The round key is stuck in the lock. How to get a broken key out of a lock? More difficult cases

It can happen to any of us that when closing or opening the front door of an apartment, house or garage, the key in the lock is broken. How to pull out the fragment remaining in the castle and open the door. If you do not panic and approach the issue calmly and competently, then in 80% of cases you can deal with the problem without loss, and in another 10% you will be able to limit yourself to replacing the larva or lock.

The main reasons why the key breaks in the lock

There are many reasons for this, but the main ones are:

• Deterioration of the internal mechanism of the lock and the key itself.
• Contamination of the secret mechanism or foreign objects entering the well.
• Error when opening the lock (key not fully inserted or another one inserted by mistake).
• An attempt to turn a jammed key with the help of improvised items and tools (pliers, hammer, steel pin, etc.).
• Poor quality material from which the lock is made.

But whatever the reason, if the key is broken and the chip remains in the lock, it is necessary to decide what to do in this situation.

How to remove a broken key from a keyhole

If the key in the lock is broken, you should not immediately resort to drastic measures - break open the door or cut it with a grinder. You need to try to remove the chip and open the door.

In no case should you immediately throw away a piece of the key left in your hands. If it is possible to remove the stuck part, then in two halves, specialists in the workshop will produce a new key in a few minutes, with which it will be possible to open the lock.

Before taking any action to remove the stuck part of the key, it is necessary to drop lubricant into the keyhole several times and wait 15-20 minutes until it spreads over the entire surface of the fragment and the lock mechanism. This will greatly increase your chances of success. For lubrication, WD-40, gun and machine oil (spindle), any gear or automobile oil, as well as brake fluid are suitable.

• The ideal and easiest option on how to pull out a broken key is to disassemble the lock and get a chip. But this can be done when the door is open (or it is possible to open it from the inside). If you plan to use the lock in the future, then before assembling it must be well cleaned and lubricated.
• If a piece of the key sticks out of the well, then you can try to grab it with round-nose pliers, small pliers or tweezers. This must be done carefully. Don't use too much force or pull hard. Gently rocking up and down and from side to side, you should try to pull out the stuck part. You can simultaneously lightly tap on any accessible part of the lock. Vibration and shock will help move the chip from its place.
• If possible, insert two thin awls into the cracks between the fragment and the keyhole from above and below (or from the sides) and, swinging the stuck part, try to remove it.

• A truly jewelry, but very effective way to extract a piece of any key is with a self-tapping screw. A thin hole must be drilled at the end of the fragment, being careful not to damage the lock or break the drill. A self-tapping screw of the appropriate diameter must be screwed into the resulting hole. Then, holding on to the head of the self-tapping screw, constantly shaking the stuck piece, gently “pull” it out of the lock.
• A less effective, but quite effective way is with a jigsaw file. It is necessary to cut off the fastening tip at the file. The file must be pushed through the key so that the slope of the teeth is “on itself”, gently turn the teeth towards the fragment and pull it out. The operation is repeated several times until the stuck chip can be removed.

• If the key is made in the form of a cylindrical pin with barbs (lever locks), then you can get a chip using a copper or brass tube of a suitable diameter. Its size is selected according to the part remaining in the hands. The tube must be put on the pin with a very large effort. Having slightly expanded the very tip of the tube, it is necessary to heat it with a blowtorch or over a gas burner, then with an effort put it on a piece sticking out of the lock. After waiting for the tube to cool well, pull it out of the lock along with the clamped part of the key.

Opening a door with a damaged lock

What to do if the key in the lock is broken and the chip cannot be removed. To open the door, you will have to sacrifice, at best - the larva of the castle, at worst - the castle itself.

To open the lock, you can do the following:

1. If the lock is not installed correctly, the cylinder mechanism may protrude above the lining. In this case, the end of the cylinder can be clamped with a gas wrench and rolled up. It remains to clear the hole of debris and open the door with a flat screwdriver.
2. If the cylinder does not protrude, then you can additionally sacrifice the lining by tearing it off with a nail puller or chisel, after which you can use a gas wrench.
3. In the absence of a gas wrench, you can knock out the cylinder with a hammer, but it is advisable to do this after the internal armor plate has been removed, which is not always possible. It must be borne in mind that after such an opening, the lock will most likely have to be replaced.
4. Using a drill, you can drill a cylindrical insert just below the key hole. This will destroy the tsugali - the mechanism of the code. Then, pulling out the drill, lightly tap on the end of the cylinder so that the fragments fall down and do not jam the lock. It remains to insert a flat screwdriver instead of the key and open the lock. If the key is double-sided (has curly cutouts on both sides), then it is necessary to drill from both sides.
5. You can completely drill out the cylinder mechanism. For this, a drill with a diameter of 6-10 mm is used. This usually damages the cam. To unlock the lock, you need to bend the end of a screwdriver or a strong wire by about 1 cm (it should reach the locking mechanism), insert it into the hole and move the bolt.

If you can’t cope with the problem on your own, then breaking or cutting the door is still not worth it. It is better to contact the service department, whose employees know what to do in a particular situation.

The cause of a broken key is often the contamination or wear of the lock. You can extend its performance by periodically lubricating the mechanism with spindle or gear oil. If the lock began to jam periodically, then it is better to repair or replace it.

Our life is replete with curious cases, but it is one thing when such an incident causes universal laughter and cheers up, and quite another when it turns into serious difficulties. Opening the front or garage door again, you can get into a situation where one part of the key remains in the lock, and the second is in your hands. Usually, as luck would have it, you are in a hurry somewhere, hoping to jump home or to the garage as quickly as possible, take some thing in order to run further, and one careless movement and it turns out that there is no point in running.

Having broken the key, the most important thing is not to panic and not do stupid things so as not to aggravate the situation. You don’t need to shove the piece left in your hand into the keyhole, pushing the broken part even deeper, it’s better to use the advice of experts on how to pull the broken key out of the lock, we presented them in this article.

Why does the key break off when opening the lock?

Before considering specific tips for extracting key pieces from the secret of the lock, let's decide why such a key breaks. There are actually quite a few reasons for this. Let's define them concisely.

Whatever the reason for the breakage of the key, the fact is obvious, it is broken, and something needs to be done about it. There are many ways out of the situation. Locksmiths have kindly shared some secrets on how to get a broken key out of a lock with the least risk of damaging it. And we will definitely share this information, but first I would like to talk about how it is unnecessary to act when removing a stuck key.

Myths about the ease of removing the key from the lock

On the Internet, you can find a lot of informational articles that vying with each other about simple ways to extract a piece of a key from a lock. In fact, everything is not so simple, because in most cases the key is not just stuck in the mechanism, it is wedged there. Moreover, it often jams tightly, and it is not possible to pull it out with superglue, as the authors of some articles suggest to us.

Experts, evaluating the method of extracting part of the key using superglue, simply laugh, because this method, if I may say so, does not stand up to criticism. Firstly, the glue is not able to "grab" the two fragments well enough for the stuck part to be pulled out. And secondly, most likely a piece smeared with glue, which you will shove into the castle, will smear the inner walls of its well. And the second part of the key will safely stick to them.

The option with glue is also bad because careless handling of it can lead to chemicals getting into the secret mechanism of the lock, which will inevitably lead to its breakdown. Then you have to look for a way to clean the lock mechanism from superglue, but why is all this needed? Also found in some forums is a mythical proposal to extract a piece of a key from a keyhole using a wire. I would like to ask the author of the method a question, did he try to do a similar trick himself?

Experts say that theoretically, using a thin steel wire, it is possible to remove the stuck part of the key, but this requires skill and is obtained only in a very limited number of cases.

We take out the broken part of the key by disassembling the lock

If only the key in the lock is broken, then you need a quick and reliable way to remove the broken part from the keyhole, preferably without damaging the lock. There are reliable methods, but the speed of extracting the damaged part will depend on your skill. Perhaps the surest way to solve such a problem can be considered the extraction of a fragment from a disassembled castle.

But there is a problem here, because you need to get into the room and open the door in order to gain access to the lock case, and this is often not available. Therefore, this method can be taken into account, in case you manage to come up with an alternative option for entering an enclosed space.

A self-tapping screw will help to pull out the key

Relatively quickly and efficiently, you can pull out a stuck chip from a keyhole using a drill with a thin drill bit and a self-tapping screw. The work to be done is very delicate, worthy of the best jeweler. The task is to get the drill into the end of the stuck piece of the key with a drill, drill a hole in it and manage to screw a self-tapping screw into it, if you act carefully, this is quite possible.

Do not rush to pull the screw or twist it, trying to remove the chip right away, it is better to spray WD-40 liquid into the keyhole and gently shake the stuck part of the key. Only after 5-10 minutes of such a “swing”, you can try, using pliers, very carefully “fish out” the chip.

Let's use pliers

If a part of its fragment sticks out of the key hole, large enough to grab it with pliers, round-nose pliers or, in extreme cases, sharpened tweezers, you should try to extract it with these tools. Again, when doing this, do not repeat the mistakes of thousands of "unfortunate masters" who, grabbing a piece with pliers, pulled it so hard and thoughtlessly that they broke it again, exacerbating the problem.

Before you start to “wield” the tool, you need to thoroughly lubricate the inside of the keyhole, and wait until the lubricant spreads, getting between the stuck fragment and the walls of the secret mechanism, and only then make attempts to pull out the broken part of the key. Act carefully and the chances of success will be very serious.

Exotic ways to extract a broken key from the lock mechanism

Summing up, we note that there are rather unusual ways to extract a piece of a key from a lock offered by professionals. Consider them too, since they clearly deserve our attention.

Locks are getting harder to open these days. Lock systems have become more complex, but the keys have not become stronger. Consequently, no one is immune from such a nuisance as a broken key in the lock.

You will need

• Thin jigsaw file
• Pliers
• piece of iron wire
• Super glue

Instruction

1. In order to get a broken key in the lock, you need to take a thin file from a jigsaw, and then insert it into the palace in such a way that the teeth of the file are located upwards. After this, it is necessary to turn the file so that it catches on the key. Next, you need to carefully pull out the file together with a fragment of the key, without jerking.

2. If a piece of the key looks out of the well, then you can get by with ordinary pliers. The main thing is to firmly grasp the fragment in such a way as to pull out the key.

3. In the event that a fragment of the key is not visible from the outside, then pliers will not help here. You need to try to extract the key with the help of a piece of iron wire.

4. If there is a chance of dismantling the palace, then this will be the best way out. In this case, the palace can be kept in working order and there is less chance of damaging it.

5. It is also allowed to try to extract a fragment of the key with the support of superglue. To do this, you need to purchase superglue, apply it to the rest of the key and carefully insert it into the palace. After that, you should slightly press the parts of the key, wait, and carefully remove the whole key. It's better not to use this key later.

One of the most common problems encountered in the operation cars, – jamming of the front door lock. In order to find out the cause of the breakdown, you need to pull lock from cars. You can do this operation with your own hands, without resorting to car service services.

You will need

• - Phillips screwdriver;
• - slotted screwdriver;
• - pliers;
• - wrenches number 8 and 10;
• - marker.

Instruction

1. To pull out lock from the front door cars, raise the glass and remove the upholstery. To do this, take a Phillips screwdriver and pry off the part that is the armrest plug. Pull out the plug by hand. Unscrew the three fixing screws located in the recesses of the armrest using a Phillips screwdriver. Insert the end of a slotted screwdriver between the handle facing on the power window and the socket. Separate the handle cover from the socket by pressing them apart. Remove the facing material of the handle. Pull the socket out of the door and the handle itself. Remove the facing material from the small lock lever by prying it out with a slotted screwdriver. Using a slotted screwdriver, pry out the seven plastic clips that secure the upholstery located on the side of the door. Pull the upholstery down and remove it from the inside door handle.

2. Start pulling out the lock. Using a Phillips screwdriver, remove the two rear groove screws located on the end of the door. Lower it a little lock and remove the tongue from the groove. push back lock to the side. Disconnect the linkage of the button that closes lock. Disconnect the switch rod located on the outside of the door.

3. Loosen the nut securing the front groove using a number 8 wrench. Remove the plastic plug, lower the groove down and disconnect it from the pivot glass frame. Remove the front groove from the door. Loosen the two screws on the front door handle using a Phillips screwdriver. Push the handle into the door. Use a Phillips screwdriver to unscrew the three screws located at the end of the door and fixing lock. Take out lock out of the door together with the handle and rod. Loosen the three retainer mounting bolts using a number 10 wrench. Remove the lock retainer.

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Note!
It is better to do all kinds of work with protective gloves, because in fact all manipulations are carried out in very uncomfortable places, and there is a high probability of injuring your hands on the metal edges of the door partitions.

Helpful advice
In order to improve the operation of the lock, unscrew the retainer screws halfway and move the palace to the desired position, in which it will be easy to open and close.

Broken key, say, from an apartment or from a garage, is a lot of trouble. But it brings a lot of trouble key then when he is broken at ease in the castle. To extract a fragment from the castle, it is allowed to use different methods, but it is not a fact that they will always be effective. In such a case, in addition to the trick, you also need to have a little luck. For each individual case, a separate approach is required.

You will need

• Pliers, rust remover, brass tube, blowtorch, screwdriver, magnet.

Instruction

1. If key broke in the garage lock and part of the fragment sticks out from the outside, try to turn it back with pliers and pull it out. If there is not enough effort to turn the broken key a, pre-spray into the keyhole with anti-rust liquid and wait a little while until the liquid does its job.

2. If key does not turn, carefully tap on the fragment and try to turn again key. Do not bend the fragment in order to make it more comfortable to grab onto it, if you are not completely sure that it will not break.

3. If key broke and the fragment remained inside the well, pick up a brass tube of such a diameter that when it is attached to the fragment, it comes in with an interference fit. Heat one end of the tube with a blowtorch and press it onto the shard.

4. Wait for the tube to cool completely, spray liquid into the well in spite of rust. After that, carefully bending the tube, try to turn key and pull out.

5. If the flat is broken key in the door lock, then try to turn it with a screwdriver to the position at which it should freely come out. After that, hook the fragment on both sides with two needles and, leaning on the edges of the well, pull it out. If key turned out to be iron, try using a powerful magnet.

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Imagine for a moment the situation: after a hard day at work, you returned home, stuffed the key into the keyhole, but instead of the click of the opening lock, you hear the crunch of the key. Accident! How to get to the apartment? Don't panic, things will get better.

You will need

• - a nail file from a jigsaw;
• - pliers;
• - drill with a drill;
• - Bulgarian;
• - screwdriver;
• - crowbar.

Instruction

1. First, pull out the broken key stuck in the keyhole. Ask your neighbor for a jigsaw file. Take it and insert it into the keyhole so that the teeth of the file are pointing up. After that, slowly turning the nail file, try to hook the key. After this, slowly pull the nail file with the key out of the keyhole.

2. If a piece of key looks out of the door, then it is allowed to open the front door and pull out the key with the help of pliers. Hook the tool on the peeking edge of the broken key and gently turn it in the direction in which the key was turned to open the door. Later, after the door opens, drag the key with you.

3. If it was possible to pull out the key, but the palace did not open, perhaps the snag lies in the fact that the palace itself broke down. Try to get to the inner mechanism of the lock. It is not at all difficult to do this if an “English” palace is installed on the front door. In order to get to the internal mechanism, drill the cylinder, then remove the lock “larvae”, and later hook the drive mechanism with the help of metal hooks, as a result of which the crossbars will be in the lock body.

4. If lock bolts are visible between the door leaf and the frame, cut them with the support of a grinder.

5. In the event that the front door has even small backlashes, try to pry it off with a strong screwdriver and a crowbar: this manipulation will allow you to determine the weak spot of the door, as a result of which it would be allowed to open it without damaging the door leaf.

Note!
If you decide to go extreme, climb from the neighbor's balcony to your own, weigh your probabilities. Admittedly, the risk is not justified! It's too unsafe to do it at a high altitude without having a safety net!

Helpful advice
Use the services of the service, whose experts, if you have a passport or other document proving that you truly live in this apartment, will open the front door for you.

Owners of the Mazda 3 are faced with the task of rapid consumption of anti-freeze fluid. This happens due to its continuous loss through the washer headlights, manual shutdown of which the manufacturer did not provide for in this car.

You will need

• – car Mazda3
• - access to the underhood fuse box
• - scheme of the engine compartment of the car
• - fuse puller
• - flashlight

Instruction

1. Switch off the ignition and remove the key from the lock. Get out of the car, take the flashlight and fuse puller, lift the hood.

2. Locate the underhood fuse box. It's a black box located in the engine bay. Open it.

3. Look carefully at the contents. The fuse you need should be yellow. The inscriptions on it may vary, say, 20A No. 23, or even with the addition: H.cleaner. In the manual, it is listed under No. 7-20A. Correctly identify it in your car, focusing on color.

4. Use a puller to remove it from the box. Save your washer fuse headlights! He can come in handy at any moment.

5. If you do not want to get rid of the washers at all and are not afraid to get stuck in the standard wiring, you can install a special button for the washers. Don't try to do it regardless. Contact the service center.

6. Another option to purchase washer control headlights in Mazda 3: switch to dimensions all the time before switching on washer glass, so that the "sprinklers" do not work.

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Note!
Do not attempt to pull the fuse with bare hands without a puller. Such actions can be followed by both your personal injuries and vehicle injuries. Removing the washer fuse can only be if you do not have a diesel. In a diesel car, this fuse is also responsible for heating the fuel.

Helpful advice
In winter, it is better not to remove the washer completely. Snow porridge of mud, dust and sand will continuously haunt you. Thanks to the washers, the headlights will always be clean and will be able to clearly illuminate the situation on the road.

Helpful advice
If you order duplicate keys, make sure that the blanks for them are made of strong metal.

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Can't get into your own house because the key is broken? This situation can seriously upset anyone. However, knowing a few life hacks and using the advice of professionals, you can easily solve the problem.

Even if the neighbors were not at home, and the phone was dead, and there was no one to turn to for help, the situation can be solved independently.

Among the main reasons leading to the breakdown of the key to the lock, there are:

• wear of the internal mechanism of the lock;
• dirt or small foreign objects getting into the well;
• use of an inappropriate key, its incorrect insertion (not completely or at an angle);
• short-lived material from which the mechanism and key are made.

There are only two solutions to the problem - removing broken remnants from the castle or breaking the entire mechanism.

Varieties and characteristics of locks

Door locks are conditionally divided into 3 groups according to the installation method:

• mortise;
• hinged;
• overhead.

The first type is one of the most aesthetic, because it is inserted directly into the leaf of the entrance sash, it does not catch the eye with its massiveness. These devices are best suited for metal doors.

Mortise locks can be called safe, because they can be additionally protected from breaking with special metal inserts.

The hinged version is rarely used in residential premises, since it is the simplest in structure: it is threaded through ordinary eyes. However, such mechanisms are able to protect warehouses, cellars, basements and other outbuildings well.

Overhead mechanisms are often placed on the door inside the premises, so they are able to protect against the penetration of thieves if the owners are at home. From the outside, such a lock cannot be seen, respectively, the intruders do not have the opportunity to crack it.

Necessary tools in order to pull the lock out of the door

In order to get the rest of the key from the door hole, you may need:

It is from filling the lubricant in the field of the castle that you need to start work. Wait 10-20 minutes until the oil spreads over the surface, this will greatly simplify the process of pulling out the broken residue. Immediately after that, they begin to extract the key.

How to get a broken key from a keyhole

First, you should try to disassemble the lock to the maximum possible level, if the door is already open. To do this, all the bolts are unscrewed with a screwdriver, with the help of pliers or ordinary tweezers, you can pull out a chip, and then the mechanism is cleaned and lubricated abundantly. Immediately after this, the castle is reassembled.

In the case when it is not possible to get into the house in another way, the problem is solved by one of the simple methods:

With awls or pins

1. Two thin awls (or pins) are inserted into the gaps between the key and the lock from above and below.
2. With light shaking movements, the chip is gradually pulled outward.

With small screws

1. In the middle of the fragment, a hole is drilled with a diameter suitable for the existing self-tapping screws.
2. One self-tapping screw is carefully screwed into the hole, and then slowly pulled out along with the rest.

Using a jigsaw file

What to do if the rest of the key is not retrieved

If all methods have been tried, but the chip stubbornly refuses to leave the keyhole, you can try one of the following methods:

Pulling out the lock cylinder

If you remove the larva - one of the key elements of the locking mechanism - the debris is easy to clean and open the door with a screwdriver:

• if the cylinder is in a protruding position.

Its end is clamped with a gas or other round key and folded, and then the lock is opened with a flat screwdriver;

• if the cylinder does not protrude.

Any type of nail puller will help: first, the top lining is removed, and then, according to the previous algorithm, a gas key is used.

Cylinder drilling

You can drill the central part of the lock with a drill:

• a cylinder is pulled out with a drill with a diameter of 6-10 mm;
• the damaged cam of the mechanism is pulled out;
• with a bent screwdriver or thick wire, the lock bolt is shifted and the door is opened.

Pulling the fragment with a metal tube

You will need a brass or copper tube:

• the diameter must correspond to the part of the key remaining outside;
• strongly pressing, the tube is put on the protruding pin;
• using a soldering iron, melt the end of the tube;
• the tube is attached to the fragment in the castle, waiting for it to completely solidify;
• with a sharp movement, the auxiliary part is pulled out together with the rest of the key.

But the video will tell you how to open interior doors without a key.

When do you need to break the door itself?

1. All sparing methods have been tried, but there is no result.
2. There is a small child in a closed house.
3. There is a smell of burning or smoke coming from behind the door.

In other cases, it is better to contact specialists who, with minimal losses, will be able to open the entrance to the house.

Who to contact for help?

If a key fragment remains in the lock and it is impossible to open the door without outside help, you should call the special services:

• ZhEK, house management company.

Specialists should come to you within 1 hour and try to solve the problem in a gentle way. At the same time, they have the right to require you to present documents proving your residence in the apartment.

If the living space is rented, you should first call the owners and ask them to come with the documents.

• Commercial services.

Having found the telephone number of such a company on the Internet or on leaflets next to mailboxes, you should make sure that their employees are ready to provide their work permits and service contracts.

For their part, they have the right to demand a passport confirming registration in an apartment or house with a jammed lock. Some companies do without presenting documents, but you will have to pay several times more for their services.

If during the solution of the problem it is necessary to break the door, for an additional fee, some services can restore the integrity of the entrance to the apartment or house, put a new lock.

How to prevent the key from breaking in the door lock?

To avoid an unpleasant situation, the masters recommend following simple rules:

1. Lubricate the keyhole from time to time.
2. Use only keys suitable for the mechanism.
3. Regularly inspect the lock for dirt and foreign objects.
4. Near the entrance, it is advisable to keep a "disturbing" bag with tools that will help to cope with the problem.

How to quickly open the lock

In the case when a piece of key remains in the lock and interferes with the opening of the door, several sparing methods can be used. They will not damage the mechanism and protect against the need to purchase new equipment. If these methods did not help, you will have to use additional tools, but then the integrity of the lock is violated.

Sometimes you can not do without additional services of specialists that can be obtained from a management company or a commercial firm. To avoid such problems, it is easiest to regularly monitor the condition of the lock, lubricate and clean it.

Sometimes everyday situations force us to act unconventionally. Such situations include just the situation when the key is stuck in the door lock. If this happens, it will not be possible to enter the apartment or leave it. What to do in this case, and how to get home - we learn from the article. We will consider all the currently existing methods of extracting a key stuck in a keyhole from a keyhole.

Why can the key get stuck in the door lock

If your key or lock is broken, the master opens the door in 10 minutes. But if you are not a master. then this article is for you.

Read how to open the front door lock without a key.

We will find out what reasons most often cause the key to get stuck in the lock.

Most often, an unpleasant and troublesome situation is caused by the use of a key for other than its intended purpose. So, sometimes beer bottles are opened for them, something is hooked, opened. As a result of such manipulations, the key may bend, deform.

Deformation of the old key becomes a common cause of it getting stuck in the keyhole.

Find out what to do if the front door lock is jammed.

Stuck or jammed and won't turn, won't come out

With a strong and sharp slamming of the door with the key in the lock, the mechanism may jam. As a result, the key becomes impossible to pull out.

If you ordered a new key from the master, and tried to open your front door with a brand new product, the situation with its jam may well occur. The reason for this is poor-quality turning of the material. If the shape of the key blank is broken, this can also cause an unpleasant situation.

There may also be a factory defect in the lock. But in this case, the key should be stuck shortly after installing the new mechanism. If you have been using the lock for more than a year, the reason is most likely different.

Sometimes jamming of the pins (blocks) of the locking mechanism occurs. As a result of this, the key is, as it were, clamped in the device without any possibility of freely coming out.

Sometimes even a misaligned door can be the cause of a key getting stuck. If dirt or any debris gets into the keyhole, this may well lead to jamming of the mechanism.

Sometimes when you try to turn the key hard in the well, it breaks. As a result, the chip sticks out inside, and in our hands we have most of the key with the head.

The technology for replacing locks in the front door is described.

How to get the key

If the key is jammed, and you can’t pull it out or turn it in any way, a series of sequential actions must be taken. Let's describe them in more detail.

How to install overhead locks for the front door is indicated.

The first step is to calm down and try to gather yourself, discarding panic moods.

If the problem occurs while you are inside the apartment, you can look for WD-40 fluid, which is often used in repairs. This solution is based on kerosene, which can help "revive" the jammed elements of the device. You just need to sprinkle this liquid on the well, and wait for a while.

In the absence of such a liquid, you can use motor or even vegetable oil to lubricate the mechanism. Even such funds can help old and possibly rusted parts of the castle to work again. In addition to kerosene, oil and a special solution, you can also lubricate the lock with grease or liquid silicone.

Lubricate the mechanism with a lint-free cloth or just your finger, but do not use cotton pads, swabs and sticks. The fact is that the villi of the material can get into the mechanism, and then it will finally jam.

How to change the lock on a metal front door will help you understand.

After you have lubricated the well with an appropriate agent, wait a bit, and then begin to gently swing the key to the sides.

Lubricate the lock again, and try to get the key out. It is advisable to simultaneously swing it to the sides and pull it out: this will increase the likelihood of a successful outcome of the “operation”. But do not swing too hard, as there is a risk of breaking the key altogether, and then it will be much more difficult.

If your hands slip or do not obey, pull out the key with pliers, only without jerking, but smoothly. If such manipulations led to a successful result, the lock must be changed: it is no longer possible to rely on it. The next time the opportunity to pull out the key may not appear, so it is better to warn the problem in advance.

If the key is made new, then a possible reason for its jamming is that it has not yet “got used” to the lock. Introducing machine oil into the keyhole may help. In this case, it is necessary to loosen the pliers slightly and pull the key out. And if the fact is that the lock is very old, and its internal mechanism has rusted, you will have to tinker. It is necessary to pour engine oil into the well, while stirring the key all the time. We’ll warn you right away that in this case you won’t be able to cope quickly: if the lock is very rusty, then you may have to carry it for several hours.

More difficult cases

If simple pulling out did not work out, you will have to take more complex steps to pull out the key. Let's consider these methods in more detail.

If the key does not give in, and their wells do not come out, you will have to get to the core of the mechanism. This method is suitable if the lock is a cylinder.

Diagram of a cylinder lock.

To get to the cylinder part, you need to knock out the larva with some improvised means. With a successful hit, the larva will fall apart into two parts.

After that, it can already be easily removed from the lock. Take a screwdriver and push it on the lock plate, trying to push the tongue. After several attempts (or even the first one), the door usually opens.

It also happens that the key gets stuck in the lock, and you have not even had time to slam the door. In this case, you can consider yourself very lucky. Since with this scenario, it is much easier to get to the key core: you do not need to knock down and knock out anything. Just carefully open the lock mechanism at the end of the door, and unscrew the fastener that prevents the key from getting out. After the key is removed, it is necessary to change the larva in the lock: after all the manipulations, the old one will no longer work.

If the key gets stuck only when the door is opened and closed, and when the sash is in the open position, the mechanism works without problems, it's not the lock: the skewed door frame is to blame. The fact is that when skewed, the tongue of the locking mechanism cannot get into the proper hole on the frame, so the key stops working in the opening / closing mode. The situation can be corrected by boring with a file or a frame drill with a hole for the tongue. And the elimination of the door warp will fundamentally correct the situation. But this is a serious matter, requiring a certain skill and carpentry experience, therefore, without preparation, it is not recommended to correct the skew on your own: it is better to hire a master.

What you need

We will find out what useful tools and devices will help to cope with the problem. So this is:

• screwdrivers: cross and flat;
• jigsaw and file from it;

• grinder saw for severe cases;
• awl;
• hammer to knock down the lock, if no other methods help;
• hairpin or paper clip;
• drill;
• tweezers;
• wire cutters or pliers for easy removal of the key;

All these items, of course, will not be needed, but two or three of them will be very useful.

Extreme measures

If none of the above remedies helped, and you need to get home urgently, you will have to take not the simplest, but urgent and rather radical measures.

The first thing that comes to mind is to knock out the door by force. You can also cut the lock bolts with a grinder or a hacksaw. But for this it is necessary that these same crossbars be visible in the gap between the door leaf and the frame. You can completely cut out the entire lock, but this will greatly damage the door. In principle, a suitable insert of the appropriate metal, welded on the deformed area, will then help to hide the "traces of the crime."

Of course, the use of any of these extreme methods entails the subsequent mandatory replacement of the lock. However, at the moment you will get into the house, which was what was required to be achieved.

You may also be interested in information on how to install .

Preventive measures for cleaning the lock cylinder

What simple preventive measures will help prevent the situation with the key getting stuck in the keyhole.

From time to time, any lock needs cleaning and lubrication. The mechanism is iron, which means it is prone to corrosion - especially if it is inexpensive. Regular cleaning of dust and dirt, and lubrication with oil or kerosene will help prevent parts from failing.

Cleaning goes like this:

• A cleaning liquid or simple kerosene is poured into the keyhole.
• The key is then inserted and turned several times to the closed and open positions.
• After every two or three turns, take out the key and wipe it from dirt.
• So repeat until the key comes out of the well clean.
• Pour engine oil into the well, and turn the key again several times.
• After that, it is necessary to wipe dry all the soiled parts of the lock and the key.

What is an electronic lock on the front door you will find out.

Such a simple cleaning will save you someday from an unpleasant force majeure.

Periodic treatment with an anti-corrosion compound is also necessary, and also (if the lock goes directly to the street) - with an anti-icing agent.

If the lock is padlocked (for example, in a garage), then in order to protect the mechanism from dirt, dust and precipitation, you can put the top of a plastic can or other simple protection on top of it.

Experts recommend equipping the front door with two locks. This will help to lock the door if the key suddenly gets stuck in the first lock: after all, you need to go to work, and there may be other urgent matters. Two locks will “insure” each other, and will allow you to exclude a hopeless situation, when you can’t leave the apartment, and urgent matters are waiting.

How to install an invisible lock on the front door will tell you.

Have a phone number with you, a business card of a special service or a master who can help in case of such a force majeure. This will save your nerve cells, and you can quickly fix the problem. And at worst, when there are no devices at all, there are no neighbors, and it’s cold outside, the door can be broken open. But only if it is wooden: a metal model can hardly be handled alone, especially if it opens outwards.

Video: step by step instructions on what to do if the key is broken in the front door

This video will show you how to get a broken key out of a lock.

We looked at various ways to extract a key stuck in a keyhole. Now you can quite competently deal with this problem, if it arises. Our tips will help you deal with any type of lock - therefore, after reading the article, you, one way or another, will be able to get home.