I have a room in my basement and accidentally locked myself out of it - EDITED -

[MIButterfly]

Last edited Fri May 8, 2026, 09:23 PM - Edit history (2)

The previous owner had it set up as a bedroom with a full bathroom attached. I use it as my home office. I have a desk, PC, printer, file cabinet and TV in there. I've lived here 17 years and never before shut the door to that room, so imagine my surprise and annoyance when I went to open the door and found it locked. I tried using a credit card, a screwdriver and a bobby pin to open it, all to no avail. The only thing left to do was to call a locksmith, which I didn't want to do because of the expense, but I finally got the number of the locksmith I'd used before from the HOA.

I watch a lot of true crime on TV and in one story, a father used a coat hanger to open his daughter's locked bedroom door. I figured, what do I have to lose? I put the bent top of the hanger in the little hole and voila! The door popped right open! What a relief! I guess when I tried using the bobby pin, I didn't push it far enough into the hole. The first thing I did was press the lock to keep it unlocked, but I found out that when the door is up against the wall, it pushes the button in so I put a paperweight between the door and the wall until I can get a door stopper.

That door was locked for a good amount of time. I am nothing if not a terrible procrastinator. I hated having to go to the library to print and of course, Holly hated having the door locked because she likes to sleep in her cat bed that's in that room. But all's well that ends well. And I didn't have to pay a locksmith!

Edited to add: I hated having to go to the library to pay to print out copies when I have a perfectly good printer at home. I LOVE the library. I go there all the time. It's important to me to clarify that.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. What a great story! And with a happy ending too!

[CozyMystery]

2. Thanks! I'm gonna remember than hanger trick! nt

[MIButterfly]

6. Who knew?

I had no idea. Being a true crime buff paid off big time for me!

It just goes to show you, you never know what tiny bit of knowledge will pay off somewhere down the road.

[SWBTATTReg]

3. I love the way you tell this story! "The Mystery of the Locked Room" or "The Cat in the Locked Room", etc.

Thank goodness that you did manage to figure out how to unlock the room. Maybe you can just disable the locking mechanism of the door lock by dismantling the door lock, and leaving out a critical component out when you reassemble the lock. But more than likely, it's all tied together so when you put it all back together again, you'll need all of the components/pieces of the door lock.

Have a nice day (and your cat too!)...

[MIButterfly]

4. Better title would be "Cat Locked out of the Room" not "The Cat in the Locked Room"

I shut the door to keep the cats out. I don't remember why I wanted to keep them out; they're allowed full run of the house. Senior moment, I guess.

You have a nice day too!

[applegrove]

5. We had door knobs at the cottage that had a little hole in the center. A simple nail would unlock them.

[MIButterfly]

7. Where were you when I needed you, applegrove?

Just kidding, of course.

[applegrove]

8. LOL!

[bamagal62]

9. We took our kids to the spy museum

when they were little and they both bought a lock picking kit in the museum store.
The kits have come in handy more than once!!!

[MIButterfly]

10. A lock picking kit that actually picks real locks

from a spy museum? Wow. That's really something. I'm surprised locksmiths didn't try to get them banned. How cool it worked out so well for you! Do you still have them?

[doc03]

11. Better than being locked in. nt

[MIButterfly]

12. True dat!

[Alpeduez21]

13. For those that don't have metal coat hangers:

The inside plastic tube from a Bic pen works for that. Really that ink tube from any pen. Use the non writing end. The ball point is too thick