How to unlock a door?

Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
It can't cost that much to replace one of those little panes of glass.
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Oh man that sounds like no fun.

You probably know this by now, but most glass (even small decorative glass) in doors is tempered. Breaking regular window glass is much much easier.

But like you said, probably more expansive to get fixed too.
 
mulligan said:
Re-key. Damn autocorrect and quick fat thumbs get me every time. That's what I get for the one actual helpful post I have ever made
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Yeah, I have the same problem..... plus glasses that I hate....:lol::lol::lol:
 
denverpilot said:
Oh man that sounds like no fun.

You probably know this by now, but most glass (even small decorative glass) in doors is tempered. Breaking regular window glass is much much easier.

But like you said, probably more expansive to get fixed too.
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Very expansive! I have free glass replacement windows so that's my first choice. "Guess the neighbor kids were playing ball again..."
 
denverpilot said:
Oh man that sounds like no fun.
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Brother in law thought it was hilarious. And, in addition to locking the front door, my mom found the time to take the dirty dishes out of the dishwasher and put them back in the cupboards.

Turned out to cost less to replace the whole back door instead of just the window in the door.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
rm-jpg.55377
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Now that this hypothetical problem has been resolved, I've got to ask:

Is that a picture of a Spitfire hanging on the wall?
 
Yes but that's my son's room he actually has pictures of biplanes that are painted
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
Meh...

So, my mother (suffering from dementia) was living with my sister and family. She and the husband were going out for the evening and asked me to come by and watch mom and take her to dinner. No big deal. I couldn't get out of work early so the deal was that my sister would leave the front door open and leave a key on the inside stairs so I could take mom out for dinner when I got there. I get there, and for some reason my mom had locked the door. I can see the key on the stairs inside. Great. I bang on the door, mom comes over and I ask her to let me in. She can't figure out how to unlock the door. I try detailed instructions - yelling and pantomiming. I try calling her on the phone. She doesn't answer. I call my sister's cell. no answer. Probably spent 1/2 hour on the front porch yelling through the door. On a busy street.

Then I get a bright idea. The button to open the garage door is in the attached garage right next to the door to the family room. "Mom! Go push the garage door button." "OK". She goes into the garage. Does not press the button. Now this is just before Christmas, temperature is in the 30's. Mom is not wearing a coat. Garage is not heated.

I am now going back and forth between the front door and garage door (I can see the door between the house and garage from the front door). Yelling at my mom through the garage door, telling her to just go back in the house. She keeps saying "OK" and I can hear her bumping into things in the garage (the light is not on). But, instead of going into the house, she closes the door. Now, she is in the garage, in the dark, freezing weather, etc. I have to get in now. I go around the whole house looking for a door or window that I can get in. No luck.

At this point, it's been close to an hour. I've called and texted my sister several times. I'm running out of options. The front door has a little grid of windows. I have to get in and get mom out of the garage. It can't cost that much to replace one of those little panes of glass.

First I try an ice scraper. I'm standing on the front porch flailing away at the glass as traffic goes by on the street. All I break is the ice scraper. Think. What do I have? Lug Wrench.

That effing glass is really hard to break. Instead I see wood from the door go flying. Well, I don't want to wreck the front door. So I try around back.

Force a screen door open, and WAM, WAM, SMASH - oops - thermopane. SMASH. I'm in. Glass all over. But I can get mom out of the garage.

Now, I need some duct tape and plastic to cover the former window so I can take mom out to dinner. One last call to my sister to let her know what happened in case they come back while we are gone. I dial, and I hear a phone ring in the kitchen. Well, that solves the "why didn't she answer" mystery. So, I find her phone, scroll down through the contacts to find her husband and dial him. "Sweety?" he answers in a somewhat confused sounding voice. "No it's me. I need some duct tape and plastic." "What for?" So I give him the whole story - he is laughing his ass off, but tells me where to find the tape / plastic.

I clean up, and take mom to dinner.

But, all in all, I spent at least an hour outside the house, yelling, banging, flailing away with an ice scraper and tire iron until I finally broke in. No one stopped. No one called the police. So, I wouldn't worry about having to be in a hurry to break in if you want to do that sort of thing.
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Thanks for the heads up. I'll be sure to remember that when I rob that house. :)
 
They look like shorty-shorts, and I got in trouble last time I posted a picture of myself in shorts like that. Think Reno 911. Why does this guy get away with it?

On second thought, was the fella in the picture playing basketball just prior to the photo being taken?


Not quite the same, but I walked into the wrong home very long ago. My girlfriend and I got off the elevator a floor too soon, because somebody had pressed the call button but must have left and taken the stairs.

There were several clues that we were not on the proper floor, but we both missed all of them. "Huh, that's weird, why did my roommate Josh put such a girly-looking welcome mat out while I was gone today?"

I walked in, and just stood there, amazed at everything Josh had done that day. He totally rearranged the apartment, got a different couch, and had two kids over...? That is very unlike Josh. Who are these kids? Nephews or something? Why does he have all these weird shoes here in the entryway?

I figured it out and quickly got out of there. The kids thought I was playing a joke or something, they thought I was hilarious.

-Stevie
"Who now forever verifies the floor number before getting off an elevator"
 
Did anyone else think Bryan's picture was a new version of The Sims?

The Sims: Bryan's World

Wonder how you win that game? ;)
 
If the key is inside the room the screws to mount the lock are on the outside! Look at your doors!
 
When a lockset is installed on a door, the screws to hold the lockset together are on the opposite side of the key knob/handle. In the this thread example, the screws would be accessible to take the knob off and unlacth the latch. Go look at the lockset on your door.
 
Smooth brushed metal all over. No screws, no little hole with the mini allen screw. Nothin.
 
I say blast off and nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

:D



Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 
wayne said:
I say blast off and nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

:D



Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
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But you're just a grunt. No offense.
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
Turned out to cost less to replace the whole back door instead of just the window in the door.
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When i had to break into my car, I found out that it would have been cheaper to replace the windshield rather than the little triangular window at the A-column.
 
weilke said:
When i had to break into my car, I found out that it would have been cheaper to replace the windshield rather than the little triangular window at the A-column.
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A wedge is my weapon of choice for getting into cars.
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
A wedge is my weapon of choice for getting into cars.
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When I was working at the SO, we used to be called out on lock outs and had wedges in our units. I used to belly laugh as we were using the wedge, some Good Samaritan kid would always say, man, I can get in that car for you in two seconds if you want me to. I'm guessing they probably could have but sop wouldn't allow it.
 
Stewartb said:
Most key cylinders are brass, so soft. Drilling it will be the cheapest solution and likely what a locksmith will do. Go to Home Depot and but a replacement privacy lock for about $25 to replace the keyed lock you're destroying. That's way cheaper than replacing the door.
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This is the first solution I've read that actually makes sense.

Some of you get zero points for suggesting that PC try the little hole in the knob (he told you it was a lockset, not a privacy set) and removing the hinges (every bedroom door I've seen swings inward, and PC's sketch shows that's the case here). Another one, suggesting loosening the screws, ignores the obvious fact that locksets don't have the screws on the lock side, otherwise a Phillips screwdriver would allow entry to a most houses.

I'm always amazed at how many people read a post that contains specific information and then blithely ignore it.
 
3393RP said:
This is the first solution I've read that actually makes sense.

Some of you get zero points for suggesting that PC try the little hole in the knob (he told you it was a lockset, not a privacy set) and removing the hinges (every bedroom door I've seen swings inward, and PC's sketch shows that's the case here).

I'm always amazed at how many people read a post that contains specific information and then blithely ignore it.
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'mazing innit?
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
Hypothetical.

Let's say you have a daughter.
Let's say the former owners of your house had this one room that locks from the inside.
Let's say you have always wondered why and also thought it was dumb.


Do I pretty much have to call a locksmith?
How can I get the door open without a saw?
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Take the trim off the perimeter of the door. MOST interior doors have some space between them and the framing, bridged by trim. You may be able to get to the back side of the hinges and wiggle the pins out with a flat head screwdriver... Or remove enough trim to be able to push the door frame in completely away from the wall (then retrim later)....

Or just drill the lock...

Or maybe if you are lucky the doorknob was put in improperly and you can disassemble or break off the knob...

Finally, the surefire method I used for forcible entry in my fire/EMS days, but requires some repair afterwards involves a solid kick just next to the door knob.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
Former owners had locks on almost all of the doors.
Even the pantry had a lock on it. Closets had locks.
Get this. No 2 doors in the house (interior or exterior) had the same lock.
Back door, front door, garage entry, all had different locks.

When we closed on the house and went to get the keys Eren and I were both like WTF when they gave us an envelope with 20 keys in it.
The people that lived there were totally nuts though. I could write a book about dealing with them when buying the house.
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My brother moved into a house with the same setup. The past owner put locks on every cabinet in the house.
 
A house we bought in Salt Lake City was owned by a couple of Holocaust survivors. Every (and I mean EVERY) interior door was a major door with a double-sided deadbolt. All keyed differently with no master key. Plus lots of secret hiding places. Understandable considering what they went through.
 
jim.nelson said:
A house we bought in Salt Lake City was owned by a couple of Holocaust survivors. Every (and I mean EVERY) interior door was a major door with a double-sided deadbolt. All keyed differently with no master key. Plus lots of secret hiding places. Understandable considering what they went through.
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how did you ever find all the hiding places? o_O
 
Checkout_my_Six said:
how did you ever find all the hiding places? o_O
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HA! We probably didn't. Every one we found was empty and it was kind of an Easter Egg Hunt to find them all. The best was the drywall held on by Velcro behind the bookshelves. The even better hiding places were the ones we didn't find. And we were there for years, finding another one just before we moved.
 
jim.nelson said:
A house we bought in Salt Lake City was owned by a couple of Holocaust survivors. Every (and I mean EVERY) interior door was a major door with a double-sided deadbolt. All keyed differently with no master key. Plus lots of secret hiding places. Understandable considering what they went through.
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Wow.... did you meet these people?

When I was a kid there was an elderly couple, at least to an 8 year old I thought they were elderly, they were probably in their mid 40s, that lived down the road from us. I remember the man had numbers tattooed on his right forearm. We never saw the wife without long sleeves. They were very friendly to kids and seemed to enjoy the noise we made. Thinking back they were probably reliving a lost childhood through us.

They were very serious about their vegetable garden.

I remember asking my dad about the numbers on his arm. My dad told me what it meant and then told me to never ask the man about it.
 
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