Someone broke in and the door won't lock? How to secure it tonight

Coming home to a forced door is frightening, and the first question is usually a practical one: how do I lock this place tonight? This guide walks through the order to do things in, the quick ways to make a damaged door hold until it is repaired, and what a locksmith can fix the same visit.

This is about homes and businesses only. Roger does not handle vehicle locks or car keys of any kind.

First: if anyone could still be inside, leave and call 911

If you arrive and the door is open, broken, or forced, do not go in to check. Back away, go somewhere safe, and call 911. Wait for police to clear the building before you enter. No lock and no belongings are worth walking in on someone.

Once police say it is clear, ask for the report number. You will need it for insurance, and some insurers want it before they approve the repair.

Before you touch the door, take photos

• The door from outside and inside, showing the whole frame.
• Close-ups of the lock, the strike plate, and any split wood on the frame.
• Pry marks, footprints on the door, broken glass, and anything moved inside.
• Anything that might have been taken, including spare keys or a garage door remote.

Photos first, cleanup second. Once you start pulling splinters and screwing things back, the evidence of how the door was forced is gone.

How doors usually fail in a break-in

Most forced entries do not beat the lock itself. The door gets kicked or pried, and the weak point gives way around the lock. Knowing which part failed tells you what the fix is.

• The frame split. The deadbolt is still thrown, but the wood of the jamb around the strike plate tore out. This is the most common result of a kicked door. The lock may be fine.
• The strike plate pulled loose. Short screws into thin trim let go, and the plate came off with the bolt still in it.
• The lock was damaged. The cylinder was pried, twisted, or drilled, or the knob was broken off. The lock needs replacing.
• Glass was broken to reach the lock. A window or sidelight near the door was broken so someone could reach in and turn the thumb latch.
• The door itself cracked or came off its hinges. That is a door and frame repair, not a lock repair.

Making the door hold tonight

If the frame or strike plate is damaged, the goal for tonight is simply a door that cannot be pushed open. A few steps that help without making the repair harder later:

• Use a different door if one still locks properly, and secure the damaged one from the inside.
• Wedge or brace it. A rubber door wedge or a door security bar under the knob, set on the inside, holds a door that no longer latches.
• Screw a loose strike plate back in with longer screws, long enough to reach the framing behind the trim, if the wood is solid enough to take them.
• Cover broken glass from the inside with plywood or heavy plastic, and clean up glass before anyone walks barefoot nearby.
• If the door cannot be closed at all, ask the locksmith or a board-up service to secure the opening. Do not stay in a home you cannot close up if you do not feel safe.

Rekey, even if the lock still works

If any keys were in the house, a spare in a drawer, a key on a hook, a spare left under a mat, assume they are gone. The same goes if you are not sure. A lock that still turns is not secure if someone now holds a key to it.

Rekeying changes the pins inside your existing locks so old keys stop working. It is usually the smaller job compared with replacing hardware, and a locksmith can do every exterior door in one visit. If a garage door remote or keypad code may have been taken, change the code and clear the remotes from the opener as well.

What a locksmith fixes, and what needs another trade

A locksmith can replace a damaged lock or cylinder, rekey the rest, install a reinforced strike plate with long screws into the framing, and add a deadbolt or a stronger one where the old one was weak. Many can also secure a door temporarily so it locks tonight.

A badly split jamb, a cracked door, or a frame that has pulled away from the wall is carpentry. The locksmith can tell you whether the frame will hold a lock again or needs repair first. Sometimes the frame is fixed first and the lock goes in after.

What moves the price is how many locks need rekeying or replacing, the type of lock, whether the strike and frame need reinforcement, and the time of day. You see a range up front, and the locksmith confirms the price in person after seeing the door. If insurance is paying, keep every receipt and the photos together.

Booking a locksmith through Roger

Once police have cleared the home, describe what happened: which door, whether the lock or the frame took the damage, and whether any keys may be missing. Roger books one vetted local locksmith and confirms the appointment, so you know which company is coming before they arrive. Home and business only. Homeowners pay Roger nothing, and Roger does not add a markup on the locksmith's price.

You can describe the problem on rogerrepair.com and get one locksmith booked.