Stress is something that’s taking a huge toll on almost all Americans these days. Surveys have shown that up to 80% of people feel stressed out to some degree on a daily basis.
When people are stressed beyond belief, they tend to make silly mistakes that they wouldn’t make otherwise. For example, it’s not all that uncommon for homeowners to lock themselves out of their houses when they’re in a hurry and feeling stressed out because of it.
This makes it important for you to know how to get into your locked house in the event that you ever find yourself on the wrong side looking in. As long as you stay calm and keep your composure, there are simple steps you can take to get back inside in no time.
Here’s what you should do when you’re locked out of your house and need to get back into it ASAP.
See If Any of Your Home’s Exterior Doors Are Unlocked
When you first realize that you’ve locked yourself out of your home, you’re probably going to start panicking. But that is only going to make the situation worse than it already is.
Instead of freaking out, take a few deep breaths and figure out what your next move is going to be. Even if you don’t have the slightest clue as to how to get into your locked house, there are some logical steps that you should take at the start.
First and foremost, you should walk around the outside of your home and try to open any exterior doors that you can get to. This would include your front door, your back door, your garage door, the sliding glass door out to your deck, and any other doors leading into your home.
There is a chance that either you or someone else who lives in your home may have left an exterior door unlocked. This would allow you to get right back into your house in just a minute or two and get your day back on track.
You don’t want to spend hours trying to learn how to get into your locked house only to realize one of your exterior doors was unlocked the whole time. So make sure you check your home’s exterior doors to see if any are unlocked before doing anything else.
Check Your First-Floor Windows to Find Out If Any of Them Will Open
In a perfect world, you would discover that one of the exterior doors in your home is unlocked after locking yourself out of your house and get back in that way. But more often than not, this isn’t going to be the case.
Not to worry, though. That’s far from the only step you can take to regain access to your home. While you’re walking around your home checking your doors, you can also check to see if any of your first-floor windows are open.
Push each of your first-floor windows up from the outside and see if they’ll open. If you’re lucky, you’ll discover that one of your home’s windows is unlocked and be able to climb right through it.
Just make sure you let your neighbors know that you’re doing this. You don’t want one of them to get the wrong idea and think you’re a burglar breaking into your home.
Climb Up on a Ladder and Check the Windows on Your Second Story, Too
If you check the windows on your home’s first floor and discover that each and every one is locked, the next thing you’re going to want to do is look up at the windows on your second story. You’re going to want to check them out, too, to see if any of them might be unlocked.
Pull out a ladder and use it to climb up to all of the windows that are on your second story. You might find that one of them was left unlocked at some point.
If this is the case, you should open up your unlocked window and climb through it. As long as you already let your neighbors know that you would be checking to see if any of your home’s windows are unlocked, you shouldn’t have to worry about anyone calling the cops when they see what you’re doing.
Ask Your Neighbors If They Might Have a Key to Your House
When it comes to your neighbors, you should do more than just let them know that you’ve locked yourself out of your home and are trying to get back in. You should also ask them if they might happen to have a key to your house.
There are a lot of people who provide their neighbors with a key to their home for any number of reasons. Some do it so that their neighbors can feed their pets while they’re away for a day or two. Others do it “just in case” something happens to their home while they’re away on vacation for a week or two.
You or someone else who lives in your home may have given a key to one of your neighbors at some point in time. It never hurts to ask your neighbors if they might have a key to your house somewhere in their homes.
Call Your Spouse and Ask If They Can Bring You Their Key
If you live alone, this advice won’t apply to you. But if you live with your spouse, your kids, a roommate, or someone else, they might be able to help you get back into your home.
As soon as you notice that you’ve locked yourself out, give whoever it is that lives with you in your home a call and see where they’re at. If they’re not too far away from your home, they might not have any problem with coming back home to unlock the front door for you.
If they can’t return to your home for whatever reason, you also might be able to go to them to pick up their keys. You can catch a bus or a taxi and take a trip to their work to get their keys before going back home to unlock your door and get back inside.
Think About If You Might Have a Spare Key Stashed Somewhere Outside
In an effort to avoid locking themselves out of their homes, Americans have long found places outside to keep spare keys stashed. Often times, they’ve stuck spare keys under doormats, potted plants, and even garbage cans so that they always have them handy.
This has become such a common practice that most experts advise you not to do it anymore. You could give a burglar easy access to your home by putting a spare key in a place that’s easy to find.
But there are some great places to hide keys these days without compromising the security of your home. For example, you can:
- Stick a spare key into a birdhouse and hang it in a tree for safekeeping
- Nail a spare key to a tree situated near the back of your property
- Camouflage a key by placing it inside a fake rock, a fake brick, or even fake dog poop (no one would think to look there, right?!)
These are all excellent hiding spots for a spare key because they’ll make it just about impossible for someone to find them. You should consider sticking a spare key in one or maybe even all of these places in the future.
In the meantime, you should also rack your brain and think about if you may have ever stashed a spare key somewhere outside in the past and forgotten about it. You could very well stumble upon a key outside that you forgot was even there.
Touch Base With a Local Locksmith That Offers Home Lockout Services
At this point, you’re going to be coming close to reaching your boiling point. It’s going to be crystal-clear that you’re locked out and that there isn’t much you can do about it.
You might be tempted to try and tinker around with the locks on your home’s doors or, worse, you might be tempted to try and kick one of your doors down to get back into your house. Do not do either of these things.
Instead, get a local locksmith on the phone and ask them to come over to your house right away to help you get back inside. More specifically, look for a residential locksmith that specializes in providing home lockout services for homeowners.
The locksmith that you choose to hire to help you get back into your home should have certain qualities. They should:
- Have a ton of experience when it comes to providing homeowners with home lockout services
- Be able to come out to your home within an hour to show you how to get into your locked house
- Offer fair and affordable prices on the residential locksmith services that they can extend to you
Additionally, the locksmith that you call on should be capable of extending services to you at any time of the day or night. Regardless of whether you call on them for help at 9 a.m., 11 p.m., or any other time, they should have a locksmith on call who is ready to assist you.
Call 911 If You Have an Emergency Situation on Your Hands
Generally speaking, you should not call 911 under any circumstances when you lock yourself out of your home.
It might seem like an emergency situation to you. But in the grand scheme of things, you’re dealing with a minor inconvenience compared to many of the other people who call 911. You could prevent them from getting the help they need by calling 911 for a home lockout.
With that being said, there are several instances in which it wouldn’t be the worst idea to call 911 after realizing that you locked yourself out of your home. But it’s important for you to consider whether or not calling 911 is really the right move.
You should think about calling 911 if you locked yourself out of your home and you:
- Think that you may have left your stove turned on
- Left an infant or an older person stuck inside
- Suspect that there might be a gas leak in your home
As you can see, these are some very specific circumstances that would call for a police response to you locking yourself out of your home. You shouldn’t call 911 if you don’t find yourself in one of these kinds of situations.
You should instead get in touch with a locksmith in your area and see if they can help you. They will be able to come out to your home almost as fast as the police would to get you back into your house.
Stop Stressing Out Over How to Get Into Your Locked House
Are you a person who tends to get stressed out easily? If you are, getting locked out of your house is going to send cortisol coursing through your veins as your stress levels go through the roof.
But you should know that you don’t have to worry too much about locking yourself out of your home. By following the steps listed here, you can figure out how to get into your locked house in no time at all.
If the first few steps don’t help you much, reach out to us to see how we can assist you with our residential locksmith services. We’ll make sure that you’re able to get back into your home in a hurry so that you can go about your day.
We can also talk to you about how a keyless entry lock might be the solution to your prayers when it comes to home lockouts. These types of locks allow homeowners to control their home’s locks without having to rely on keys.
Request our locksmith services in Houston today to have a residential locksmith visit your home and get you back inside of it.