Have you ever been locked out of your home or business in? We know the feeling. Lockouts can be stressful, frustrating, and costly in some cases. If your door was installed in the past 30 years, chances are you’re dealing with a uPVC door.
These doors are highly durable, but they are less secure than their metal and composite counterparts. This isn’t optimal for your overall home security system, but the standard locks that come with uPVC doors can be bypassed with a little determination.
If you’re interested in learning more about entry techniques, then read on. An expert locksmith from Lock & Key in the UK shares their helpful last-resort tips to prepare you in the event of a lockout. It should be noted that the following techniques are considered “destructive entry techniques”, meaning you risk causing damage to your lock, door, or door frame when attempting this type of entry.
Remember that if you can do these, determined burglars can do them too, making it equally valuable for you to know these techniques.
The Drill Technique
If you find yourself on the wrong side of a locked door, a power drill can provide a quick, but brutal, entry. The idea is to drill a hole directly into the shear line on a lock. This is where the lock’s pins are located, and drilling in this location will destroy the pins and the springs that put downward pressure on the mechanism, allowing you to turn the handle.
It might be obvious, but this technique will almost certainly destroy your lock beyond repair. In all likelihood, you won’t know exactly where to drill, disabling your lock without deactivating it. Hiring a local locksmith company will be significantly less destructive and costly.
Lock Snapping
Lock snapping is commonly used by burglars to gain entry to doors with euro cylinder locks. These locks are commonly found on doors around the world and contain a “weak spot” in the centre of the device where the lock is screwed into the door. After removing the escutcheon plate from the door, certain tools can be used to snap the cylinder in half at this weak spot, allowing the cylinder to be pulled out. This technique will also permanently disable the lock and will likely damage other parts of the door, but it can be necessary in the event of an emergency.
The Screwdriver Technique
Depending on the type of door lock you have, you might be able to bypass the lock using a screwdriver. Older doors sometimes have latches supported by springs that can be slipped by flat tools. If a flathead screwdriver is slipped in the crack between the door and the door frame, force can be applied to trip the latch tongue. A screwdriver can also be used to snap a cylinder, as long as the lock doesn’t contain anti-snap hardware.
Wrenching and Frame Prying
A couple more destructive techniques on this list are wrenching and frame prying. These methods rely squarely on force, not as much on technique, meaning you can expect some damage. If all else fails, you can use a wrench or other hand tools to tear off the handle on a door to get access to the cylinder.
Frame prying works in a similar manner, typically by using a crowbar to pry the door off of its frame. Thanks to the often minimal reinforcements found on uPVC doors, either technique is likely to yield results at the cost of your door or door frame.
How to Open a Locked UPVC Door Without a Key
If you’re locked out and you want to save yourself a good deal of time, energy, and money, we highly recommend that you reach out to a local locksmith agency. A local company such as Lock & Key can send a master locksmith to your door with all the necessary tools and expertise to handle any lock issue. Attempting to fix the problem yourself can complicate matters and make it harder for professionals to let you back into your property. By leaving it to the professionals, you’re more likely to save your lock from further damage.
Methods of Preventing Burglaries
Now that you know some of the techniques to bypass a uPVC lock without a key, consider how burglars might use these techniques to enter homes illegally. If you want to prevent unsolicited guests from entering your home, here are some tips to keep you from becoming a burglary victim:
- Upgrade your lock– if you haven’t replaced your locks since moving in, you probably have a relatively low-security lock in place. Locksmiths recommend that you replace any standard cylinder locks with British Standard TS007 locks or any similar device with anti-snap technology. These locks hold up against most lock-snapping and lockpicking attempts.
- Install additional security points– another way to dissuade burglars is to adopt a multi-faceted approach to your front door security. Multiple locks are definitely better than one, and even if a burglar bypasses one, several locks can significantly delay or deter a criminal. You can also install sash jammers at the top or sides of your door to provide a strong physical barrier to keep the door from opening when you’re away.
- Don’t leave any tools outside – as you might have intuited, common power and hand tools can be used to break into a uPVC door lock. To prevent this, it’s a good idea to keep any tools locked up in a shed or placed indoors. Determined burglars might bring their own tools, but it’s best to not make it easier for them.
Final Thoughts
These techniques for opening uPVC door locks should only be used as a last resort or during emergency situations where locksmiths might take too long. If any of these techniques are used on your doors, expect to deal with some damage. This might mean you’ll have to hire someone to perform a replacement, and you might even have to replace the door altogether if the damage is bad enough. All in all, it’s highly recommended to reach out to a competent local locksmith before causing irreversible harm to your home. When in doubt, reach out to a locksmith. Using force should be your final option rather than your first.
