What to Do If Your Key Gets Stuck in the Door?

Imagine having an already bad day and coming home, dying to sit on your sofa and relax for the rest of the day but your key gets stuck in the lock. It is frustrating, however, not difficult to remove a key out of a locked door. The reason behind your key getting stuck inside the lock can be that the lock was loosened up, a sharp ridge of a new key or a bend in the old one. Regardless, if your door lock isn’t broken from the inside, you can pretty much get the key out of the lock on your own. 

Are you interested in retrieving a stuck key from the locked door? Following are some of the ways that will help you get your key out of the door:

Push the plug

Inside the lock, there are pin tumblers right behind the keyhole. These tumblers are not visible to you but what is visible to you is the keyhole and the key. In order to open the door, the pin tumblers are supposed to align. If the plug is loose, the alignment of the tumblers is imbalanced, which causes the key to get stuck in the door. For something like this, you can follow the steps below in order to get the key out and open the door: 

  • First, push the key as far as it will go but not too much that it would break 
  • Then, turn the key to the position it was when you inserted it so that the pin tumblers align back 
  • Now, with your other hand, place the face of the plug next to the key. Do it gently. 
  • Lastly, twist and pull the key out. 

This is one of the easiest ways you can get a key out of the lock. Of course, if this doesn’t work, you can always call up a locksmith. Locksmith NYC is always available near you! 

Lubrication

If getting the pin tumblers aligned doesn’t do the job, then the loose plug might not be the problem. The next best thing you can do is that you can use a spray lubricant to smoothen the lock and get the key out. Spray lubricant is important here because these come with a tiny straw that can easily fit into the lock and spray it from the inside, something you can’t reach from a normal spray. In two simple steps you can lubricate your door lock: 

  • Fit the nozzle of the spray inside the lock
  • Slowly and smoothly wiggle the key out of the lock

It’s that simple! 

Ice

Yes, you heard that right! You can take the help of ice to remove your ke stuck inside the lock. Ice can contract the metal enough for the teeth to clear the pins. Something like this works best in warm weather. Here’s what you need to do: 

  • Pack two ice cubes in a little bag or piece of cloth 
  • Hold that against the lock for about 5-10 minutes 
  • Once you feel like the metal is contracted, try wiggling the key out 
  • If it works, great! If it doesn’t hold the ice against the lock a few more minutes.

If this, for some reason doesn’t work, we have some hacks for you below that might help you get the key out and if nothing, calling a locksmith Upper East Side isn’t that hard! 

DIY hacks for door locks

If you repeatedly twist or try to pull out a stuck key, you might end up breaking the key or the lock instead of getting it out.  Before you can call the locksmith NYC, you can use a few DIY hacks to get the key out the door and then you can call the locksmith. 

  • If the key breaks inside the lock, then you can apply lubricant and pull the key out with the help of a needle or something pointy. However, you would have to be very careful with that. 
  • If this doesn’t work, you can buy yourself a broken key extractor kit, it usually has all the tools available in it that can help you get the key out and it usually comes with a guide so you won’t need any external assistance. 
  • If none of the above work, you can also use heat to expand the lock and get the key out. Of course, this requires precautions so if you don’t want to do that you can always choose the last option.
  • The last option is to simply call the nearest locksmith Upper East Side and get all the help that is needed to get your lock fixed! 

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