Door opening
Getting through a locked door in one piece
Opening a door is easy if you do not mind what is left of it. The skill is in opening it so the same key still works tomorrow, and that is the first thing we try on every door in Benidorm.
Open 24 hours · 7 days
- Non-destructive first
- Proof of residence checked
- Cylinder replaced only if needed
Which door
The doors this city is made of
Benidorm has more than thirty buildings over 100 metres tall, and the tallest of them, Intempo, is a residential tower of 49 floors. So the typical door we open is not at street level. It is a flat door on a landing, often reinforced, behind a lobby with its own door and sometimes its own concierge.
The flat door in a tower
Usually a reinforced leaf with a European cylinder and several bolts. The cylinder decides how the door is opened; the bolts only decide how long it takes.
The communal street door
It belongs to the whole community of owners. We open your door, not theirs, unless the community asks us to.
The hotel or aparthotel room
Card and electronic locks are the hotel's own system, and those jobs start with the front desk. How we work with hotels is on the page for hotels and aparthotels.
Houses, gates and the old town
In Colonia Madrid, which started life as two-storey chalets with gardens, and in the urbanisations up the hill, there is often a gate before the front door. In the old town the streets are narrow and the last stretch is walked.
The method
What "without damage" really means
There are three ways through a locked door, and they are tried in this order, because each one costs you more than the last.
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Around the lock
If the door was pulled shut and not locked with the key, the latch can often be slipped without touching the cylinder. Nothing to replace afterwards.
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Through the lock
The cylinder is manipulated with picks and tension tools until it turns, as if a key had done it. Slower, and the lock survives.
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Replacing the lock
When a cylinder is too secure or too damaged to be turned, it is drilled or broken at a known point and a new one goes in. You are asked before this happens, never told after.
If the door opens but the lock is worn out, or you would rather nobody else could use the old key, the next step is a new cylinder, which can often be fitted on the same visit.
Before we start
Why you will be asked who you are
A locksmith who opens any door for anyone is a burglar's best tool. So before the work starts we ask for something that ties you to the address: an ID showing it, a rental contract, a holiday booking, or the owner or manager confirming it on the phone. When the proof is inside the flat, we check it the moment the door opens.
A concierge who knows you, or a neighbour who does, helps. The building staff cannot open your flat themselves, but they can vouch for you.
On the wrong side of a door right now? This page explains the method; the round-the-clock call-out is the one to use. Coverage street by street is on the coverage page, and every way to reach us is on the contact page.
Asked on the phone
Questions about getting a door open
Does my key still work once the door is open?
In most openings, yes: the cylinder is manipulated rather than broken and the same key works when you get it back. When a cylinder has to be drilled or snapped, you are told before it happens, and a replacement can be fitted there and then.
The door was only pulled shut, not locked with the key. Is that easier?
Usually much easier. A door held only by its latch can often be opened without touching the cylinder at all. Once the key has been turned and the bolts are out, it is a different job.
Can you open the street door of my building as well?
Only with the community's agreement: that door belongs to every owner in the building, not just to you. In practice the concierge, the administrator or a neighbour lets you in, and we deal with your own door.
Do you open doors for somebody who does not live there?
Not without the authorisation of whoever does. A landlord with the tenancy contract, an owner with the deeds or a manager with written authority can ask for a door to be opened; a neighbour, a friend or an ex-partner cannot.
My flat has an armoured door. Can it be opened at all?
Yes, although it takes longer and it matters which kind it is. Most flat doors sold as armoured are a reinforced door with a good cylinder, and the cylinder is where the work happens. Tell us the brand if it is printed on the lock.
Tell us about the door
A photograph of the lock from the outside tells us most of what we need. Send it on WhatsApp with the building and the floor.
Open 24 hours · 7 days