Locked out of your house? What to do now

Someone inside who can't get out, or a pot on the stove? Call 911 now. Fire crews can force a door. A lock and a door frame are cheap compared with a person or a kitchen fire.

What should you do first when you are locked out?

Take ten seconds to check for danger inside, then work through the free ways in before you pay anyone. Most lockouts end with a spare key or an open back door.

1. Check for danger. A child, an older relative, a pet in a hot room, a stove, an iron, a running bath. If any of these is a real risk, call 911.
2. Walk the outside once. Try every door: back, side, patio, the door from the garage. Look at the windows, but don't climb.
3. Think about who has a key. A partner, a parent, a neighbor, a cleaner, a dog walker, the landlord.
4. Check your phone. A garage opener app, a smart lock app or a keypad code you set up and forgot.
5. Then call a locksmith and ask for the total price, trip included, before anyone drives out.

Is anyone or anything inside in danger?

If a person can't get out, a pet is overheating, or something is cooking, it is an emergency, not a lockout. Call 911 before anyone else.

Cooking left alone is a common way house fires start. The U.S. Fire Administration lists unattended equipment as the leading factor in home cooking fires that spread, and tells people to turn the burner off if they leave the kitchen (USFA cooking fire safety). If you stepped out with a pan on, say so on the 911 call.

The same goes for a baby asleep in a crib, a family member who can't reach the door, or a dog in a closed room on a hot afternoon. Memphis summers turn a closed house without air conditioning into a hot box. A locksmith is the wrong call in those cases. Firefighters and police can get in faster, and they are trained to do it.

Which free options should you try first?

Other doors, the garage, spare keys and your building office cost nothing. Try each one once before you call anyone.

• The garage. An outside keypad, an opener remote in your car, or the opener's app. The door from the garage into the house is often left unlocked.
• The back or patio door. Sliding doors are often closed but not latched, or the bar was never dropped.
• People who hold a spare. Family, a neighbor, a roommate at work, a babysitter, the person who feeds your cat.
• Your apartment office. Most complexes keep a key to each unit. Many will let you in after checking your ID against the lease. Ask about an after-hours number, which is often on the office door or the resident app.
• Your landlord. If you rent a house, the owner or the management company usually has a key.
• Your smart lock. If you have one, try the app, a guest code, or a backup key you set aside when it was installed.

What should you not try?

Don't climb, break glass, kick the door or try tricks from videos. Each one usually costs more than a locksmith and can hurt you.

• Climbing in a window. Falls and cuts from broken glass are real injuries, and a neighbor may call the police on someone climbing into a house.
• Breaking a pane. You then need glass replaced, and until it is, the house is open to anyone.
• Kicking or shouldering the door. The lock usually holds; the wooden frame around it splits. A split jamb is a carpentry job, not a lock job.
• The credit card trick. A plastic card can only push back a sloped spring latch. It does nothing to a deadbolt, and on a latch it often bends the strike plate or chips the door edge.
• The first ad that quotes a tiny price. A very low phone price is often only a fee to send someone, with the real price set at your door. Read how to spot a locksmith scam before you call a number you don't know.

Can a locksmith unlock your apartment?

Yes, if you can show that you live there. Many apartment communities can let you in themselves, so ask the office first; some prefer that residents call them.

If the office is closed or can't help, a locksmith can open the unit door the same way as a house door. What changes is proof. Your ID may still show an old address, so a lease, a utility bill in your name or a text from the office confirming you live there helps.

Renting also limits what happens after the door opens. Most leases say tenants may not change or rekey locks without the landlord's written OK, because the office needs a working key for emergencies and repairs. Opening the door is fine. Anything more, ask the office first.

What proof will a locksmith ask for?

Something that ties you to that address: photo ID showing it, a lease, a utility bill, or mail in your name. A careful locksmith asks every time, and you should be wary of one who doesn't.

• A driver's license or state ID with the address.
• A lease, a closing document, a mortgage or tax statement.
• A utility bill, a bank statement or delivered mail in your name.
• The office or landlord confirming by phone, for renters.

If all of it is inside, that is normal. The tech opens the door and you show the document in the doorway before going any further in. If nothing inside proves you live there, a careful tech stops and closes the door again. That rule is annoying on your worst day, and it is the same rule that stops a stranger from getting into your home with one phone call.

Does a locksmith break your lock?

Usually not. Most knob locks and standard deadbolts open without damage; drilling is the last resort when nothing else works.

Only the knob or lever is locked

This is the easiest case. The tech can often release the latch with a tool that works around the door, or pick the knob's small lock. Nothing is damaged and the key still works afterwards.

The deadbolt is locked

A deadbolt has a solid bolt that a tool can't push back from outside, so the tech picks the cylinder instead. Picking means turning the lock with small tools that set the pins inside the way a key would. Most standard home deadbolts open this way, and the lock keeps working with your old key.

When drilling happens

High-security cylinders, damaged locks and some cheap locks with seized parts can't be picked in a sensible time. Then the tech drills the cylinder, opens the door and fits a new cylinder, which comes with new keys. Because that adds parts and work, ask the locksmith to show you a photo of the lock and give you the new total before drilling. You should be able to say no.

What if the deadbolt is locked and you have no key at all?

The door still opens the same way; what changes is what you need afterwards. If the key is gone for good, you need a lock that the lost key no longer fits.

A key that is merely inside on the counter is a simple lockout. A key lost on a run, dropped in a parking lot or taken with a stolen bag is different, especially if your address was with it on a tag, a wallet or an ID. Anyone who finds it can try your door.

The fix is a rekey. The tech changes the small pins inside the lock you already have so the old key stops working, and gives you new keys. It is usually quicker and cheaper than new hardware. Our guide on rekeying or replacing locks explains the difference.

What should you have ready when you contact us?

Your exact address, which door, which locks are locked, and how you will prove you live there. That lets the locksmith give you a real total on the phone.

• The address, gate code and unit number, and anything that helps the tech find the right door.
• Which locks are set: the knob only, the deadbolt only, or both. Look at the door; a deadbolt is the separate lock above the handle.
• The brand if you can see it on the lock face, such as Kwikset or Schlage.
• Whether the key is inside, lost, or broken off in the lock.
• Whether you have ID with the address on you, or it is inside.
• For renters, whether the office is closed and whether you are allowed a rekey.

Ask for the total, trip included, and ask the locksmith to text it to you. A business that does that is easy to hold to its word. Our own steps are on how it works.

What should you do after you get back in?

Decide whether the lost key is a security problem, then set up a backup so this doesn't happen again. Five minutes of planning now saves the next lockout.

• Key lost, not just locked in: rekey the locks it opened, ideally on the same visit.
• Spare key: leave one with a person you can reach at night, not under a mat or in a fake rock. Those are the first places anyone looks.
• Locked key box: a small code box fixed to a wall or fence can hold a spare. Use a code that is not your birthday or address.
• Keypad deadbolt: a code instead of a key means no key to forget. Read our smart lock pros and cons first.

How can you avoid the next lockout?

Most lockouts come from the same few habits: a door that locks itself, one key for the whole household, and nobody nearby with a spare.

• Knob locks that lock when you pull the door shut catch people taking out the trash. Turn the button in the knob off if you don't use it, and lock only the deadbolt, which needs a key or a turn to set.
• Keep the house key on a separate ring from the car key, so leaving one in the car doesn't strand you.
• Give one spare to someone close by and one to someone who lives across town.
• Put the apartment office's after-hours number in your phone today.