How to Open a Locked Door without a Keyhole
What are you supposed to do if you find yourself locked out of a door that doesn’t have a keyhole? Think about the types of doors that you find in bedrooms or bathrooms. Typically, these types of doors have what is known as a privacy lock. They’re meant to be locked from the inside and they’re not necessarily designed to be opened with a key from the outside, at least in most cases. The question is, what happens if you really need to get in that room and there is no keyhole?
There are a lot of reasons that this could potentially happen. Perhaps you have a small child that inadvertently locked the door without knowing it on their way out and then closed the door, effectively locking you and everyone else out until you can find a way back in. In a worst-case scenario, you might have a situation where someone is in the bedroom or bathroom and they need help, but the door is locked. Therefore, it’s imperative that you know how to quickly and effectively unlock one of these doors just in case the need should arise. The good news is that it’s not necessarily as hard as you might think it is. In fact, there are several different techniques that you can use to get in that room if you really need to.
Use a Credit Card
You’ve probably seen some movies where someone locked the door and another person used a credit card that they jammed into the door casing in order to break in. It might seem like nothing more than Hollywood magic, but it can actually work in a lot of cases. The key is to get the credit card in the right spot and then wiggle your way in so that you can actually push the metal part of the lock far enough out of the way to get the door open. It starts by inserting the credit card in between the door and the door casing, right where the locking mechanism is.
Ideally, you want to go just under this spot and then wiggle the door with your hand as much as you can while also maneuvering the credit card so that you can effectively get between the locking mechanism and the door casing. Once you have the card in position, use it to push the locking mechanism out of the way. One word of caution- there’s a chance this might work but there is also a chance you’ll end up breaking the credit card in the process, so it’s best not to use the one that is your go-to card if this is what you plan on doing.
Take the Door Knob Off
This will require the use of a screwdriver, but if you have already tried the credit card method and it didn’t really work out for you, it might be the quickest way to get inside that room. Unless you’re adept at picking locks, this is probably going to be the most direct method. Of course, you can grab a bobby pin and fool around with the pinhole (provided there is one) or you can simply get the screwdriver out and take the door knob off the door.
Unless you’re absolutely sure that you can use a credit card or a bobby pin successfully, this is going to be the quickest route to getting through the door, something that you need to know if there’s someone on the other side of it who’s potentially in distress. Use the screwdriver to remove the door knob from the door, from your side. Once you’ve accomplished that, you can push the door knob out of the way on the other side and then manipulate the locking mechanism so that you can get in the door. If the locking mechanism is on the door knob itself, push it out of the way and then manually manipulate the door until you can get the bolt loose enough to get inside.
Remove the Hinges
This may not be the first thing that you would try, but if you’ve tried every other avenue and failed, you can remove the door from its hinges. It will require a screwdriver and a little bit of patience, but if it’s the only way that you can get in, it’s worth doing. What you’ll have to do is angle the screwdriver just underneath the hinge pins until you can get enough wiggle room to pop the pins out, effectively allowing you to remove the door from the side opposite the door handle.
It’s not the easiest technique in the world, but it does work well as a last-ditch effort if you’ve already tried everything else and you still haven’t been able to gain access. In some cases, you can simply unscrew the hinges from the door casing, depending on exactly how that particular door was installed and the style of hinges that were used. Either way, this is a method that can be used effectively in order to remove the door in its entirety. Once you get it off the hinges, it’s still going to be locked but you can get enough wiggle room to either get around it or simply kick it out of the way so that you can get on the other side of it, unlock it and then remove it by simply laying it down.
The idea of needing to get into a room and not being able to isn’t exactly the most comforting thought, but at least now you know how to get into a locked door even if there is no keyhole. Some of these methods take longer than others, so it’s important to choose the one that is both the fastest and that you’re most sure you can do. Of course, if it’s a thin door and you’re fairly confident you can simply break it down, that’s also an option if time is truly of the essence.
You can also read:
- How To Get a Stuck Key out of the Lock
- How to Fix a Deadbolt that Won’t Unlock
- A Complete Guide on How to Open a Master Combination Lock
- Everything You Need to Know about Magnetic Cabinet Locks