Home security is among the main priorities of every homeowner. Thus, they want to ensure that their doors and windows are properly and securely locked before leaving for work or running some errands.
But what if one day, you get home and realize that you left your keys inside and end up shutting yourself out of your home?
Getting locked out is likely one of the most frustrating and annoying situations, especially if you’ve been looking forward to lounging on your couch after a long day at work.
But before you let your frustrations get the best of you by mercilessly shaking the doorknob, which is a bad idea, by the way, there are some steps you’ll need to follow to help you get the door unlocked. Check out these five steps below and get started.
1. Call Someone Who Has a Spare Key
After realizing you left the keys inside, the first thing you need to do is track down and contact the other people in the household who may potentially have a spare key. It can be your sibling, spouse, parent, relative, or close friend.
This is perhaps the simplest solution out there, and after calling them, all you need to do is wait for their arrival to hand you the spare key, or visit their place and get the key yourself.
2. Call A Locksmith
A locksmith can unlock any door in just a few minutes, and they can even do it without damaging or breaking into your door.
After all, they’re experts at anything related to locks and keys, and they have all the essential tools needed to open a door despite not having a key.
If you contact a professional locksmith in Blackburn or other locksmith services in your area, they’ll probably be at your doorstep within an hour or less after calling them.
After opening your door, they can also provide you with another spare key in case you only have one key to your door.
If possible, take a few minutes to check if that locksmith service has the necessary licenses required in your state to ensure they’re trustworthy and authentic.
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3. Call The Landlord
If you’re only renting the house, you currently live in, there’s a good chance that the landlord or property manager has a spare key to your place.
If you have their contact numbers, you can reach out to them immediately and ask for their assistance in lending you their spare key.
4. Check For an Available Opening
While it’s unlikely that you’ve left any doors or windows unlocked, perhaps you should still try to check around the house to see if you’ve accidentally left a door or window open.
If you’re lucky enough to leave a particular window open, you can use this as an alternative point of entry instead.
However, this option is only applicable if the window is safe enough to climb. If you still can’t find any reachable opening, never attempt to smash your window or door with rocks, as you might injure yourself and cause unnecessary expensive repairs.
On the other hand, if you’re successfully able to let yourself in through an opened window or door, take this as a lesson to never miss locking anything before leaving to avoid burglars robbing your place.
5. Improvise
This might be your last resort if you can’t find a locksmith, you have no spare key, or there’s no opening in your house.
Since none of the steps above has worked for you so far, it might be best to improvise and use other tools to open your door.
Lockpicking is only possible if you know how to do it in the first place. Otherwise, leave the door alone and save yourself from potential costly doorknob damage.
Things to Remember
Now that you know what steps to take when you’re locked out of your house, it’s also ideal to remember a few things to make sure this situation never happens again.
For instance, stash another spare key somewhere outside your house. It can be under a flower pot or hidden inside the dog house. This could come in handy if you accidentally left or lost the original key again.
If burying the spare key outdoors seems risky, you can give the spare key to your most trusted neighbor instead. Better yet, you can go keyless and switch your traditional locks into digital ones. This way, you’ll only need a passcode to enter your house.
Getting locked out will always be an awkward situation, but these steps, along with a few preventative measures, will help you avoid this situation from happening again.
So, save yourself a whole lot of frustration next time by being more careful and taking precautions starting today.
