5 ms·

Six years ago my brother rented out a beach house in another state for the summer and would let me stay there with some friends. One fun summer week a good frie

by asnyder 16y ago

Six years ago my brother rented out a beach house in another state for the summer and would let me stay there with some friends. One fun summer week a good friend and I were enjoying the house to ourselves and decided to make a 7-11 run to pick up some much needed snacks and other provisions. When we got back from our adventure my key wouldn't open the door. Unbeknownst to us, this was the one time that closing the door triggered an old lock on the door that we didn't have the key for. Amazingly, we had taken care to ensure that both the back and patio doors, along with all the windows were locked before we left, thus cementing our unfortunate predicament. It was already late in the day and the broker's office was closed, leaving us with what it seemed to be a limited amount of options. We could call a locksmith and try to convince him to let us in, which would likely cost more money than we were willing to spend, or we could stay outside for the night in the house's semi-sheltered porch area and walk to the broker in the morning. Although it was summer, it still got chilly at night, and I most definitely did not want to stay outside. While thinking over our options in the porch area I noticed there was one of those big outdoor candles that come in a metal housing. Fortunately, the housing had a handle, and I was young enough to think I could do something with it. With much finagling, I was able to remove the handle from the housing and bend it into a hook. My plan was to try to use the hook to jimmy open the window somehow so that I could climb in through the window and open the door. After several failed attempts my always skeptical friend reminded me that I was wasting my time and should accept the situation for the night. Fortunately, I ignored his advice and persisted through several more attempts. Finally, I was able to sliver my makeshift hook through the frame of one of the windows and manipulate my way to close proximity of the window's lock. After flailing with the wire for several more minutes I finally hit the window's lock and opened the window. After which I climbed in and opened the door. I had successfully broken in to our rented beach house. I immediately taped over the broken lock to prevent this situation from repeating itself. My friend of course was absolutely shocked, and still recounts the story in amazement. Fortunately none of our neighbors thought that two unknown teenagers breaking into a house the least bit suspicious,

StavrosK 16y ago
Lockpicking skills come in handy in those situations. This reminds me of the time a friend got locked out of his car, but his trunk was open. The car only had 4 doors, however, so it wasn't much use. In the trunk was a broomstick, some rope and a, erm, we call them "parrot wrenches". Fortunately, one of the rear speakers could be lifted up a bit, so I fastened the wrench to the broomstick with the rope and slid it through the small hole (it was just enough to fit). Through that small hole, I manoeuvred to the rear door lock and pushed it up. All my friends remember that MacGuyver moment to this day.
- liedra 16y ago
  My bf and I broke into a property we were staying in for the weekend after we accidentally locked ourselves out by unscrewing the entire door handle (it was an old house and in the country). We tried picking it before we cottoned onto this idea but neither of us had any picking skills... then we noticed that the screws for the door handle section were entirely on the outside of the door! Many high fives were had.
- mikeyur 16y ago
  I've had to break into a ridiculous amount of vehicles for friends that have locked their keys in. Pretty much every car window will give you at least an inch or two of room with enough wiggling/pushing. And then at that point you just need to move it a bit to get your wrist in and a stick to flick up the lock. Though you're screwed if there's no 'lip' on the lock to get something under to flip it up.
- jtheory 16y ago
  I miss having an old car -- a few years back I had recently moved overseas, and was driving a car I could reasonably buy with cash from the ATM (no bank account yet, etc). Well, one day I managed to lock my keys in the car (and myself, my wife and 2 friends out of it) while we were at the grocery store. I turned around, jogged back into the store, bought a screwdriver and a coat-hanger, and jogged back out. The screwdriver was to push the upper corner of the door away from the frame (easy to open a little space, but hard to do with just fingers); the coat hanger was to snag the lock and pull it up. The hardest part was actually getting the screwdriver out of its damned unbreakable-but-dangerously-sharp plastic packaging. All-in-all, we only got home about 5 minutes later than we would have!
- pavel_lishin 16y ago
  I've helped people into their cars by using a hatchet blade to bend the door just enough to take a long rod and press the "unlock" button. I learned to do this on my own car, and would demonstrate to anyone who thinks that bending metal is a Bad Thing.
- nitrogen 16y ago
  When I was in high school my parents once gave me the ignition key to their van, but didn't tell me there was a separate door key. Fortunately I'd left the windows open a crack, and used the cable from my headphones to make a lasso to pull the lock open.
jeza 16y ago
Reminds me of one summer day when it was about 32°C outside, I came home in the afternoon and decided to kick back and placed my wallet, keys and phone on my desk. Though a while later I went to put something in the recycling bin just outside our backdoor and just before it slammed shut I realised it was locked though it was too late. I definitely didn't want to be stuck outside waiting for someone else to come home. We had a new evaporative cooling system which means you have to have a few windows open, though they were all locked open a jar. It was certainly frustrating being able to feel the nice cool air flowing out of the window onto my face and it wasn't enough in the heat. I tried reaching through the window with various instruments such as bamboo sticks, broom handles, etc. that we had lying around but nothing was long enough to reach my keys. I tried a piece of plank but not only was it too short but I wouldn't have been able to manoeuvre it anyway. At that point I was thinking I was doomed. Fortunately we had a new kitchen ceiling put in and it suddenly occurred to me that we had some 5m long pieces of ceiling pine timber on the front verandah. I lugged one around to my bedroom window and the length of pine was not only long enough but thinner and far more flexible than the plank. I was able to drag the keys off my desk and across the floor near the window. Then used a bamboo stick to fish them out from there. I was probably stuck outside for 30-40 minutes in the end, though it was a good several hours before anyone else came home.
- techbio 16y ago
  When locked out of a very used (435,000 eventually miles maxed it out) Toyota pickup I had just bought, I sacrificed a windshield wiper for a thin strip of steel, bent a hook in it and fished my keychain from the driver's seat. Got in, drove to WalMart and got new wiper blades. Wait a second. This isn't naughty, just sort of boasting.
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]

by asnyder 16y ago

StavrosK 16y ago

Lockpicking skills come in handy in those situations. This reminds me of the time a friend got locked out of his car, but his trunk was open. The car only had 4 doors, however, so it wasn't much use. In the trunk was a broomstick, some rope and a, erm, we call them "parrot wrenches". Fortunately, one of the rear speakers could be lifted up a bit, so I fastened the wrench to the broomstick with the rope and slid it through the small hole (it was just enough to fit). Through that small hole, I manoeuvred to the rear door lock and pushed it up. All my friends remember that MacGuyver moment to this day.

liedra 16y ago
My bf and I broke into a property we were staying in for the weekend after we accidentally locked ourselves out by unscrewing the entire door handle (it was an old house and in the country). We tried picking it before we cottoned onto this idea but neither of us had any picking skills... then we noticed that the screws for the door handle section were entirely on the outside of the door! Many high fives were had.
mikeyur 16y ago
I've had to break into a ridiculous amount of vehicles for friends that have locked their keys in. Pretty much every car window will give you at least an inch or two of room with enough wiggling/pushing. And then at that point you just need to move it a bit to get your wrist in and a stick to flick up the lock. Though you're screwed if there's no 'lip' on the lock to get something under to flip it up.
jtheory 16y ago
I miss having an old car -- a few years back I had recently moved overseas, and was driving a car I could reasonably buy with cash from the ATM (no bank account yet, etc). Well, one day I managed to lock my keys in the car (and myself, my wife and 2 friends out of it) while we were at the grocery store. I turned around, jogged back into the store, bought a screwdriver and a coat-hanger, and jogged back out. The screwdriver was to push the upper corner of the door away from the frame (easy to open a little space, but hard to do with just fingers); the coat hanger was to snag the lock and pull it up. The hardest part was actually getting the screwdriver out of its damned unbreakable-but-dangerously-sharp plastic packaging. All-in-all, we only got home about 5 minutes later than we would have!
pavel_lishin 16y ago
I've helped people into their cars by using a hatchet blade to bend the door just enough to take a long rod and press the "unlock" button. I learned to do this on my own car, and would demonstrate to anyone who thinks that bending metal is a Bad Thing.
nitrogen 16y ago
When I was in high school my parents once gave me the ignition key to their van, but didn't tell me there was a separate door key. Fortunately I'd left the windows open a crack, and used the cable from my headphones to make a lasso to pull the lock open.

jeza 16y ago

Reminds me of one summer day when it was about 32°C outside, I came home in the afternoon and decided to kick back and placed my wallet, keys and phone on my desk. Though a while later I went to put something in the recycling bin just outside our backdoor and just before it slammed shut I realised it was locked though it was too late. I definitely didn't want to be stuck outside waiting for someone else to come home. We had a new evaporative cooling system which means you have to have a few windows open, though they were all locked open a jar. It was certainly frustrating being able to feel the nice cool air flowing out of the window onto my face and it wasn't enough in the heat. I tried reaching through the window with various instruments such as bamboo sticks, broom handles, etc. that we had lying around but nothing was long enough to reach my keys. I tried a piece of plank but not only was it too short but I wouldn't have been able to manoeuvre it anyway. At that point I was thinking I was doomed. Fortunately we had a new kitchen ceiling put in and it suddenly occurred to me that we had some 5m long pieces of ceiling pine timber on the front verandah. I lugged one around to my bedroom window and the length of pine was not only long enough but thinner and far more flexible than the plank. I was able to drag the keys off my desk and across the floor near the window. Then used a bamboo stick to fish them out from there. I was probably stuck outside for 30-40 minutes in the end, though it was a good several hours before anyone else came home.

techbio 16y ago
When locked out of a very used (435,000 eventually miles maxed it out) Toyota pickup I had just bought, I sacrificed a windshield wiper for a thin strip of steel, bent a hook in it and fished my keychain from the driver's seat. Got in, drove to WalMart and got new wiper blades. Wait a second. This isn't naughty, just sort of boasting.

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]