A resource for consumers, locksmiths, and security professionals
You are locked out of your home. Perhaps it is a small apartment, a lovely condo, or a family home. You may have great locks or terrible security. The lock could be broken, or the key may be lost. And you are thinking, in my situation, can a locksmith open my house door?
The simple answer is that a locksmith can always get a residential door open. But of course, there is a bit more to know about how the particularities of a lockout can affect service and the various methods it is possible to use to open a locked door.
A locksmith can open house doors in several different ways, but here is an overview of the services they can provide:
If you are locked out of your home, you can hire a residential locksmith for house lockout services. Whether it is a house, apartment, or condominium, a professional locksmith can find a way to get you back inside your home.
For only $15, a locksmith will come to you and assess your situation. From there, the starting price for a locksmith to solve a home lockout is $35. All final locksmith prices depend on the type of lock and number of locks, as this affects the time, tools, and skill level required to open the lock.
A locksmith knows that all locks can be picked eventually, but this is not always the most practical way to open home locks in a professional setting. That is why locksmiths employ a whole host of lock open procedures so that everything can be opened quickly and reliably.
The average time required for a locksmith to open a door is 20 minutes. That being said, the number of locks and the security level of the locks will affect the time it takes for a locksmith to open the door of a home. For example, you can rake open a lock in under a minute if the lock is low security, but several high-security locks may require complex drilling.
A locksmith will avoid damaging the lock whenever possible, but there will be certain instances where the lock will have to be destructively opened. In these instances, the locksmith will always change your locks and never leave you without a working lock.
A locksmith is a great option when you do not have a key to your home. They can decode locks to make new keys by code or even rekey locks when it is more beneficial. A locksmith can always find a way to get you new house keys, even if it means replacing the locks altogether.
The first step for a locksmith to open a house door is for them to figure out why the lock is not opening and the best way to get it open. Most of the time, you can let the locksmith know the status of the key and whether or not the lock is working, but the solution needs to be generated.
It also helps to have a second opinion. For example, perhaps the lock is believed to be broken, but it is simply jammed. With a bit of door lock lubricant, a lock might open up with a key that was not working just a moment ago. If not, a locksmith can lay out the other available options.
During the assessment process, your locksmith will also let you know the exact cost to open the house. With that cost will also come the estimated timeframe required to complete the service, which may also include changing the locks if they have to be damaged to be opened.
The most universally effective and non-destructive means of opening a lock is traditional lock picking. When you are asking, “can a locksmith open my house door?” you are probably looking for someone who knows how to pick locks to avoid a pricey lock change.
Lock picking can encompass a very wide variety of techniques to open doors, but for the purposes of this article, we will limit the scope to methods that exploit a working keyway. So something like a bump key or a skeleton key can be considered lock picking tools.
If you have a high-security lock, lock picking is unlikely to be the quickest or most effective means of opening the locks. However, most houses use the basic locks you would find at Home Depot and not anything with picking resistances, such as security pins and paracentric keyways.
If you are locked out of your bathroom or locked out of a bedroom, you may be interacting with a home door lock that does not have a keyway. This means that traditional lock picking will not work as it requires a keyway to exploit. Instead, your locksmith may be able to use a bypass procedure.
In some cases, you can find out how to unlock a door without a keyhole yourself, as these interior locks are not overly secure. However, there are locks, which are so secure, that professional equipment is built for the specific lock type or brand.
One of the biggest benefits of a locksmith opening a house door is their access to specially made tools that are not worth the investment of the average citizen. They also have enough training to use these tools efficiently and effectively.
Though destructive entry may sound rather menacing, it is a perfectly respectable and valid way for a locksmith to open house doors. This practice refers to the expert ruination of a lock so that it no longer holds a door closed. Most commonly, the lock is drilled open, but the bolt could also be cut.
Certain locks utilize drill-resistant pin, shielding, or hardened steel bolts to prevent cutting. This will stop burglars from successfully breaking the lock into the opened position, but locksmiths know the drill points and weaknesses for higher security locks.
Opening a lock by breaking it is a last resort, but locksmiths have enough experience to know when it is appropriate. The damage will also be contained to the lock. So once you replace the lock, there will be no indication that anything was harmed.
A patented lock will often have a registered key code associated with the lock, so a key can be requested or made by a locksmith who has partnered with the lock manufacturer. Once you have a new working key, you are no longer locked out.
In rare cases, a locksmith opening a house door may determine that it is best to decode the device via lock impressioning. This allows a key to be cut from the factory code, which is possible on key cutting machines available to locksmithing professionals.
And when a key cannot be made as a solution to the lockout, it is still helpful to have a locksmith around to make a new key if you are locked out due to your only key breaking off in the lock. With the lock opened, it can more easily be deconstructed, and the key code can be retrieved.
When you hire a locksmith to open your house door, they may come across some issues that make getting the door open a bit more troublesome. Rest assured, the work can still be done. But it may take a bit longer and require a bit more effort on the part of the technician.
The security of a lock is a key factor in determining what it will take to get a house door open. When you see the ANSI lock grade information, this is rarely a good indication of how difficult the lock is to open. It is more about the specific security features that a lock has.
The most common protections a lock will come with are security pins. These unseen internal components make lock picking unreliable. In most cases, this level of security is enough to make destructive entry the best option for a locksmith to open a house.
If you have a very secure lock, it will have certain features that protect against destructive entry. These include hardened steel pins to deflect drilling attacks. It will require more time to circumvent these types of protections and effectively open the lock.
You might be asking, “Can a locksmith open my house door if it is broken?” The simple answer is “yes.” But it can get complicated depending on how the lock has broken. A jammed door lock, for example, can prevent average lock picking and bypasses from working.
A severely broken lock may even create impediments for destructive entry. With a bolt or latch that is stuck, direct manipulation can sometimes not be enough. But luckily, hiring a locksmith to open home door locks comes with the ingenuity they have gained from years of experience, so there is always another means of entry they can try.
Can a locksmith open your house door? Yes. A locksmith can always find a way to get a residential door open. This is often possible for a technician to do without harming the lock via lock picking or bypassing. However, getting a door open may require the lock to be replaced.
If a lock has to be broken to be opened, it is best left to a professional locksmith. The lock can be replaced without any further incident, and no lasting damage to the door, frame, or other devices installed on the door.
Always use a qualified locksmith to open your house door, and you won’t be locked out for long. If you need assistance with a home lockout, see if United Locksmith is in your neighborhood. For questions, concerns, and sharing your experience with house lockouts, please leave a comment below.
Category: Residential, Safety & Security
