Help me unlock this room

[STLRamsFan]

Well one of our roommates left last semester and we never got a replacement which leaves us with an empty room. Once we confirmed that we won't be getting another roommate as the deadline passed, we came to the conclusion that being able to have a spare/guest room would work out rather nicely. However, we have one problem... The room was locked and thus we haven't been able to find a way to get into it to make our guest room a reality.

This is what we have:
http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/1756/photo11vc.jpg
Shot at 2012-02-26

This what it looks from behind (from my room of course):

http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/8292/photo2cfj.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/713/photo2cfj.jpg/)


Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)

So any ideas how to get this thing open? Something that doesn't involve kicking the door open would be nice. :-3
For those wondering, not trying to steal anything (seriously how would we steal something from an EMPTY room...), just trying to get into a room that's in our apartment that's empty and would be useful for guests and all. Thanks.

[TVTyrant]

Screwdriver, bust into the mechanism with brute force and just wrench the bolt open.

[BobtheGreatII]

You could try drilling out the lock, but it pretty much has the same effect as what Tyrant is saying.

Or call a locksmith.

[EX12693]

And.. where's the key? Gone with the roommate?

[Kornman00]

Learn the art of lock picking. Myself, I have a set from Southord (http://www.southord.com/Lock-Picking-Tools/Lock-Picks.html).

[Limited]

Isn't a heavy duty lock, try picking it.

Just need a torque wrench of some sorts and a fine pick (paper clip maybe?)

If you get it open can I move in??

If you cant get it open, make an official looking letter and push it under the door, call a locksmith and explain that your tenant left a letter on the floor for you to give to someone, yet he was a fool and forgot to leave it unlocked/with keys in door. That is a justifiable reason to open it :D

E: BnS6leHfB2c

[DarkHalo003]

A bobbypin and screwdriver is how they do it in Fallout.

[Cortexian]

If don't mind buying a new lock just use a handheld power-drill and drill the whole thing out.

[RedBaron]

Google is your friend:

http://home.howstuffworks.com/home-improvement/household-safety/security/lock-picking1.htm

You have the rest of the semester to learn lol

[TVTyrant]

A bobbypin and screwdriver is how they do it in Fallout.
Skyrim's knife blade is cooler than the screwdriver.

[DarkHalo003]

Skyrim's knife blade is cooler than the screwdriver.
Just trying to be post-modern.

[STLRamsFan]

And.. where's the key? Gone with the roommate?

We each got our own key for our room, so thus the school has that particular room. We tried to obtain that key but the school shot us down despite our argument that we paid for a FOUR room apartment. As for picking the lock... Here's how far we've gotten:

:|

http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/456/photoyam.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/268/photoyam.jpg/)


Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)

[TVTyrant]

Hammer to the knob.

[annihilation]

Have fun picking a deadbolt.

Call a locksmith.

[STLRamsFan]

We can't because the school shot us down when asked... :\

[EX12693]

If you paid for the room, and they're not letting you use it, that could cause some legal issues, right?

[STLRamsFan]

Eh, not worth our time to do all that. It's a small room that we would LIKE to have open. If we can't get it open, we're really not gonna worry about it.

[jcap]

Buy a set of bump keys from some site, or get someone at your local hardware store to make you a key with maximum depths. NOTE that you will need a key that will fit into the lock, but the depths of each valley will be different.

Watch YouTube videos to learn more.

[Donut]

my cousin is pretty good at this shit. whats the make of the lock? like, what company puts it out, and is there a model number visible anywhere? according to him, different brands of locks have different flaws. for example, i think he said master locks are more prone to "raking" than others.

if youre unfamiliar with how lock picking works, youll definitely want to look up a guide, and youll certainly want some tools too. just a paper clip is going to be a bitch (and likely wont work), and you need a torsion wrench to turn the bolt once all the tumblers are in place.

alternately, if you know what the key looked like (like, have a picture or something), you CAN file some metal down to open the lock. there are a lot of ways to approach this, some of which involve more espionage than others.

[Timo]

You're paying for a four bedroom apartment, and aren't allowed to use the fourth bedroom? Is that not against some law in America? Surely locking you out of a room in your apartment/flat/house even though you're paying for the whole deal isn't allowed.

I'd be careful picking that lock. A guy I knew used to think he was great at it and even had his own lock picking set. He managed to destroy at least three locks at the halls I was staying at. If your landlord is refusing you access and not allowing you to get a locksmith in, they'll have kittens at the end of your tenancy when they find out you broke the lock attempting to pick it. That's a great way to ruin any potential reference they'd give you when looking for other places in the future.

If you're looking to create your own set of lockpicks, he filed his down from hacksaw blades. They can provide a fair amount of torque without breaking and will remain strong even when a lot of the steel has been filed down.

[Donut]

id imagine you have to work pretty hard to actually break a lock trying to pick it. all youre doing is depressing tumblers then turning. if youre doing it right and not being an idiot about it, then i dont see how youre possibly going to break anything. you know, unless you break the fucking tool off inside it. ive seen that, lol.

also, yes, do be careful to 1) not get caught picking the lock, and 2) not get caught with the lock picks. a guy i know at my school is on probation for having lockpicks in his room. institutions dont generally take kindly to the implications of lockpicks, regardless of intent.

[rossmum]

Tangentially related, housemate locked himself out at 1AM a fair few months back. After some scheming we went outside, pulled off the flyscreen, MacGyvered a reaching pole from a broom, some coathangers, and a ton of duck (the correct term coined in WWII :eng101:) tape, and managed to hook his keys from his bed across the room and pull them out. This window is high enough up that we had to climb up a support beam to do it.

The neigbours probably would've thought we were breaking in if they didn't recognise us, but it felt boss as fuck. Total time from disaster to resolution: 26 minutes.

[DarkHalo003]

You could also use the method that the psychopath uses in "No Country For Old Men." Cattle gun that sucker!

[Limited]

Have you actually tried opening it with your key? It probably wont, and if you do try do it gently - but its worth a shot right?

Regarding what you've tried, you use the paper clip to, like darkhalo said, push the locking pins out of the way and use a tension wrench - so like something flat you can bend into a small L (the smaller part you put in the bottom of the lock) and start pushing the pins with paper clip, start with the pins furthest into the lock.

If I was there I'd totally give it a whirl, sadly the locks in our shared place didnt have pins in a tumbler so when my housemate accidentally locked my xbox controllers in his room and left for a week, I couldnt open it and turned it into a very boring week.

[Mr Buckshot]

a long time back i lived in an apartment where the bedroom doors had their own keys to locks. When one of the doors got accidentally locked with the key inside the room, it took a bit of drilling and the use of some "mini-crowbar", whatever the formal term is, to remove the lock entirely and gain access. Putting the lock back on was also pretty easy, just that new paint and wood filler were needed around the edges in order to cover up the damage.

[STLRamsFan]

Yea we already tried using one of our keys a long time ago so that's definitely off the table haha. Hopefully going to a shop later on to pick up some tools to unlock it, from what I understand it's nothing heavy duty which is good. We are probably about half way there to getting in because two (possibly three) of the locks, or whatever they're called, were figured out and there's definitely four of them in there.

[Llama Juice]

People throw a shit fit about people owning lock picks because they're considered a "burglary tool" so if you have them in your car when you get pulled over and the cop sees it, he CAN arrest you if you're not a licensed locksmith. A lot of law enforcement agencies consider them to be evidence of felonus intent, so it's totally fair for them to arrest you.

My step dad is a retired sherrif, he started questioning me about why I had lock picks in my truck a long while ago. (My father is a locksmith)

E: Also, was I the only one expecting to find this (http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/215251) when opening this thread?