Opening an interior door lock without using a key is not difficult. Firstly, for internal doors to a room, the simplest models of locking mechanisms are usually used; they are also the cheapest and, as a result, fragile.
Therefore, you can open them in a variety of different, sometimes very non-trivial ways.
Reasons for the situation
To understand what and how to open an interior door that is blocked, it is necessary to identify the reason that provoked the occurrence of such a situation. The door leaf may not open in the usual way in the following cases:
- the locking latch has moved or is jammed;
- igniter tongue located in the locking mechanism (not retracted from the strike plate);
- there is a key left in the keyhole on the other side of the locking device, which prevents you from opening the lock;
- breakdown of the button mechanism;
- the key broke off, part of it remained in the keyhole and does not allow opening the device;
- the lock mechanism is broken;
- accidentally (due to a draft, a child's prank, etc.) the interior door slammed shut, while the locking mechanism is working, but the key to it is lost.
Required Tools
In order to open interior doors without a key, you may need the following tool:
- flat and Phillips screwdrivers;
- hammer;
- pry bar, chisel;
- pliers;
- angle grinder (grinder);
- hacksaw for metal.
If it is not possible to use such tools, then you can use any available means. A straightened paper clip, knitting needle, nail file, or other long metal object will work to open the small round keyhole.
Possible methods
Latch offset
One of the effective methods of opening the door to a room. Basically, models installed in openings inside the home have a push or turn handle.
- Without a lock. The most convenient locks to open. It is enough to press the tongue and the door will open. When installing the block, there is always a small gap between the canvas and the box. All you need to do is press the sash a little, insert a flat, hard object into the slot and try to move the latch. As a rule, it gives in easily, and if you pull the door towards you, it will open. What can you use? A nail file, a kitchen knife, a screwdriver with a thin blade, or something similar. For lack of anything better, a bank (plastic) card will also come in handy.
If the child has locked the latch from the inside (for example, the door to the bathroom), but for some reason cannot move it on his own (or simply fell asleep), then this method is also suitable for such a situation. By “playing” with the door a little, you will be able to dislodge the lock and enter the room.
- With a lock. These models, if they were not installed independently, with a security key, can be opened easily. The mechanism is turned by any flat and narrow object - the same thin screwdriver, wire loop, paper clip, hair clip. It is enough to insert the “tool” into the well, and after two or three attempts the valve will open.
Some interior door locks have a button-shaped plug. It is necessary to grab its “head” with pliers and turn it in the desired direction. The latch will definitely move.
Opening the lock
Some owners equip interior doors with lever and cylinder locking mechanisms. How to open such a lock without a key? It's not a fact that it will work, but it's worth a try.
If the interior door slams, then first you should pull it a little. The bolts in the simplest models of locks, as a rule, bounce off and the sash is unlocked.
- Try to open the lock with a key of a similar configuration. If the mechanism is very worn, then most likely it will work.
- Knock out or drill out the cylinder.
- Disassemble the handle and move the valve bar from the inside.
When choosing a technique, you need to focus on the design features of the lock. But at least one of them will definitely help if there is no simpler option.
Dismantling
If you cannot open the interior door lock without a key, you will have to choose this method. The nuance is that it is not always possible to implement it. Canopies differ in design and installation specifics, and if they are hidden, then this is not an option.
Basically, to fasten the doors of interior models, card-type hinges in various designs are used (hinged, “butterfly” and a number of others). What they have in common is that they are fixed to the frame and jamb using self-tapping screws. It is enough to unscrew the fasteners on one side of each hinge, move the door slightly (so that the latch tongue comes out of the bar), and the door will easily be removed from the opening.
Another way is to partially disassemble the canopy. The design of some samples allows this to be done. And if you have time and have preserved the product passport, which contains the necessary information, then the task is significantly simplified.
The dismantling technique allows you to unlock the opening without damaging the sash, frame and locking mechanism.
How to open the interior door will have to be decided on the spot. The only recommendation is to start preferably with “gentle” methods, gradually moving on to more complex ones. This ensures that defects on the block, if they appear, will be minimal.
What measures can be taken in this case?
First of all, you need to remember whether any of the household members have a duplicate key to the apartment. If there is, you need to urgently find this person. For help, you need to turn to your neighbors to use their phone. It may happen that the neighbors don’t have a telephone, it’s winter outside, and the owner of the apartment is left in slippers and pajamas. In this case, you need to borrow warm clothes from your neighbors and immediately go in search of a phone. After the phone is found, you need to call all family members to ask them to immediately come home and bring a spare key.
If the owner is an elderly person who has become ill from excitement, you must immediately contact your neighbors so that they call an ambulance or offer the necessary medicine.
In this situation, there is no need to hesitate to ask for help. After all, neighbors are well-known people who have known each other for a very long time. And helping your friend in a difficult situation is the norm of behavior for every person.
In some cases, the apartment can be accessed from a neighboring balcony. But before this, you need to remove all the rubble of things that impede the transition from one balcony to another. Of course, you need to be very careful when doing this. However, not every person can risk their life for such a transition.
So it's better to find some other option. If the apartment is on the ground floor, you can enter it from the balcony or through the window. However, if all the windows are closed, you will have to break the glass. This option can be recommended as a last resort, when there is no other way to get into the apartment.
If a person lives alone and there is no spare key, then he can be recommended to break the lock to get into his apartment. To do this, you can turn to your neighbors for help and ask them for the necessary tools. But sometimes the situation develops in such a way that you need to call special rescue services.
For example, if no one has a spare key, the door is made of iron and there is no way to open the lock. Specialists working in the rescue service can, thanks to special equipment, open the door and help solve the problem.
And in the future, a person prone to forgetfulness and absent-mindedness can be recommended to get rid of a lock that slams itself, and purchase a lock that can only be closed with a key.
How to open a slammed interior door: recommendations
Everyone knows the stories of jumping out onto the staircase and the front door slamming shut, but such a situation can also arise with an interior door. This is possible when there are small children in the house; sometimes animals can become the culprits of the situation. It also happens that the lock is simply jammed, that is, the reasons may be different, but they have one thing in common - the question of how to open an interior door?
Most often, the lock system fails due to negligence, and therefore, in order to avoid this, it is necessary to contact specialists at the slightest sign of poor lock operation.
What to do if the front door slams?
How to open the front door is an obvious question for people who find themselves in an unexpected situation involving a broken door at the entrance to their home. There are often situations when a property owner, in desperation, turns the key too much to open the lock, which further worsens the situation. This should not be done under any circumstances, as this will increase the cost of repairing the lock due to its complexity.
How can you open a door if you can’t apply force to the key? With a hairpin! Of course, this option does not always work, but sometimes this method works. The pin breaks into two parts, one of which must be bent so that it can be used as a lever. The second part recesses the pins in the mechanism. This method does not always work; it is only suitable for certain situations and types of locks.
If a cross-shaped cylinder mechanism is installed on the door, a hole is drilled above the key hole, and then the stopper is lifted with a pick, pushing back the deadbolt.
If the door is equipped with a pin mechanism (cylinder), a hole is made in it, a wire is inserted, and the cylinder is turned using a master key. There is another way to open a door on which a cylinder lock is installed - with a paper clip. The procedure is painstaking - you need to comb the pins over and over again. A specialist can complete opening the lock in 10 minutes, but a beginner may need several hours. To save your nerves, it is recommended to call a specialist.
How to open the front door with a lever lock? To do this, the canvas is pulled away from the box, and the levers are moved inward.
If the frame is not strong enough (wooden), you can simply knock out the door, and then, after removing it from its hinges, take it to a specialist for repairs.
Door opening methods
It doesn’t matter why the door is closed, but it needs to be opened. The easiest way is to call a specialist to your home, but this is not always possible. For example, the service is very expensive or the technician is busy for the next few days, and so on. The door must be opened so as not to damage it. Well, or at least cause a minimum of visible damage to it, especially if it is new or the purchase is not included in your plans for the next couple of years.
The easiest way to open a slammed door is to seek help from a locksmith service.
You should not immediately start to fight in hysterics, especially if a child has locked himself in the room - he will hear your excitement, and by doing this you will make it worse for both yourself and him. Take a deep breath, calm down, and get to work. You can try to open the interior door in several ways:
- Using a plastic card.
- Using knitting needles.
- Using a nail, hairpin, wire.
- Using a screwdriver and other similar items you find.
The choice of a specific method will depend on the installed opening mechanism, on your skill and luck.
Related article: How to set up a door closer
Often, just having a plastic card is enough to solve the problem. This method is more suitable for those models that are equipped with a regular “tongue”. In this case, everything is quite: take the card and swipe it along the door lock, then click on the handle.
Practical recommendations
Interior doors equipped with a different mechanism - a latch - need to be opened differently. First, try to turn the handle; if no changes occur, then take a screwdriver (if you don’t have one, a file, knife, spoon, etc. will do) and unscrew the screws that are on the handle. After this, you need to remove the lock (only the lock, without the handle) from the door leaf. Then, using something pointed (the same screwdriver, pencil or something similar), you need to feel the latch mechanism (it will look like a bump). As soon as you feel it, lightly press it and at the same time turn the handle, opening the door.
If the door slams shut and the key remains on the back side, you can use any thin metal object, such as a knitting needle or a hairpin, to push it out. There are also interior doors that are locked, and it happens that the door slams shut and the key sticks out on the other side. In this case, you can try to push the key. To do this, you need to stock up on what you can slip under the door. A sheet (cardboard, newspaper, etc.) must be placed in the gap between the floor and the canvas so that the key falls on it from the opposite side, but so that the sheet can be reached from this side. Then you need to take something sharp and long like a knitting needle, wire or something similar and try to push the key out, but not sharply, so that it does not fall far. As soon as the key falls on the newspaper, pull it towards you, pick up the key and open the door. There are also interior doors that are equipped with a handle with a built-in latch, the so-called key. This latch works as follows: when the door is closed, pressing the key locks it from the inside, and it is not possible to open it from the outside. It sometimes happens that a door with such a mechanism slams without the presence of a person when the key is pressed. How to open a slammed interior door of this type: from the outside you need to find a small hole under the handle itself and try to insert something long and sharp into it, such as a knitting needle or wire, even a nail will do. This item will return the latch to the desired position, and that's it - the door is open. There are other options: take a knife with a long blade or something thin metal like a ruler, carefully push it on top of the crossbar and move the knife in different directions; this method is similar to the one that involves using a plastic card. A practical method (of the more radical ones, when you don’t mind the door or none of the methods worked) is squeezing with a chisel or something similar.
Use a hammer to drive the chisel between the box and the canvas and try to squeeze out the lock tongue.
Another way to open the lock of a slammed door is to disassemble it. You can do this yourself, or you can call a specialist. Another radical method is to try to disassemble the entire lock, then you can replace it - this is cheaper than replacing the entire door. If none of the methods help solve the problem, then all that remains is to either break down the door or call the experts. You can call the Ministry of Emergency Situations, especially if there is someone in the room. Most often, the problem of slamming occurs in cases where the lock is of poor quality or the doors are not installed according to technology. That is why it is important not to skimp on doors, components, fittings and the work of craftsmen. This is especially important when there are children in the house.
It’s not difficult to buy doors, but who will install them? It’s scary to imagine that a child will be left alone in a room, locked, because not always parents (and more often only mothers at home) can adequately assess the situation and act confidently. More often, hysterics, panic and screams begin, but here it’s more difficult - having lost control of yourself, it will be very difficult to cope with the task, here you need a cool head.
The interior lock is jammed
The internal mechanisms of locks rust after several years of use, which leads to their jamming. Make sure there are no foreign objects in the lock slot (matches, other foreign objects). To prevent the internal parts of the lock from drying out, using a regular used syringe, pour machine oil or kerosene inside to lubricate these parts. A lock with a pinwheel on the reverse side can be opened using a wide screwdriver, pliers, a ruler, or a blunt knife. If this manipulation does not work, try using any sharp object (screwdriver, knife, knitting needle, pin, thick needle) to feel and move the snap tab. If this does not help, disassemble the broken lock. Use a screwdriver to unscrew the screws, remove the handle and take out the lock parts. After this, remove the cylinder by pulling the spring. At the same time, push the door sharply.
Helpful Tips: Opening Doors
Using a screwdriver to open a door
First of all, if the door is locked, you should calm your nerves and not decide to “knock down” the door. The lock can be easily opened without a key using available means. Moreover, you will need to open the sash extremely carefully so that the canvas does not lose its attractiveness and magnificent appearance.
Let's say that, as a rule, inexpensive constipations slam shut and jam. So if you decide to save on them, you may end up in such a deplorable situation. So it’s better not to put rubles in a piggy bank, but to buy more expensive locks. But, by doing so, you will minimize the likelihood that constipation will occur.
But if, nevertheless, the door is slammed and you want to open it without a key, you will need:
- simple plastic card;
- skill;
- perseverance;
- eye gauge
The card will work if a lock with a tongue is embedded in the door: you just need to hold a piece of thin plastic vertically from the door, as if moving the lock tongue. When you pry the tongue, all that remains is a muffled and precise movement to turn the handle of the interior structure and the door will open. Let's say that this will require some perseverance and a lot of patience, because this procedure may not work for you the first time. Therefore, try until the sash opens.
Latch type lock opening method
Often, an interior door has a latch lock. This is installed because of its ease of use. It is equally easy to unlock when the door slams. Using some handy items, you can deal with a latch type lock. These include:
- a thin plastic ruler;
- discount or credit plastic card;
- metal nail file;
- knife.
The easiest and simplest way is to use a card. Since it has a laminated coating, it provides good flexibility and durability.
Application Guide:
- Any object (map, ruler, nail file) must be inserted into the gap between the frame and the door: the location of the latch.
- Afterwards, you should press the object at hand to the door frame and perform movements left and right, as if swinging the card. And then press it towards the handle.
- Then you need to direct the card (or other means) in the opposite direction - away from the latch. After the characteristic sound of the latch moving, the door handle can be opened: the lock is unlocked.
Attention: This opening method works well when the beveled “tongue” of the latch lock is on the side of the opening person. With another option, solving the problem will be a little more difficult, but still doable. To do this you will need to use a long thin ruler or knife. The instructions are the same: push the object as far as possible onto the opposite side and pull it towards you, performing the described actions.
For what reasons might you accidentally slam a door?
Login access may be restricted for many reasons. Among them:
- Sloppyness. When you accidentally close the door yourself.
- Powerful draft in the entrance.
- An unusual lock, which is designed in such a way that it can slam shut without outside help.
If during interaction with the doors it turns out that they are closed, then do not act on your own. Call the experts. They will help you cope with the situation with ease, and the doors will be open in a short period of time.
Brute force
If you cannot open the door, but you have no other choice, then you can resort to extreme measures and use brute force. There are also different approaches possible here:
- Cut off the hinges. Open fasteners are cut down along the hinge axis or plate and the canvas easily falls out of the opening.
- Cut off the tongue. If the latch or bolt is clearly visible in the gap between the box and the canvas, and you can insert a hacksaw or grinder disk inside, try cutting it off. Be prepared for sparks from the metal.
- Knock down the door. If you don’t have the right tools at hand and the door is very flimsy, you can easily knock it out of the opening.
Knocking down a slammed door should only be done as a last resort.
Such methods should be used only when other methods have failed. Most likely, after a break-in, you will have to change the door or, at least, restore the door leaf and frame. The fittings will also need to be replaced.
It is quite possible to open a door without a key, but not all methods remain without a trace. To prevent such a need, regularly check the serviceability of the locks and install mechanisms that do not slam shut spontaneously.
Remove the door from its hinges
If the option of making a key also did not help, you can proceed to another action - removing the door from its hinges.
There are different types of door hinges, we will roughly divide them into two main ones:
- Detachable;
- One-piece.
In the first case, you need to find out whether the hinge has a retractable pin or not. If the hinge has a retractable pin, then it is enough to remove the protective caps from the hinges and carefully knock out the pin with a hammer, placing a thick nail, dowel or screwdriver against it. Do the same with the second hinge, holding the door. It's better to do this with an assistant.
If the detachable hinge has a pin that is not retractable, then you need to take a crowbar or a nail puller, push it with a lever under the door closer to the hinges and lift the door, holding it from above, until it comes off the hinges. Before this operation, the loops must be lubricated with liquid mineral oil by dripping it from a syringe into the loop slit where the loop cards touch.
In the second case (with one-piece hinges), you need to unscrew the screws securing one of the hinge cards to the door or opening.
The tongue has become unusable
There are also cases where the door is locked with a key, and when you try to open it again, the lock does not turn. This can often happen with any handle that does not have an additional latch. Even when turning the key smoothly, the lock does not open. If this happens, then the problem is in the tongue itself.
How to open an interior door without a key in this case?
- Carefully place a bank card, ruler, stationery knife or any other object that will fit into this opening into the gap between the door and the frame. The door handle will serve as a guide.
- After this, the object being used needs to be slightly tilted and pressed. It is necessary to tilt it so that the far part of the object touches the inclined surface of the tongue.
- You need to apply pressure so that whatever means you are using can help the tongue go back into the lock. When such an action is performed, the handle itself must be tilted down, and the sash must be tensioned as the door opens.
If you know all these simple rules, then you will no longer have questions like: “How to open an interior door without a key?”
