Tips And Hacks On How To Open a Locked Door Without a Key (2023)

At least once or twice you have locked yourself out of your house or one of the interior rooms. If not, then you must be very lucky, but that doesn’t mean you will always be. One of your kids or friends will accidentally or purposely do it for you. And if you don’t know the tricks on how to open a locked door without a key, then you will just have to call a locksmith.

Needless to say, that’s not a call to rely much on upon. The locksmith will not always be available or nearby. Hence, you will have to remain locked out or else you bulldoze the door, in which case, either way, is inconveniencing.

You may also like:How to Lock a Door Without a Lock

If you can learn some tricks to bypass the locking mechanism, however, you won’t need to destroy your precious door. Furthermore, the skills don’t hurt to possess, as long as you don’t use it in picking other people’s properties.
Anyways, let’s now look at the different ways that you can use to open a locked door when you don’t have the keys.

Part One: How to Open a Locked House Door without Key

• By Use Of A Plastic Card

Now I will show you how to open a locked door with a card. There are different designs and styles of locks. In most cases, the front door comes with two locks; the standard lever-style lock [with handle/ knob] and the deadbolt lock. With the latter, it’s quite difficult to accidentally lock yourself out as the bolt that enters the strike plate only moves by either key or thumb-turn.

For the handle lock, though, the latch assembly has a spring that enables the latch bolt to retract and revert. As such, the lock an easily lock by just pulling/ pushing the door close.Fortunately, this locking mechanism is also pretty easier to open than the rest. One of the ways you can do this is by using a plastic card like that for debit, credit, shopping, or even insurance.

The card will certainly get damaged during the process. Hence, it’s of best to use a piece that you no longer need or it’s easier to replace.

When it comes to opening your door…

Take the card and insert it in the gap between the door and the doorjamb. You might need to bend the edge of the card a little if the door surface is not flush to the frame. Then, Slide it towards the lock where the latch is and wiggle it [card] while at the same time pushing the door.

Of course, the door will not open immediately, but after several tries, you should be able to catch the latch. But if it takes longer to open from the top, you can slide the card from the downward position going up.

Key takeaway: This trick will only work on a lock with an angled latch bolt and also it shouldn’t have a reinforced strike plate.

• Using A Screwdriver

Here are the tricks on how to open a locked door with a screwdriver. Screwdriver is another method that you can use to open your “privacy door” or the handle lock without using the keys. It can work in two different ways, but that will mainly depend on the nature of your door.

In the first method, you’ll use your small or thin screwdriver as the key, whereby you push it into the hole on the doorknob. The idea is to trick the latch assembly so that it can retract the spring connected to the latch bolt. So, after inserting the [flat] screwdriver into the hole, you’ll just need to turn or twist it until the lock opens.

In case the tool fails to fit in the key slot, you can still use it to pull in the latch of the lock and open your door. You can do this by wedging your screwdriver between the latch bolt and the frame. Then, wiggle it until you can push the bolt back into the door.

Key takeaway: The screwdriver technique, is not only effective for the house doors. You can also use it to unlock your vehicle as well.

• Picking With A Bobby Pin

This method is very common with the actors of fiction TV shows, but still, it’s doable in reality. It’s not easy to learn as the other tricks, but once you master it, you can get through almost any door. Basically, the Bobby pin hack is the most successful technique of bypassing a door lock. You can use it on the handle lock, as well as the standard pin tumbler lock.

Unlike the latch lock with one spring, however, a tumbler lock has multiple of them [mostly five] set vertically along with the barrel/ shell. Each of these springs has a pin cut at a specific length that matches with an adjacent hole on this shell.

So, to open, every pin has to retract at the exact right height from the groove, thereby setting free the barrel. This then enables the lock plug to turn, which now makes it possible for the deadbolt to move back into the door. For all this to happen, you have to use the unique key for the lock. But assuming you don’t have that, a set of bobby pins [or hair pins] can do the trick.

The technique requires the use of two pins, whereby one will be the feeler pick to imitate the key teeth for pushing the lock pins. Then, the second piece will be a tension lever to help in applying rotational pressure to the lock barrel.

This means you will need to operate the two bobby pins at the same time, which is not hard by the way.
Key takeaway: It may take long before you can get the lock picking trick right. I hope you got how to open a locked door with a bobby pin?

• Hacking With A Knife

For this one, it works in several ways as you can use it just as with a flat head screwdriver or the plastic card. This is to say the method can only work with the privacy doors, in which case you need to retract the latch bolt.

The knife has to have a thin blade that can slide in the gap between the door and the doorjamb. Then, just as with the card, wiggle it at the striker plate area until you can catch the latch bolt.

If the blade tip can fit at the keyhole, you can also use it to draw in the locking bolt and open your door. You just have to be careful not to cut yourself when still you haven’t opened your door.

• Picking With A Paperclip

How to pick a door lock with a paperclip?. This is a great lock picking alternative that you can go within case you don’t have the key or hairpin. You can use it to open the handle lock or the tumbler lock just as with the approach of two bobby pins.

For a paperclip, however, its material tends to have a higher tensile strength, which makes it more bendable without breaking easily. As such, you can use it to make several picking tools that you can use on various lock designs. If it’s opening a padlock, for instance, you just need two paperclips or one that you can cut into two pieces. From the two clips, you will make a rake pick for manipulating the pins and a tension wrench to apply rotational pressure on the plug.

Of course, you can still make a feeler pick, but the good thing with the rake pick is that it has multiple points of manipulating the pins. Hence, it can open faster than its counterpart, which picks the lock as per a single pin. In case your troubling lock is the standard doorknob latch, you’ll just need to make a tension wrench from your paperclip. Then, insert and spin the plug to pull in the latch bolt.

Key takeaway: Similarly, it may take long before you can get the lock picking trick right.

• Use Locksmith Picking Tools

Whether you’re a contractor or just a DIY enthusiast who adores new life-skills, a set of lock pick tools can be worth having. Of course, you might not always carry with you like Ryan Reynolds and other spy movie actors. But it can save you big time when in your tools roll bag and you happen to accidentally lock yourself out.

Even so, there are dozens of lock pick sets in the market today. Each type usually features different designs, yet all have the basic accessories that matter. Some of these tools include hook/ feeler pick, rake picks, a tension wrench, half diamond pick, and others.

These lock picking tools function similarly as the set improvised from the bobby pins or paperclips. They enable you to manipulate the key pins to release the lock barrel and enable the plug to turn. In which case the deadbolt now retracts from the strike plate and opens the door.

Key takeaway: it’s not illegal to own or carry a lock pick set in most states. Just like a gun, it only becomes a crime when you use it illegally to break into other people’s properties.

• Using A Power Drill

If every other trick fails but you happen to have a power drill, you can still be able to get through your door. Whether you have the corded or cordless make, It doesn’t matter as long as the bit is rotating.

Just as the name, though, the drilling technique requires you to bore the lock through the keyhole. It involves destroying the internal components of the lock, including pins so that the plug can rotate and unlock the deadbolt or the latch bolt.

Therefore, you should only use the technique as your last option when the rest of the tricks fail. After he attempt and maybe success, you will also need to buy another lock to replace the broken one. Hence, it’s certainly tiring, time-consuming and you will need to go back to your wallet.

Key Takeaway: opening a lock with a drill should come to your list in case of emergency and perhaps someone/ something needs immediate assistance. Furthermore, consider wearing eye protection to avoid hurting yourself from any flying metal.

• Newton’s Third Law Technique

Similarly, the technique takes a destructive form and should be your last resort when the others fail. It involves kicking the door down using some brutal force so that the lock can dislodge from the doorjamb.

For it to work, you have to focus your energy on the weakest parts of the door, which is at the locks. The method, though, is relatively harsher than even drilling through the lock. In case the door is weak, chances are that you might destroy some of its key parts, as well as the lock. Thereby, costing you a door and lock, which, again will require you to make unplanned expenses.

So, you should consider kicking at your door opening method not only when the other tactics have failed. But also if you don’t have a drill.

Key takeaways: although it can be effective, door kicking can efficiently work for an inswing door. For the outswing designs, you might need to consider removing the hinges if they don’t have the security stud.

Part Two: How to Open a Locked Vehicle Door without Key

Just as with the house doors, an untold number of motorists have locked themselves out of their vehicles after losing the keys. It’s usually a frustrating moment, especially if you’re already late for the job or an important meeting.

While some might end up taking an Uber, what would you do if the case containing the business reports was in the car? Will you call a locksmith or knock down the rear window with a club?

Well, sadly either of these two ways is risky as it can compromise the safety of your car. But if you did know how to unlock a locked car door without a key, you won’t need to risk any of that. You might even be surprised to find the keys on the floor mat where you dropped without knowing.

With that, here are four easy tricks that can help you unlock your vehicle without keys:

• Unlock With Your Shoestring:

Although you may find it too good to be true, this trick does work and has saved quite a number of drivers. The method involves tying a small loop in the middle of the shoelace in such a way that you can tighten when slipped around an object.

Therefore, this method is only effective in the locking mechanisms that unlock by pulling up.

Key takeaway: Like advanced life-hacks, it may take some time to work to get it right, but it does work at the end.

• Use A Coat Hanger:

The method is quite a common one as well and it’s very easy to do as you won’t need to buy anything. You just need the ordinary cloth wire hanger that you can untwist and make a hook. Then you slide it by the weather stripping in the window and wiggle it around until you catch the locking mechanism.

Key takeaway: The trick may take some time to successfully open the door. Its advantage, however, is that you can use with both the vertical and horizontal locks.

• Use The Inflatable Wedge

For this one, the goal is to help ensure you can open the car door without damaging the paint or the interior.
To do it, you just need an object like a screwdriver that you can use to create some space for the inflatable wedge to enter. Then, pump some air into the wedge, of which it will expand and create space to insert an access tool.

The access tool is simply a stick or a wire [including coat hanger] that you’ll now to push or pull the unlock button. It can work for both the vertical and horizontal locks.

Key Takeaway: A single air-wedge is enough, but you can as well use two [on top and side] for optimal effectiveness.

• A Screwdriver Can Also Help:

As we mentioned in opening your locked house door, a flat screwdriver can also assist in unlocking a vehicle door. You only need to pry the door open a little, then insert a rod and push the unlock button.

The rod has to be long to make sure you can reach the mechanism and sturdy enough not to break or bend.

Key takeawya: prying the car door open with any metal object could damage the exterior and or interior. So, you have to be very careful when doing the trick.

Final Verdict:

It can be frustrating and annoying not to be able to open your door. Be it lost keys or you accidentally locked them inside the house or your car, it means you have to look for another way to get the door open. Otherwise, you will have no access inside the room or drive yourself to work [if you have only one vehicle].

Luckily, our article has pointed out the various hacks that can help you get through your locked door without needing a key. Apart from the drilling or the brutal kicking, these tricks are worth having. You get to open your door without the chance of destroying the lock. Hence, very handy just in case you had locked the keys inside the house or car.
Anyhow, we hope you have learned something from us today. All the best opening your locked door. Hope you got an idea on how to open a locked door without a key.

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