Recently, I moved in to a house that had no keys to the back door which was fitted with a 5 lever mortise lock.
I was given lots of advice on how to open the door, such as calling out a locksmith, sawing off the lock bolt, kicking down the door etc, most of which were expensive or impractical.
Here is how I eventually resolved the problem quite easily.
Using an old cross-head screwdriver and a hammer, I pushed the hinge pins from the bottom upwards until the pin popped out. I repeated the process on all 3 hinges. I found the door was stuck in the frame, so went outside and pushed the door inwards on the hinged side. The door eventually came away from the frame.
The mortise lock could then easily be removed and a new one (identical in size) purchased. This cost £30 from B&Q for a quality Yale lock.
As the hinges were quite old, I purchased new hinges at the same time which cost less than £4.
Just a matter of fitting the new lock and hinges and rehanging the door. I'm not experienced at DIY but managed this easily in less than an hour, for under £35 and with tools that most people will have already.
I was given lots of advice on how to open the door, such as calling out a locksmith, sawing off the lock bolt, kicking down the door etc, most of which were expensive or impractical.
Here is how I eventually resolved the problem quite easily.
Using an old cross-head screwdriver and a hammer, I pushed the hinge pins from the bottom upwards until the pin popped out. I repeated the process on all 3 hinges. I found the door was stuck in the frame, so went outside and pushed the door inwards on the hinged side. The door eventually came away from the frame.
The mortise lock could then easily be removed and a new one (identical in size) purchased. This cost £30 from B&Q for a quality Yale lock.
As the hinges were quite old, I purchased new hinges at the same time which cost less than £4.
Just a matter of fitting the new lock and hinges and rehanging the door. I'm not experienced at DIY but managed this easily in less than an hour, for under £35 and with tools that most people will have already.