

Don't forget about the common lock with a hole from which it is impossible to push the key out. In this case, knitting needles or a thin and long file will come to the rescue. The object at hand must be inserted into the hole and rotated, moved up and down, listening to the sounds. Goal: detect the moving part of the lock and press on it. To open a lock on an interior door this way will take more time (Fig. 2).

Both methods can be used on doors of simple design.

But in the future, it is better to take care of having a spare key or install a lock that can be opened from the outside without much effort.

Other lock configurations

Figure 3. There is a small hole on the outside of the lining; to open the lock, you need to insert a knitting needle or nail into it.

But not every door can be opened using such techniques. If a different type of lock is installed, you may need to use a little more force.

One of the common types of locks for interior doors is a key lock (Fig. 3). It is locked by pressing a button on the inside.

The mechanism fixes the handle, preventing it from turning. But the insidiousness of such a locking mechanism is that it can go into the “locked” position from a sharp clap.

Most manufacturers of locks of this type took care of the consumer and equipped the design with a safety system. Carefully inspect the outside of the trim. There should be a small hole on it; insert a knitting needle, nail or other thin object into it and press lightly. This action will return the key to the “open” position - the problem will be solved.

Figure 4. A screwdriver is required to open the latch lock.

If the interior door is equipped with a lock with a latch, opening it will also be easy (Fig. 4). It is necessary to tighten the bolts using a screwdriver and remove the outer cover. If the tools are left in a locked room, you can use a teaspoon, a nail file or any flat object, usually such bolts are not tightened too tightly. Once the contents of the lock are exposed, it must be carefully inspected. A small bump is part of the locking mechanism and you need to press it using available means, a pencil or a knitting needle will do. Simultaneously with pressing, you need to turn the handle and access to the room will be gained. Opening a lock of this type is not difficult, the main thing is to get your bearings and have everything you need at hand.

If none of the proposed methods work and the room door is still locked, you will have to completely dismantle the lock. To do this, you need to carefully remove the cover, unscrew all the fixing bolts and remove the core. The locking mechanism removed in this way can be repaired or replaced with a new one, but the main thing is that you don’t have to knock out the blade.

Of course, it is better not to encounter such problems and always have access to all rooms. But it’s better to know in advance how to open the lock than to get nervous in a moment of force majeure and ruin your own property in a hurry.

At first glance, a comical situation - the lock inside the apartment latches and does not open - can turn out to be a serious problem if there is a small child left in the room or access to the bathroom is blocked. There are several ways to open an interior door if it slams shut.

Indoor doors are not subject to such strict requirements as entrance doors. However, they are also equipped with locks and latches. First of all, this is the door to the toilet and bathroom. Often, locks are installed at the entrance to the bedroom, office, kitchen and balcony, especially if there are small children or animals in the house. And although such locks are not as complex as those at the entrance to an apartment, opening them without a key can be difficult. But before you knock down the door, you should try to unlock the lock.

Latch lock

Recently, for use inside an apartment, door locks have become very popular, in which a key locking mechanism is built into the handle on one side, and a latch, which also secures the lock, on the other. Such handles have an attractive appearance, and there is no need to install an additional lock. But they have one drawback. If you accidentally turn the latch on an open door and then slam it, it will be locked. This can happen in any home, especially where there are small children. It is quite possible to cope with such a problem.

• Typically, an interior door is installed so that it opens into the corridor. In this case, the problem can be dealt with using a thin flat object - a ruler, a knife blade, a flat screwdriver or a plastic card. The improvised “key” must be inserted into the gap between the door leaf and the frame, at an angle, as if hooking the tongue from the inside, since its inclined side is on the side of the room. By moving this object along the crack, at the same time shaking the door leaf, we try to hook and press the lock tongue.
• If the door opens into the room or it was not possible to move the tongue, then you should check whether there is access to the bolts securing the handle to the door leaf (often there are fastenings only on one side). After unscrewing the screws, you should remove the handle along with the locking mechanism, and then, by inserting a standard square or flat-head screwdriver into the lock, open it.
• If the first two methods are unsuccessful, you can drill out the lock cylinder with a fairly thick drill, then open the entrance by turning the handle.
• You can try to remember where the invisible mounting bolts are located (usually on the sides of the handle), drill them out, remove the handle and open the lock with a flat-head screwdriver.
• Twist the outer handle with an adjustable wrench, remove the debris and unlock the lock as in the previous case.

How to open a door with other types of locks

Handles with automatic latches in the form of a key are installed on the door to the toilet or to the balcony. They can work if the door slams suddenly (for example, due to a draft). To unlock such locks, the designers provided a small hole below the handle. If you insert a knitting needle, nail or awl into it and press, the latch will open.

In old houses, locks with a lever mechanism have been preserved. If for some reason the door is closed and the key is inserted into the hole on the other side, then it can be obtained using the method described in old detective stories. You need to slip a sheet of paper under the door, carefully push out the key and remove it by pulling the paper out.

If a modern plastic door to the balcony slams and cannot be opened with the handle, then you need to turn the decorative strip 90°, unscrew the fastening bolts and remove the handle. Then open the lock by acting directly on the locking mechanism.

Drastic measures for unlocking interior doors

If the wooden door to the toilet, bathroom or balcony cannot be opened, then you will have to resort to more serious methods, and try to damage the door leaf as little as possible.

• Inspect the hinges. If possible, carefully remove or knock out the inner rod. Then the door can be opened “in the opposite direction,” that is, from the side of the awnings.
• Remove the casing and cut out a small part of the box where the metal plate for the bolt (tongue) of the lock is located.
• Insert an ax or nail puller into the gap between the frame and the door leaf and press the door so that the lock disengages from the frame.

It is clear that after using such methods, the door will most likely have to be repaired.

Prevention measures

We must take care in advance to avoid ending up in such a situation. For this:

• Provide spare keys for all doors with tags indicating which door they open, put them in a box or bag and put them in some secluded place that cannot be locked with a key (mezzanine in the hallway, top shelf in the closet, closet in the hallway).
• Install locks in the apartment that provide the possibility of emergency opening from the outside (usually with a pin or plate).
• If locking on the doors is needed only from pets or against drafts, then it is advisable to limit yourself to installing conventional latch handles. On installed handle locks, the twist latch can be disabled. To do this, you need to unscrew the handle with the lock and shorten or remove the plate connecting the lock to the latch.

Have you ever lost your keys? At least once in our lives, each of us was faced with a situation where it was impossible to open a lock. , garage, apartment, office, safe - it doesn’t matter what kind of lock, the important thing is that you stand in front of it and understand that you are powerless.

We have prepared tips for you in case you find yourself in such an awkward and terribly unpleasant situation.

What not to do?

First of all, the person standing in front of the door tries to pull the handle in the hope that a miracle will happen. However, a miracle does not happen; the door does not budge.

If you have a successful catch, you will certainly put this object in the lock and try to do something with it. However, in 99.9% of cases this scheme does not work. In the best case, the item will be rescued by you on your own, and the lock will remain intact. At worst, the lock will become faulty, or the object will remain in it.

The second situation is less favorable, since even experienced security guards will have to work hard to open the door and leave the lock in proper condition.

Do not try to open the lock using improvised means!

Next, as a rule, most citizens move on to heavy artillery, that is, they find a hammer, an ax and other devices that may possibly help open the door. It seems that if you chop around the lock, trim something, or somehow knock with a hammer, the lock will open. But it's not that simple.

Do not damage the door leaf in the hope that the lock can be removed or torn out, thereby opening it.

It doesn’t matter at all what kind of lock you try to open with improvised objects, knives and axes. The result will be the same - you will not open the lock. Today, absolutely all locks: be it a door, a car or a safe, have mechanisms that protect, to one degree or another, from being opened by such methods.

What do we have to do?

The most correct decision in this situation would be to call competent specialists who will open the lock. While you are waiting for those same specialists, do not try to do anything yourself.

It's better not to touch the locks at all. If you don't touch the lock, it will be much easier for a specialist to open it. This will take just a few minutes. As a result, the door will be intact and the lock will not be damaged.

Always call a locksmith!

By the way, if we talk about opening locks, a whole series of questions also arise here: starting from how much such a pleasure will cost, ending with where to call in the first place.

Is it worth calling the Ministry of Emergency Situations?

The first thing that comes up is the idea of ​​contacting the Ministry of Emergency Situations, because it is so simple: we call the number you have memorized, tell us your problem, and then the employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations rush to you, arrive at your place in a matter of minutes, open the lock for free, and say a lot of warm words goodbye.

However, in reality everything turns out differently. The Ministry of Emergency Situations will come to you quickly only if something out of the ordinary is happening behind a closed door and there is a threat to life (a small child was left behind the door, someone became ill, there was a leak in the apartment, and so on).

If you call the Ministry of Emergency Situations and say that your keys, for example, are lost and will they come to open your door, then your call will either not be accepted, or they will accept it, but will put it in a queue. There will always be those in front of you who need to remove a kitten from a tree, remove a child’s head from a pan, and so on.

In addition, a call without a threat to life is paid. You will not only have to wait several hours, but also pay.

Remember: a call to the Ministry of Emergency Situations without a threat to life will be accepted on a paid basis!

However, the Ministry of Emergency Situations can often redirect you to private specialists for opening locks. This is completely normal. If you ask the control room for contact information, they will certainly give you one.

Next, you just need to call the specialists, who will come to you as soon as possible and open the locks in a couple of minutes. Of course, this service will not be free, but you are guaranteed to get to your garage, apartment or office.

The main thing is that in 90% of cases the castle will remain completely intact. All you have to do is either make new keys or grab a spare set you have lying around in your nightstand.

In order to never find yourself in such a situation, make it a rule to carry a spare pair of keys with you. Use one pair as usual, and put the second at the very bottom of the bag you carry every day. You will always remember that happy moment when such a brilliant idea dawned on you.

You can open an interior door without a key if you correctly determine the cause of the current situation. This will determine how quickly and accurately the procedure is completed.

How to open an interior door handle without a key with a master key

To open the lock of a door that accidentally slammed, you should not rush to knock it down. Often a key can be replaced by a master key or other device. Apartment owners equip most of their interiors with cheap Chinese locks that do not offer sophisticated burglary protection. To open the door without using brute force, you can try the following options:

• When closed, a door with a cheap lock rarely fits tightly to the frame. You can try to open the door by frequently tugging on the handle. Loosening the door sometimes helps move the lock bolt.

  Advice! When loosening the door, it is important to feel strength in your hands. If you overdo it, the lock can be broken along with part of the sash.

• Identical locks are opened with similar keys. They have the same shape of recesses, only the arrangement of the teeth is different. If there is another key going inside the cylinder, insert it all the way and try to turn it. While turning, the key is gradually moved towards itself and back forward. You'll be lucky when the teeth hit the spring-loaded pins and press them to the required depth.
• Cheap Chinese locks are often opened with a nail file, a thin knitting needle, or a paper clip. The device is inserted inside the larva, they try to turn it by pressing the pins one by one.
• When you can’t open an interior door without your original key, they resort to a radical but harmless method. Cheap locks usually have mounting screws visible on the top of the decorative plates and handles. They must be unscrewed and removed to gain access to the mechanism. Next, they act according to circumstances. If the mechanism cannot be moved, drill out the cylinder. Then it is replaced with a new element. Spare cylinders with keys are sold in stores. You just need to choose the right size.

Instead of a lock, the interior door is often equipped with one latch. The locking element is a tongue pressed by a spring. Its operation is controlled by handles. When the spring breaks, the tongue remains in the "closed" position. Turning the handles does not give a positive result. Thin metal objects will help move the tongue. A manicure file, knife, or metal ruler will do. If the gap is large, a straight-bladed screwdriver can fit in.

A tool of suitable thickness is placed in the gap between the canvas and the frame. If a person stands on the side of the interior door where there is a bevel of the tongue, then it is more convenient to press on it from the side. When you are unlucky and the bevel remains on the back side of the canvas, it is more convenient to install the tool vertically in order to press the top of the tongue. They are trying to push the locking element back inside the latch body. During the procedure, the door handle is turned.

The key lock of the interior door has a lock. It works after pressing the button. However, a strong clap of the sash due to a draft sometimes leads to the mechanism operating independently. An unusual key in the form of an awl or a thin metal knitting needle will help you open the lock. High-quality key-type locking devices have a safety hole. It is located at the bottom of the outer part of the handle. An awl is inserted into the hole, lightly pressed, and the mechanism opens.

There are locks whose handles have locks that prevent the door from opening from the outside. They are usually placed on bathroom doors. If such a lock closes spontaneously, sharply turning the handle in different directions sometimes helps to open it.

How to open a slammed interior door without a key using force

Radical methods often end in expensive repairs. If it is not possible to open the door without a key in a gentle way, use brute force:

• Of all the radical methods, the most gentle option is to remove the sash from its hinges. However, the process will succeed if the person is inside the room. Access to the fittings is open here. The second condition is the presence of a wide gap between the canvas and the frame. The third condition is that the interior door has regular card hinges. The fittings usually have decorative caps. After removing them, knock out the hinge pins. The door can be easily removed from the frame.
• If the hinges are not removable, but they protrude beyond the interior door block, then they are carefully cut off with a grinder. The fittings will have to be replaced.
• Hidden hinges cannot be disassembled or cut down. To open an interior door without a key, you will have to deal with the lock. If there is a visible latch in the gap, cut it off with a grinder. The shutter and door frame are protected from sparks.

  Advice! When cutting out a latch with a grinder, it is advisable to maximize the gap between the sash and the frame. This can be done by wedging with wooden or plastic wedges.

• You can press the door away from the jamb using a pry bar. As the gap increases, the latch tongue will pop out of the strike plate socket. However, great efforts will lead to deformation of the frame and partial damage to the canvas.
• To prevent damage to the interior door, it is easier to try to drill out the lock. First of all, they drill out the larva and try to get to the mechanism. It may be necessary to drill out accessible fasteners so that the lock will fall out when pressure is applied to the door.
• The last radical method is resorted to when all efforts have failed. The interior door is simply knocked out of the frame. However, the process will bring many problems if the sash is made of solid wood. Wooden canvas, especially oak, is difficult to knock out.

Attention! After opening, a radical method will have to restore the interior door block. The cost of repairs will depend on the damage caused.

A large percentage of success depends on the correctly identified reason for fixing the canvas. The most common problem is:

• slamming a door with a broken handle;
• displacement or jamming of the lever;
• failure of the spring pressing the latch tongue;
• it is impossible to open the lock due to the key remaining in the cylinder on the back side of the slammed door;
• a part of the broken key remained inside the lock cylinder;
• The lock mechanism has failed.

The choice of the appropriate method depends on which side of the slammed door the person was left on. Depending on the situation, they look to see if there is access to fittings and tools. If the situation is hopeless, then the only solution is to knock out the sash.

An important factor is the time limit. When there is nowhere to rush, you can look for gentle options to get out of the current situation. In the event of an emergency, they act only to quickly achieve results.

The video shows several ways to open a door without a key:

Conclusion

You can open an interior door without a key with minimal damage if you choose the right method. To avoid getting into unpleasant situations less often, you need to buy high-quality accessories and always have duplicate keys on hand.

03.09.2016 34916

People perceive their own home as a safe haven that helps them escape from problems. However, problems can also lurk within your own walls. One of the most serious and unpleasant ones was when the door between the rooms slammed shut. Breakage of the locking mechanism is a common occurrence in homes where they skimp on the quality of locks. Don't panic if this situation happens to you. There are a number of effective ways to open a door if it slams and there is no one in the room. You can choose the method that suits you.

It wouldn’t hurt to mention the reasons why it slams. The culprit is cheap fittings, which easily fail and lead to situations where it becomes impossible without the use of additional means and deliberate breaking of the handle and locking mechanism.

Picking a lock with a credit card

Many people don’t know what to do if the door slams. They usually panic and take no action. This is completely wrong! Anyone can unlock the door - you need to pull yourself together and soberly assess the current situation.

If it slams shut, you can open it using available means. So, a credit card is suitable for these purposes. The procedure for breaking into a door using a credit card is as follows:

1. Take a flexible credit card or similar flat object.
2. Insert the card into the slot located between the frame.
3. at an angle of approximately 45 degrees towards you.
4. You need to click on the card from the outside and at the same time push the lock pawl into its opening. You will need to simultaneously pull and push on the door handle while applying force to the credit card to move the lock pawl.

It is advisable to choose a card that is not very dear to you, since in the process of opening a slammed door, the plastic may be damaged or even break. Some locks do not require any special effort - to open the door, you just need to move the card in different directions, trying to pry the lock mechanism pawl. If the card you choose does not bend well enough, it is recommended to use a flexible business card.

Some expensive copies have reliable protection against tampering with a credit card. In this case, you need to choose another available way to open the interior door without a key.

How to open the latch mechanism?

It is more difficult to pick a lock that has a latch than a simple lock. If the handle does not react at all when turning the turntable, outside intervention will be required. To do this, use a screwdriver or other handy object (for example, a spoon or a credit card) to unscrew the bolts of the door handle that is located inside it. Next you should proceed in accordance with the instructions given:

• Pick up an oblong thin object (pen, pencil or knitting needle).
• Find a small internal tubercle in the center of the disassembled mechanism.
• Gently press it with the prepared object, while turning it in the desired direction.

As a result of these actions, you can open a slammed door with a latch mechanism.

Knitting needles are not just for knitting!

Are the above methods by which you can easily open an interior door from the inside not for you? There is another proven way! To do this, you will need an ordinary knitting needle, which, together with following the instructions, will help you open almost any door without a key:

1. Insert a knitting needle (you can use a small nail file instead) into the keyhole.
2. Try to pry off the moving elements of the lock by moving the knitting needle in different directions.
3. When you hear the characteristic click, you can breathe easy – the lock is open.

This method can be time-consuming, but with proper skill it does not cause problems. In addition to knitting needles and nail files, you can use other similar items.

Is the key still in the lock? No problem!

The most difficult situation is when the door slams with the key in the lock. In this case, the first thing you need to do is push the key out of the keyhole, as it will interfere with breaking the door. Despite the apparent complexity, you can remove the key from the lock in order to open a plastic door (and any other) in just three simple steps:

• Place a newspaper under the door, leaving a small piece of it on your side so that you can grab onto it and pull it out.
• Tap the lock until the vibrations cause the key to fall out. If that doesn’t help, you can use a thin ballpoint pen or other similar object. Be careful not to let the key fly off the newspaper sheet.
• Pull the newspaper towards you, take the key and open the slammed door. It's simple!

If your procedure does not bring results, you can try to dismantle the lock using a screwdriver or improvised means and tools. Both locks with a round handle and other varieties are subject to dismantling - the main thing is to find the screws with which they are attached to the door body (they can be hidden under the trim of the handle).

To avoid problems in the future, carefully check the reliability of the locks and fittings. The anti-lock braking system can also provide support, which under no circumstances will allow the door to slam shut. If it is not possible to do this, just keep a tool on hand that can be used to quickly and without damage to open the lock.