How to open the interior door lock: unpleasant life

What to do if the lock broke, the door slammed or the child closed it from the inside and cannot open it himself? With a key in most cases, this is not a problem. We will show you several ways how to open the lock without a key.

The most common options:

• Broken Castle
• Sliding latch
• Jammed tongue
• Key stuck in the well

What could be the causes of the problem?

To find a place in which the door is kept closed, you need to try to pry it with a large screwdriver in different places and try to move it. After that, you can decide what to do.

What to do if the latch has moved

If the latch is installed in the lock, it is sometimes not screwed on when it is opened. Pushing the door to close it, you can push the latch that has moved a few millimeters into the groove.

And these millimeters are enough for it to fit very tightly in the box. In this case, you just need to insert a screwdriver or other hard object into the gap between the door leaf and the box, and squeeze the door.

What to do if the tongue of the lock is jammed

If the door is not locked, but you cannot open it by turning the knob because the tongue is jammed, try to find a flat and flexible object, for example, a knife, a metal ruler or a regular plastic card.

So:

1. Insert the card into the slot between the blade and the box in the place where the tongue of the castle.
2. Tilt the card toward the door handle and click on it. You should feel how it slides over the beveled cut of the tongue.
3. Now push the card away from you., so she made the tongue go to the castle. At the same time, press the door or pull it towards you, depending on which way it opens.
4. If you are on the side where the tongue does not have a slice, the card or knife will need to be inserted from above and tilted obliquelytrying to reach the inside of the castle. To press the tongue, you need to make an effort.

What to do if the lock broke

If the reason for the inability to open the door was the breakage of the lock, you will need to get to its mechanism.

The easiest way to do this, if we are talking about an English lock, which is enough to drill out a cylindrical mechanism. After removing the lock cylinder, you need to hook the drive mechanism with a metal hook so that the bolts go into the housing. The cylinder can be knocked out by pressing a solid object of suitable size into it and striking it with a hammer.

With locks of another design, the situation is more complicated. If the handle is attached to the door with visible bolts, they can be unscrewed with a screwdriver or any other object at hand - with a knife, nail file, etc.

After removing the handle, take any pointed thin object, for example, a knitting needle or pencil, feel for it the latching mechanism and press it while trying to open the door.

If the matter is not in the latch, but in the jammed bolt of the lock, it will be difficult to do without a specialist.

But you can still try the following:

1. Remove the decorative trim (see Installing Interior Door Trim) from the box.
2. Using a hammer and chisel, remove the part of the box into which the metal receiving plate is embedded.
3. If the door opens on you, you can easily open it. If not, you’ll have to completely ruin the box. But then there is a chance to keep an expensive door leaf in an intact state.

Another option can be used if there is a sufficient gap between the box and the canvas, in which the lock bolt is visible. It can be cut using grinders. Or, in the same way, cut the hinges on which the interior door hangs.

Tip: If you are not able to handle yourself, do not rush to break down the door or try to enter the room through the balcony. Call the specialists from the company where you ordered the door or the Emergency Ministry employees who know how to open the lock with the least damage to it.

Remember that the cause of breakage in most cases is its incorrect installation (see. Insert of the castle in the interior door). As a rule, the repair returns the functionality to it for a short time, more often it has to be changed. It is not difficult to do this, it is more difficult to return the original look of the door damaged by breaking into.

Therefore, as soon as you notice malfunctions in the work of the lock or sagging of the door leaf, immediately eliminate these malfunctions so as not to bring the matter to a forced emergency intervention.

What to do if the key is left in the hole on the other side of the door

This situation most often arises if you are mistakenly locked outside or if a child has closed in a room who cannot open it on his own.

In this case, it usually turns out to do without serious interference with the lock mechanism or the door structure. The method is simple and has long been known to many "prisoners" of alien absent-mindedness or parental education.

It is necessary to slip a newspaper or a sufficiently large sheet of paper into the slot under the door, take a pin, a thin needle or a nail and try to push the key out of the keyhole with it. When he falls on a pre-planted newspaper, she will need to be dragged back into the room and opened with a key from his side.

But this is possible only if the key is not turned in the lock, and if there is a keyhole on both sides.

Other opening options

If the handle is equipped from the inside with a latch in the form of a key on a decorative plate, then when the key is pressed, the door closes so that it cannot be opened from the outside by turning the handle. But for such cases, there is a small hole under the handle on the outside of the door, into which you need to insert a needle and press to return the key to the pressed position.

If the slammed door has a glazing (see Interior doors with a stained-glass window: about beauty and individuality), you can try to remove the glass by removing the frame frames that hold it. In the extreme case, the glass can be broken - it will be cheaper to insert a new one than to completely change the damaged door.

With access to both sides of the castle, it will be easier for you to open or dismantle it.