# You're locked out of your house; how screwed are you? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 21, 2016, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-locked-out-of-your-house-how-screwed-are-you/743800 "2016-01-21T18:09:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-locked-out-of-your-house-how-screwed-are-you/743800/61 "2016-01-23T17:29:15Z")
Depends a bit on which house we’re talking about. If it’s the one I just rented I’d have to call the owners or a locksmith; for mine, relatives or a locksmith. But in any case the locksmith is covered by my insurance, and “oops I locked myself out” is one of those incidents which don’t raise rates. ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-locked-out-of-your-house-how-screwed-are-you/743800/62 "2016-01-23T19:05:51Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Something else. > > There are four doors (garage, front door, sunroom door, side porch door) entering our house. We have zero keys for any of them, and therefore never lock any. If one door were accidentally locked the others would all be unlocked. Life in the country, I guess. This. We have some keys in the junk drawer, I think. It’s possible one of them goes to one of our doors. Lots of dogs, though. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-locked-out-of-your-house-how-screwed-are-you/743800/63 "2016-01-23T19:19:16Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > I have a keypad on my garage door, and I can enter from there without a key. I’m perfectly fine. Me too, altho if the power is out, I’m screwed, unless one of the other doors was left unlocked. Worst case, I break a small pane in the garage man-door, find the hidden key to the kitchen. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-locked-out-of-your-house-how-screwed-are-you/743800/64 "2016-01-23T19:26:33Z")
I picked something else. There’s a 24 hour doorman who can handle emergency lockouts in my building. ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2016, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-locked-out-of-your-house-how-screwed-are-you/743800/65 "2016-01-25T00:44:06Z")
I chose possibly, as my neighbour has a key, but in reality it would take a chain of epic failures for me to be locked out. My front door lock is a Kevo so I’d need to have lost or left my phone somewhere. I also have a keypad on the garage door and I don’t lock the internal door from the garage to the house. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2016, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-locked-out-of-your-house-how-screwed-are-you/743800/66 "2016-01-25T02:43:13Z")
Interestingly enough, I can answer this from experience. Wife and I share a car, and usually get in and out of the house via the garage door, using a remote in the car. A few weeks ago, the wife was working late and we got released early from work due to a blizzard, so a co-worker dropped me at the end of the driveway and drove off to get to his house. It was then that I realized I didn’t have any house keys on my keychain, and had quite securely locked my house. So here I am, standing on my front porch in a blizzard (side note: I got a package that day, good thing I was there to dig it out of the snow!). The good news is I was able to call the housing maintenance office (I live in a neighborhood where all of the houses are owned, rented out, and maintained by one company) and let them know I was locked out. The lady on the phone took my address and dispatched a guy right away to get me inside my house (he checked my ID to make sure I was the guy who lived there, of course). It was an interesting day. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2016, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-locked-out-of-your-house-how-screwed-are-you/743800/67 "2016-01-25T02:51:49Z")
> [@chrisk](#): > > I picked “It’s not possible”-- it actually is conceivable, but not in the manner described, because the front door lock is a deadbolt where you have to use the key from outside. Getting locked out would thus require somehow losing the key in an unretrievable way while outside. Same here. Still, I’m confident I could figure out getting in via a window if I had to (OK, so I’d probably shortly be explaining myself to some nice security guard, but since I can prove I live here, that wouldn’t be too huge a problem). ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2016, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-locked-out-of-your-house-how-screwed-are-you/743800/68 "2016-01-25T02:58:08Z")
My parents live 15 minutes away and they have my spare key. Or I could probably just go to the management office and ask them to let me in, as long as I had ID. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2016, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-locked-out-of-your-house-how-screwed-are-you/743800/69 "2016-01-25T03:55:53Z")
My last year living in the BEQ at SUBASE Pearl Harbor, I had a room of my own. One night (about 2 in the morning), I got out of bed in my skivvies, still mostly asleep, and I woke up completely when I heard the door close behind me. I had to pound on my neighbor’s door and wake him up to borrow a pair of pants so I could walk across the base to the watch office for a spare key. After that, I always put the chain lock on when I’m sleeping in a room by myself. We never lock our front door at home, so it’s not really an issue these days. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2016, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-locked-out-of-your-house-how-screwed-are-you/743800/70 "2016-01-25T12:57:45Z")
This thread took me back to my youth. As a kid growing up in Squirrel Hill, we lived in a row-home. There were six or so houses in a row with no seperation between them. Because our porch roofs were all connected, anytime someone locked themselves out, they would just ask a neighbor to allow them to climb out a bedroom window onto the roof, thus allowing them to enter their own window. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2016, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-locked-out-of-your-house-how-screwed-are-you/743800/71 "2016-01-26T07:45:38Z")
Locked myself out last week, actually. The garage is detached (and opens with a key); it’s a rental, and the windows are large, double-paned, and expensive; the landlord’s office was closed; I don’t actually know any of my neighbors;and no one else has a key. I called a locksmith, who got there in 5 minutes and discounted the bill because it took hims seconds to pick the lock. ---
**Author:** ![AllShookDown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d9b06d/32.png) [@AllShookDown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AllShookDown)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2016, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-locked-out-of-your-house-how-screwed-are-you/743800/72 "2016-01-26T15:46:06Z")
Ever since I locked myself out of my car with it running in the driveway, with the keys (including my house key) in it, I keep a spare hidden in the garage, which I can access by the keypad. As long as the power isn’t out, I’m good. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-locked-out-of-your-house-how-screwed-are-you/743800/73 "2016-01-27T20:19:26Z")
Not screwed at all. We have a number pad for the garage door, and a number pad deadbolt for the door into the house. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-locked-out-of-your-house-how-screwed-are-you/743800/74 "2016-01-27T20:29:30Z")
Can’t be locked out, could get in even if I were. Also, I don’t forget my keys, and I have lockpicks and other useful items cached in various locations. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-locked-out-of-your-house-how-screwed-are-you/743800/75 "2016-01-28T01:06:39Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > Not screwed at all. We have a number pad for the garage door, and a number pad deadbolt for the door into the house. Garage door only works if the electric opener works - so if the power happens to be out, no luck there. Does the number-pad thing work if the power is out? ---
**Author:** ![stui\_magpie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stui_magpie/32/11010_2.png) [@stui\_magpie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stui_magpie)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-locked-out-of-your-house-how-screwed-are-you/743800/76 "2016-01-28T02:13:06Z")
My daughter has a key but she lives about 15 minutes away and works an hour away, so I can call her depending on time of day and she can let me in. This happened a couple of months back, shortly after I got home from work. I sent her a text, she was on the way home so I just had to wait 30 minutes for her to swing past on the way home. During the day if I’m home the back door is usually open so I can clamber over the side fence, grab a ladder from the shed to get up on the back deck over the railing and I’m in. Otherwise, I have one window that is boarded up, I never got around to replacing the glass, so I can pop that off without too much damage and get in there. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-locked-out-of-your-house-how-screwed-are-you/743800/77 "2016-01-28T03:06:44Z")
It’s happened to me twice before. The first time, the wife had to come home with her key. The second time she was unavailable, so the condo office had to call the locksmith. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-locked-out-of-your-house-how-screwed-are-you/743800/78 "2016-01-28T19:58:10Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > a number pad deadbolt for the door into the house. > [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > Does the number-pad thing work if the power is out? My best friends have one: it’s battery-powered. So, yes. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-locked-out-of-your-house-how-screwed-are-you/743800/79 "2016-01-29T23:44:36Z")
> [@Misnomer](#): > > My best friends have one: it’s battery-powered. So, yes. 🙂 What if the power’s been off so long that the battery’s dead? ---
**Author:** ![DinkyDink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@DinkyDink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinkyDink)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2016, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-locked-out-of-your-house-how-screwed-are-you/743800/80 "2016-01-30T22:07:02Z")
I need to qualify my vote “other”. It is actually fairly easy to break into a house. And no I haven’t broken into any that are not mine or my parents, or a neighbor. Right now I can think of at least 5 ways to break in my house. I have done it three times where I live now, and several times in other houses. I can do it with out breaking a window, or a lock on a window or breaking a door or door knob. Of course it is easiest on the ground level, and much much more disgusting going through a basement window. It is possible on upper stories, and a ladder helps. But it is possible to shimmy up to the roof, and even easier to stand on an outside table and get into our balcony. For higher windows, there is always something around to stack up on top of each other, like outdoor furniture, chairs, storage boxes, a grill, basketball hoop, even the top of your car. I do have keys all over the place now. DinkyDink [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-locked-out-of-your-house-how-screwed-are-you/743800.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-locked-out-of-your-house-how-screwed-are-you/743800.md?page=5)