Over the years, studies have shown that a large percentage of Americans feel rushed almost all the time. As a result, many people tend to make absent-minded mistakes on a regular basis. One of the most common mistakes that people make is accidentally locking themselves out of their homes.
They’re in such a hurry to run off to wherever it is that they need to be that they forget their house keys and get locked out of their homes. It’s important for you to know what to do if you’re locked out of your house just in case you ever find yourself in this situation.
Getting locked out is already frustrating enough. But it’s going to be more even more frustrating if you don’t know what steps to take next. Here is a step-by-step guide on what to do if you’re locked out of your house that should help you stay calm and get back into your home in no time at all.
Check to See If Any of the Doors Leading Into Your Home Are Unlocked
When you first realize that you’re locked out of your house, your first instinct might be to panic. There are few things more frustrating in life than realizing that you’ve forgotten keys for your house after locking your front door and slamming it shut.
But before you start freaking out, you should calmly walk around the exterior of your house to see if any of the doors leading into it were left unlocked. With a little luck, you’ll find that a back door, a side door, or even a garage door were left unlocked, thus granting you immediate access to your home.
You obviously shouldn’t get into the habit of leaving any of these doors unlocked. You should keep all the exterior doors in your home locked at almost all times, and you should also have door repair done to fix any doors that aren’t locking properly.
But in the event that you lock yourself out of your home, it would be worth seeing if you or someone else may have mistakenly left a door unlocked. It can get you back into your home so that you can retrieve your house keys and go on about your business.
Find Out Whether or Not Any of Your Home’s Windows Are Unlocked
Outside of checking to see if any of the doors leading into your home are unlocked after locking yourself out, you should also take a look at the windows throughout your home to see if any of them might be unlocked. There is a decent chance that at least one window in your home won’t be locked at any given moment.
In a perfect world, you’ll find that a large, first-floor window was left unlocked. You’ll be able to climb right through it so that you can get back into your home without too much trouble.
However, you might also have to get up on a ladder in some cases to check out your second-story windows to see if they’re unlocked. That might be your best bet when it comes to getting back into your home through an unlocked window.
If you take this approach, you should let your neighbors know what you’re doing so that they don’t get suspicious and call the police. You should also be prepared to sprint to turn off your home security system if you have one after getting back into a home through an unlocked window.
Call Your Spouse, Kids, Roommate, Etc. and Ask Them to Bring You Their House Keys
If you’re the only one who lives in your home, there isn’t going to be anyone that you can call to bring you a key to your house. But if you have a spouse, kids, or even just a roommate, they might be able to get you out of a bind when you’re trying to figure out what to do if you’re locked out of your house.
Call them up and let them know that you’re locked out of the house. They should be able to either come home to unlock your front door or send someone else to do it. All you’ll need to do is sit and wait for them to arrive.
Ask Your Neighbors If They Happen to Have a Key to Your Home
There are many homeowners who hide keys to their houses somewhere on the exterior of their homes. They’ll put a spare key under a rock, inside of a birdhouse, or in any number of other places so that they always have a house key handy when they need it.
If you happen to have a house key hidden somewhere on the outside of your home, you’ll be in luck. All you’ll have to do is go and retrieve it to get right back into your house.
There are also many homeowners who give one or more of their neighbors a key to their house just in case their neighbors ever have to get into their home for any reason. If you remember doing this, you can touch base with your neighbors and ask them to provide you with your house key.
You should be careful about giving out too many house keys to other people. You don’t want to lose track of how many of them you have floating around out there in the world. But it never hurts to give one to a neighbor that you know you can trust.
Contact a Local Locksmith and Take Advantage of Their Home Lockout Services
If you’ve taken all the steps that we’ve talked about so far and come up empty as far as getting back into your house is concerned, the next thing you should do is call on a local locksmith for assistance. A good residential locksmith should be able to take a trip out to your home right away to help you get back into your house.
You can find some great local options by Googling “locksmith near me” and checking out the names that pop up. Within a matter of just seconds, you should have at least a few options that you can call on for locksmith services since there are so many of them operating throughout the country right now.
That being said, you should be careful about which locksmith that you hire to help you out. You want to bring the right option on board to provide you with superior locksmith services. The company that you choose should have:
- A wealth of experience in the locksmithing industry
- A long list of residential locksmith services
- A team of trusted locksmithing professionals
- A solid reputation within your community
- A 24/7/365 approach to responding to customer calls
If you hire the wrong locksmith company to help you when you get locked out of your house, they could end up doing damage to the lock on your front door. This will force you to do lock repair later on.
You’ll be so much better off going with a reputable locksmith company that is guaranteed to get the job done right. It’ll ensure you get back into your home fast and don’t have to deal with making any unnecessary repairs.
Consider Breaking Into Your House If You Have an Emergency on Your Hands
There are going to be rare occasions when you can’t wait for a locksmith to come out to your home to help you get back into it. You’re going to have no choice but to take matters into your own hands with regards to working your way into your house.
If, for example, you locked yourself out of your house with a small child or an elderly person inside of it, you might want to break back into your home through a door or window. It could very well be the only option that you have when time is of the essence.
You might also want to call the police if you lock a small child or elderly person inside of your home. Although the cops won’t usually be able to provide you with much help if you get locked out of your home under normal circumstances, they will often help if they sense that someone might be in danger because of it.
Whatever you do, you shouldn’t wait too long to take action during an emergency situation. You should get back into your home at all costs and worry about doing window or door replacement later.
Knowing What to Do If You’re Locked Out of Your House Is Important
It’s not uncommon at all for people to lose their cool after locking themselves out of their house. It can be difficult deciding what to do next.
Now that you know what to do if you’re locked out of your house, you should be able to take the appropriate steps if you ever make the mistake of locking yourself out. From checking to see if you left any doors or windows unlocked to contacting a locksmith, taking the right steps will turn to lock yourself out into less of a hassle.
Do you need help getting back into your home after locking yourself out? Request locksmith services through us to get back into it right away.