Non-destructive entry first, always - and we re-key Schlage, Kwikset, and Baldwin locks on the spot while you watch
You get a price before we start. It does not change when we arrive. No surprises.
Locked Out of the House
Being locked out of your house almost always means one of three things: you don’t have your key, your key won’t turn the lock, or the lock itself has failed. In most cases, a locksmith can get you back inside in a single visit without damaging your door. Your local Dunmore Locksmith team handles house lockouts every day – call (910) 714-4287 and a live person will pick up, day or night.
The word “lockout” covers a pretty wide range of situations. Sometimes the door closed behind you and the key is on the counter. Sometimes the key is in your hand but it won’t budge no matter how much you wiggle it. Sometimes the lock is visibly broken or the door just won’t latch right. The cause matters, because it changes what a technician will actually do when they arrive. The sections below help you figure out which situation you’re in, so you’re not guessing when you call.
Why It Happens
You locked yourself out – key is inside or missing
This is the most common lockout. The door closed, the deadbolt or latch engaged on its own, and the key is somewhere you can’t reach it. You’ll know this is your situation because the lock looks completely normal – it just won’t open from outside without a key. A locksmith picks or bypasses the lock without drilling, gets you in, and then discusses whether a rekey or hardware change makes sense so it doesn’t happen the same way again.
The key turns but the door won’t open
You can feel the cylinder rotating, but the bolt doesn’t retract. This usually points to a mechanical failure inside the lock body – a broken cam, a stripped tailpiece, or a bolt that has seized inside the faceplate. Sometimes the door frame has shifted enough that the bolt can’t clear the strike plate. You’ll notice the lock feels loose or grinds as the key turns, or you can see the bolt moving but catching before it retracts fully.
The key won’t turn at all
If the key goes in but won’t rotate, the most common culprits are a cylinder that has corroded or dried out, a key that has worn down enough that it no longer lifts the pins correctly, or pins inside the cylinder that have seized. In older locks, brass wears at different rates and eventually the key and lock fall out of sync. You may hear a faint click as the key meets resistance at the same point every time – that’s usually a seized pin stack.
The lock is visibly damaged or the key is broken in the cylinder
Forced entry attempts, freezing temperatures, or just years of hard use can crack a lock housing, bend a latch bolt, or snap a key off in the keyway. If you can see metal fragments in the keyhole, or the lock housing is cracked or loose on the door, stop trying to turn anything – working a damaged mechanism further can push a broken key deeper or jam the cylinder in a way that complicates extraction. This situation almost always requires professional extraction tools or a full lock replacement.
What to Do Right Now
- Stop forcing it. If the key isn’t turning smoothly, applying more pressure rarely helps and often breaks the key off inside the cylinder, which turns a simple lockout into a more involved repair.
- Check every door and window you normally leave unlocked. Back door, garage entry, a window that doesn’t latch fully. This is worth doing before you call, not because it’s likely, but because it takes two minutes and might save you the wait.
- Photograph the lock if it looks damaged. A clear photo of a cracked housing, a broken latch, or a key fragment in the keyhole helps your technician come prepared with the right tools and replacement parts.
- Do not attempt to pick the lock yourself with improvised tools. Credit cards, bobby pins, and screwdrivers damage the lock, scratch the door, and often make professional entry harder. They also won’t work on a deadbolt.
- Call (910) 714-4287 and stay somewhere safe and visible while you wait. If it’s late, stay near a lit area. Your local Dunmore Locksmith team answers 24 hours a day, every day – you won’t get a voicemail.
How We Fix It
When your technician arrives, the first thing they do is confirm what type of lock you have and what’s actually stopping you from getting in. For a standard lockout where the lock is intact, they’ll use pick tools or a bypass technique suited to your specific hardware – whether that’s a Schlage B-series deadbolt, a Kwikset knob set, or a Medeco high-security cylinder. Entry usually takes a few minutes on a functioning lock.
If the lock is damaged, they’ll assess whether extraction, repair, or a full lock replacement is the right call. For a door lock repair, they’ll replace or rebuild what’s failed. For a complete lock change, they’ll fit new hardware and hand you the keys on the spot.
Every visit starts with a written price – the exact cost for this specific job, delivered before any work begins. That’s not a policy we sometimes follow; it’s the written commitment on every single job. The repair is also covered by the 365-Day Done Right Promise: if it fails within a year, we come back and fix it at no charge. This falls under our Residential Locksmith and Door Lock Repair services.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you’re locked out and can’t get inside safely – especially at night, in poor weather, or with children or a pet inside – don’t wait. A lockout is not a dramatic emergency in every case, but being stranded outside your own home overnight is genuinely uncomfortable at best and unsafe at worst. Your local Dunmore Locksmith team is reachable around the clock. Call (910) 714-4287 and someone will pick up immediately.
House lockouts are treated as priority calls. When you call (910) 714-4287, you’ll speak to a live person who will route your local Dunmore Locksmith team to you. We don’t promise a specific arrival window on this page because that depends on where you are and who’s closest – but the person who answers your call can give you an honest estimate of when someone will arrive.
The honest answer is that the price depends on your lock type, what’s causing the lockout, and whether any hardware needs to be replaced. We don’t publish a flat rate here because a stuck Schlage deadbolt and a seized high-security Medeco cylinder are two different jobs. What we can promise is that you’ll get the exact price in writing before anyone starts work – and what’s written is what you pay. No add-ons at the end. Call (910) 714-4287 and we’ll work through what your specific situation is likely to cost.
Before your technician leaves to come to you, we send you their name and photo. When they arrive, they carry a photo ID badge and show it at the door. They’ll also be in a clean, marked uniform. If anyone shows up at your door who you weren’t told to expect, that visit is on us – no charge, no questions. That’s the Threshold Standard, and it’s how every Dunmore Locksmith job works, every time.
Get It Fixed
Your local Dunmore Locksmith team is ready to help right now. Call (910) 714-4287 – a live person answers 24 hours a day, every day of the year. You’ll get a written price before anything starts and a technician sent to you by name and photo. No guessing. No waiting on hold. No surprises.
Written by Perry Osgood, Owner & Lead Technician, Dunmore Locksmith, a Threshold Group member business serving residential and commercial customers since 2007.
What Our Customers Say
"The fact that he was background checked and carried ID made me comfortable letting him into the home. Changed out two worn deadbolts for new grade 1 ones."
- Brenda Z."We moved into a new house and wanted to know nobody else had a key. He rekeyed every exterior door and showed me how the pins work. Clear and patient."
- Anita P."Our storefront door lock was worn and tough to turn. He repaired it on the spot and left us extra keys cut properly."
- Camille W.