House Lockout Services

FAQs

House Lockout

A house lockout and a home lockout are extremely common occurrences. When someone finds themselves in the midst of a home lockout they are naturally inclined to panic and work up their frustration while simultaneously wondering how this could have happened to them on this day.

Trust us when we say that there are many other people out there like you. These things happen, this is why we have the jobs that we do, to ensure that you are never stuck in a house lockout for too long.

The most important thing to do once you realize you are stuck in the middle of a home lockout is to make sure that you do not panic and that you stay calm. This cannot be overstressed. Many homeowners make their lockout experience much worse and a lot more costly because they overreact and end up causing more damage, either to themselves or to their locks.

The best thing for homeowners to do in this situation is to calm themselves down and assess the situation to see if there is something they may have missed or if there is another entry point they can make use of.

Troubleshooting A House Lockout

As stated earlier, it is important for homeowners to calmly assess the situation to see whether or not calling on a professional locksmith is the only option available to them. Take a deep breath and walk around your home to make sure that there is no other viable entry point that you can make use of (this does not include small windows or doggy doors that you obviously won’t fit in, nor does it include the chimney. You are not Santa).

It is also best to verify that you do not have a spare key on hand or in another location that you may have forgotten about due to your frustration. Trust me, it happens. Many clients make the call to a locksmith while under duress when they are in a lockout and do not even remember the fact that they have a spare key until the locksmith is done opening their door.

In the event that you are not able to find another viable entry point into your home then you should look to call your trusty professional locksmith who will be there in no time to help you out of your home lockout. I cover this all more in depth in an article I wrote about my own experience being locked out of my house.

How A House Lockout Occurs

There are various instances that could lead to you requiring the services of a residential locksmith to help you out of a home lockout. One of the most common causes of home lockouts are when homeowners losing their keys or forgetting to grab their keys. In addition to these common causes, you might require the services of a residential locksmith because the lock on your door is damaged or because you might have broken your key off in the lock of the door.

It is also possible that you have not performed any maintenance on your locks in a while and this might have caused them to degrade and become non-responsive. We understand that our clients have busy lives and busy schedules, so sometimes it is very easy to get swept up in the moment and forget that you are walking out of your home without your keys.

We also understand just how easy it is to lose your house keys, especially over the course of a very busy day. Whatever problem it was that thrust you into the midst of a home lockout, you can rest assured that our team of dedicated professional locksmiths will promptly be there to help you out.

Home Lockout Prevention Tips

It is easy to find yourself trapped in a home lockout situation, but it is also just as easy to avoid falling into one in the first place. There are several precautionary measures that homeowners can employ to make sure they are never stuck in a lockout for too long, or to avoid being stuck in one in the first place.

It is important for homeowners to always have the number of a trusty house lockout locksmith on speed dial as this circumvents the process of having to try and find the right locksmith for the job when you are locked out. Chances are, if you have not already done this prior to being stuck in a lockout, you could very well end up calling a subpar locksmith and falling victim to a locksmith scam.

It’s easy to say a home lockout can never happen to you, and you might be right but what if you’re not? Make sure that you spend time researching the locksmiths around you so that you know you are calling a trustworthy professional who will actually work to get the job done.

In addition to saving the number of a reputable locksmith in the case of emergencies, homeowners should look into making copies of their keys so that they always have a spare key on hand, should the need ever arise. A homeowner can never have enough spare keys. The only caveat that comes with having spare keys is that homeowners should be mindful of where they place their keys.

It is best to leave a copy of your spare key with someone that you trust that lives in close proximity to you, or you can decide to hide one somewhere on your property. Essentially, this will save you the cost of having to call a locksmith and will save you the time that you lose while you are stranded outside of your home.

Homeowners should also make sure that they perform regularly scheduled maintenance checks on their door locks to ensure that they are working well and functioning properly. Door locks are not resistant to wear and tear (especially if they are used quite frequently).

Homeowners need to make sure they are keeping track of the way their doors are functioning so that they are not caught unawares one day when the lock won’t turn and they are stuck outside, frustrated. Much of house lockout prevention boils down to being prepared beforehand and keeping track of things. It might sound tedious, but it is definitely a far better experience when compared to being stuck in a home lockout.

How Can United Locksmith Help?

We are so glad you asked! Our trained and professional locksmiths have several years of experience under their belts and they are well versed in using different methods to bypass your lock and help you get back into your home. The best thing about this is that they are trained to do this without causing any damage to your lock in the process. The only time a lock will be damaged is if the type of lockout requires it to be drilled.

Many homes are equipped with locks that can be bypassed by an experienced locksmith. A majority of homeowners make use of pin-tumbler locks and our professional locksmiths can pick these without causing any damage to your lock. Even though the pin-tumbler lock mechanism is a rather common one, we would still implore that you only allow an experienced locksmith to pick the lock to avoid inflicting further damage to it.

When working with a pin-tumbler lock, our locksmiths make use of a tension wrench to apply pressure to the cylinder of the lock, while a lock pick is used to push individual pins up until that they are flush with the shear line. The act of pushing the individual pins until they are flush with the shear line is the basic principle of picking a pin-tumbler lock.

As each pin is moved to the desired height, the cylinder of the lock will turn ever so slightly, which will then allow another pin to bind. Once all of the pins are flush with the shear line, the slight pressure that is being exerted on the tension wrench will allow the lock to turn and open.

In addition to this, there are other techniques that can be used to bypass pin-tumbler locks. For instance, the method of bumping the lock or using a pick gun to gain entry. Lock bumping employs the use of a bump key and uses this open the lock. When our locksmiths are making use of a bump key, the key is inserted into the keyway but is left one pin shy of being fully inserted.

The bump key is fashioned in such a way that allows the teeth of the bump key to apply a small amount of pressure to the bottom pins of the lock. The pressure exerted on the bottom pins is transferred to the driver pins in the lock mechanism and this, in turn, pushes them towards the shear line. If the bump key is turned while there is a separation between the pins then it allows for the lock to be opened.

Each of our technicians has been trained in these basic steps and they are more than qualified to provide this service to you and help you get back into your home and free you from the arduous experience of being stuck in a house lockout.

However, not every single lock that we come across is a pin-tumbler lock and not all locks can be bypassed with the methods described above. In the event that the locks of your home are resistant to these methods or you have locks that do not utilize the pin-tumbler mechanism then the lock will need to be drilled. Drilling a lock will damage the lock since it works by breaking the pins that hold the lock in place. Once the pins have been broken, the next step is easy.

Our technicians will be able to open the door by inserting a flathead screwdriver into the locked and turning it the same way you would a key. As stated earlier, the act of drilling a lock will result in the lock being damaged and it is only used as a last resort if the aforementioned tactics do not work on your lock.

In the case that the lock is damaged, the professional locksmith who is helping you out will be more than willing to work with you to replace the lock and choose the right lock for your home.

You should call a locksmith for this type of work because they know the expert ways for opening a front door. There are some tips you can use yourself for opening any locked door, but make sure you know the extent of your own skills.