A resource for consumers, locksmiths, and security professionals
If you want to know how to find keys when you lose them, there are some important things to keep in mind. It all begins with defining your terms. What do you mean when you say, “I lost my keys”? You can find your predicament below and start down your path of how to find keys that you have misplaced or otherwise lost.
The reason that your keys are lost matters to how you are going to find them. How to find keys begins with knowing how you lost your keys.
Sometimes people say that they have lost their keys, but they are referring to the fact that their keys are broken. This means your keys truly are lost because you are not going to get them back (unless fixing them is an option, and they are not permanently broken). It is possible to copy certain broken keys, but the method will vary quite a bit based on what type of key it is and how it broke.
For example, a key that has broken off inside a lock will have a blade that has snapped into two parts. Depending on the type of key that has been lost in this way, the number of steps it will take to replace it will differ. And “replacement” is a more apt word than “find” in this case. “Finding” a key is not going to solve the issue of a key being broken, though the key may be lost in a technical sense.
If you know where your keys went, how to find keys will rely on getting them back from where they have ended up. Often people who have locked their keys inside a car or house will say that. But if you have “lost” your keys inside a structure you are now locked out of, how to find your keys is as simple regaining access.
In more severe cases, keys may have been lost down a drain, in a lake, or otherwise misplaced in a way that makes recovery difficult. If it is something like under a sewer grate or down a hole, you just need tools that can reach the keys and grip them. You can make an impromptu fishing line. Attach a hook to the end of a small rope, and as long as the keys fell through the opening you are pulling them out of, it will be possible to get the keys back.
The most difficult road ahead of you for how to find keys is when you do not have any idea where they are. Finding keys lost in this way is going to be the most difficult endeavor. Where fishing your keys out of a drain might be taxing and stressful, you will be able to tell when you are making progress. The same cannot be said for when you are trying to figure out how to find keys you have completely lost track of.
Though it is going to be the toughest road between all the ways of how to find keys, that is not to say it is impossible to get your keys back when you really do not have a clue where they could be. Start by retracing your steps to the last possible time you certainly used them. Then retrace your steps from there. It is easier said than done, so do yourself a favor and check in with the businesses and establishments you visited to see if your keys have been turned into their lost and found.
Most commonly a person will attach all of their keys to a ring, so you will lose all of your keys at the same time. So when you are looking for how to find keys, you mean all of your keys. However, whatever you have found yourself locked out of is most often the type of keys you are looking for. So if you need back into your car, even if you have lost all your keys, you will refer to them as your “car keys”. The same goes for home and office keys.
In the following sections we will deal with how being locked out of your car, home, and office affects the pursuit of how to find keys. Where you find yourself locked out of is an extremely important factor for how to find keys, and can even give you insight into where your keys might be. And tell you what went wrong, and where and when it went wrong.
So you are approaching your car and you realize that you have lost your car keys. Just think back to where you have just come from. If it was your home, did you lock your door? If you did, your keys might be in the lock or locked inside your home. If you have just come from a business, go back in and look at where you were sitting. Keys have a habit of falling out of loose pockets while you sitting. If you had to reach into your pockets, you could have also uprooted your keys when you pulled out.
When you are looking for your car keys, it is always a good idea to leave someone to stand by your car. Thieves, who are not going to return your keys after finding them, have a habit of walking among the parked cars testing the remote to see which car they have the keys to. If your car keys have been lost down a drain, or somewhere where they are likely to get wet, you might need to replace your car key or remote. When looking beyond how to find keys, and venturing into replacement be sure to keep abreast of the dangers of aftermarket electronic car keys.
Losing track of your house keys commonly happens when you are getting home or trying to get back into your house after realizing you left in the house. Taking car services is getting more popular these days, especially if you are going out for a night of drinking, so you might be far from the last point you had your keys. Also, if you have lost your keys in the car you took, you will need to find a way to get in touch with that driver. It is best to call the places that you were at last and see if the staff there can find your keys. How to find keys, when you notice they are missing this late, can be better handled with outreach than in person sleuthing.
In the meantime, you might have a way back into your home. If you have a spare key properly hidden on the premises of your home you can use that to get back inside. You might also find that you had left your keys in the house all along. How to find keys might be as simple as getting back into your locked home. If you ever lose your house keys along with your ID or some other identifier of where you live, then you need to change your locks.
When you are trying to get into your office chances are you were able to get there by your means of transportation. If you drive your own car, that means you at least had your keys when you arrived at your office. You might have locked your keys in the car and in that case, you need to get your car opened to get back into your office. If you cannot unlock your car yourself, consider the cost to unlock your car. In the case where you have taken public transportation to the office, try to reach out to a neighbor or someone who can get your keys from your home.
How to find keys when you are locked out of your office is simple when you are locked out at the beginning of the day. It means you left your keys in your house or the car (in the worst case you will have left them on the public transportation). In any case, because downtime costs your business money, you need to get back into your office as fast as possible. If you work odd hours, you might need the immediate help of an emergency 24-hour locksmith.
In some cases, you will not be able to find your keys. When you cannot find your keys, getting a replacement will be the only remaining option to solve your access issues. Here are some things that you should keep in mind when how to find keys is not enough to get you back into your home, car, and/or office.
How to find keys begins with knowing how they were lost. Did they break, did they fall into the sewer, or did you merely lose track of them? Each one of those scenarios will influence how to find keys. Different kinds of keys will also have certain things to keep in mind and some best practices for better efficiency in finding lost keys. But in the worst cases, you will need to look into tips for replacing your lost keys.
Category: Automotive, Car Keys, Commercial, How To's, Residential
