There are few things as frustrating as being locked out of your house because you can’t find your key. How horrifying?! Learning how to unlock a deadbolt door without a key is a skill that will be useful whenever that unfortunate moment strikes. As professional and knowledgeable locksmiths, we are highly trained in locks and keys and will be glad to share with you crucial tips on unlocking a deadbolt door without keys.

how to unlock a deadbolt door without a key

Why you need to learn how to unlock a deadbolt door without a key

Sometimes, you may become so overwhelmed with activities and events in your life that you can forget simple things like taking your keys with you while leaving home or locking yourself out of your house or cars. Your brain may become repeatedly distracted while you place your home keys in a particular location, and will not register the action, making it hard for you to recall where you left your keys. This is the reality that happens to many people.

As a means of readying yourself, you must learn how to unlock a deadbolt door without a key. It is a proactive way of staying ahead of a natural but frustrating situation like locking yourself out of your house. 

4 Ways of unlocking a deadbolt door without a key

Here are some of the easiest ways of unlocking a deadbolt door without a key:

Bobby Pin

Bobby Pin is widely used by most individuals to unlock a deadbolt door without a key. For you to unlock the door successfully, you will have to use two bobby pins. You also have to have a basic knowledge about locks and how its parts work. Using a bobby pin is highly effective, but is not all that easy, especially to a novice. You can unlock a door with a bobby pin by pushing the second bobby pin inside the top or bottom part of the lock and move in a back and forth motion. The movement is enough to trigger the pin and unlock the deadbolt. 

In the event where you cannot get a bobby pin, a paper clip may come in handy. 

Credit card

I am sure in movie flicks; you may have watched some scene where doors were unlocked with credit cards. This method involves manipulating the latch with the card, but you must also push the door. Though a credit card will not work with some high-security deadbolts door, as long as the latch on your door has a slanted latch bolt, then it will be quite effective. 

To unlock your door, you will need to tilt your card at the direction of your door’s latch bolt. The aim of doing that is to add pressure to the latch bolt and pushing it away from the strike plate it is balanced on. If that is combined with pushing the door, it is enough to unlock the door bolt. 

Read: What do I do if I locked myself out of my house

Lock bumping

Another popular way of unlocking a deadbolt door without a key is through bumping the lock. Although the action is viewed with negative perception because it is a technique usually used by burglars and hoodlum, bumping the lock can be a very helpful method. In the days of old, lock bumping was an essential locksmith technique. 

Today, due to the controversies surrounding lock bumping, there have been various countermeasures that are introduced to discourage the act. For instance, a lot of doors have an anti-bump and anti-snap lock. So it may not be an effective solution for everybody. 

So for you to carry out lock bumping successfully, you have to use a bump key. It is easy to acquire or produce. Bump key is also known by its popular alias – ‘999 key’. Funny enough, the bump key is different from your ‘usual key’. The bump key capitalizes on a small weakness of the pin and tumbler lock. This is the reason why lock bumping is highly effective and will unlock a door bolt in a non-destructive way. 

We recommend that once you successfully bump your lock, you contact a licensed locksmith to replace it because the likelihood of damaging your lock mechanism is high. 

Drilling

Unlike lock bumping, this method is a destructive method of unlocking a deadbolt door without a key. Drilling will wreck damage to your door lock, which must need replacement by a locksmith. This method is generally not recommended. 

Drilling a lock destroys the locking mechanism and disconnects the key pins and the lock. Once this happens, you can unlock the door without the use of a key. 

Read: Does a Locksmith Break Your Lock