locked out!

November 10, 2008 4:21 PM

So I locked myself out...

The deadbolt is unlocked but the handle is locked. It's a Schlage. I ripped the handle off and am now holding the outer lock barrel in my hands. Do I simply have to turn the inner metal piece now? (hard to get to but maybe I can scare up some pliers.) or should I just call the locksmith now?

posted by LordSludge to home & garden (18 comments total)

Why can't you use a credit card or similar to push the lock in?
posted by youcancallmeal at 4:26 PM on November 10, 2008

Why can't you use a credit card or similar to push the lock in?

It's a bit difficult to jimmy a deadbolt.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 4:32 PM on November 10, 2008

You'll probably have to push the inside handle "in," so that it falls to the floor inside the house before turning the inside of the slot where the knobs used to be connected.
posted by tomierna at 4:34 PM on November 10, 2008

The deadbolt is UNlocked - somebody set the handle lock and that one locked behind me. I miiight be able to slip one in, but there's a contour on the doorframe, I assume to prevent just that - hard to get a card in there.
posted by LordSludge at 4:35 PM on November 10, 2008

ah okay. So there's an identical (locked) barrel on the inside, and its metal tab is in the hole i'd need to turn with a screwdriver.
posted by LordSludge at 4:39 PM on November 10, 2008

Well, you've already killed your lock, so in for a dime, in for a dollar - call the locksmith.

Then again, he is going to show up, laugh at you, wiggle something into the lock and have you inside in 10 seconds. Smug bastard.

So, I'd keep poking at with a screw driver or whatever...
posted by wfrgms at 4:40 PM on November 10, 2008 [3 favorites]

Are there any unlocked windows? Can you borrow a ladder or shimmy over any roofs?

Is the place yours or do you have a landlord? You might be able to drill out the lock if you don't mind trashing it and having to get a new one.
posted by dunkadunc at 4:42 PM on November 10, 2008

Video of a guy picking a Schlage.

A brief look at Schlage locks

How to pick your Schlage.

Google for more.
posted by wfrgms at 4:42 PM on November 10, 2008

Are you renting? Many times the apartment complex or the house owner has a set of spare keys for all their residents.
posted by sixcolors at 4:48 PM on November 10, 2008

The secret device that got me back into my apartment after a similar mishap was.......the lid from a cat food tin. As with your door, there was a tricky contour on the doorframe, so a credit card wouldn't really work. The thing about the cat food tin was that I could make a bend in it, then slip it through the crack so the the bend in the tin was able to slip past the latch. Hard to visualize perhaps, but anything that is both flexible yet holds it's shape reasonably well once bent might work, with some fussing around.
posted by otolith at 4:53 PM on November 10, 2008

I own the place. Top floor condo, so no climbing in windows. I know a lot of ppl in the building, so maybe somebody has a drill.
posted by LordSludge at 4:54 PM on November 10, 2008

I'm in! My neighbor had a hammer and a long nail, so I tried to punch the barrel through to the inside. Didn't work, but somewhere along the line the mechanism got mangled/frightened enough that it gave up and retracted the latch.

Man, this couch kicks ass right now.

Was posting from my iPhone, fyi -- Safari kept crashing, so I was a little lazy with the category & keywords.

So thanks all... or I suppose nevermind! I'm off to Home Depot before they close to buy an UNLOCKING handle mechanism.
posted by LordSludge at 5:25 PM on November 10, 2008

Might want to get a spare key cut while you're out and leave it with Hammer!Neighbour.

It'll save you the incovenience if this happens again. It's not like there's an issue they'll abuse it since they now know exactly how to break into your apartment anyway.
posted by the latin mouse at 5:51 PM on November 10, 2008

If you have the knob off it should be able to turn, usually a square looking piece to unlock the inside handle, then turn the bit that will retract the latch. Basically you can't do much more damage might as well find some pliers now and get in.
posted by RobGF at 6:24 PM on November 10, 2008

Yeah, I think if I had some pliers I coulda turned that square part. Not real secure -- I literally just ripped off the handle with my hands. Hey, beats kicking in the door, which my neighbors did last month. At 3 in the morning...

Home Depot and Lowe's won't make spares of the Schlage (has a bottom groove that they supposedly can't cut), but I'm replacing the handle with a nonlocking one anyhow, leaving only the deadbolt lock -- should be lock-out proof. (A departing visitor thought she was doing me a favor by locking the handle behind herself. I only ever use the deadbolt, so I didn't think to check the handle as I left. *Click* DAMMIT!!)
posted by LordSludge at 6:48 PM on November 10, 2008

After my relatives did this favour for me the second time I changed my handle lock, which we never use, keys to match my dead bolt. At our new place we've done as you have and just have a passage handle + deadbolt. Works great.

the_latin_mouse writes "It's not like there's an issue they'll abuse it since they now know exactly how to break into your apartment anyway."

The hammer would be a lot less effective verses the deadbolt. Besides with a key the neighbour and come and go as they please unlike the hammer method.
posted by Mitheral at 8:15 PM on November 10, 2008

You could install a keyless code lock, my bother loves those.
posted by jeffburdges at 9:54 PM on November 10, 2008

Mitheral: "After my relatives did this favour for me the second time I changed my handle lock, which we never use, keys to match my dead bolt. At our new place we've done as you have and just have a passage handle + deadbolt."

That's how my place is, and it's still possible to get yourself locked out. I stepped out on to my porch, and a second later, the wind blew the door closed behind me.
posted by philomathoholic at 12:35 AM on November 11, 2008