Help-lost key makes a sad woman!

[magician59]

Thanks for the advice guys. It's not urgent, it's already been 2 weeks since it happened & I have a dog to guard. It would just be nice to be able to access the front of the house again as the side door is rather awkward. The front lock looks to have been installed by a farmer-the entire thing is upside down & one has to turn it locked to open it & unlocked to lock it. There are a few shifty characters floating around here every so often & I worry for my laptop etc when I'm not home. It's 3 hours to the nearest small town so it's not practical to hire a smith & buying expensive lock picking tools for one job seems overkill. The door is locked, so as far as I know, I can't take the lock out, though I did take the plate off one side as seen in the pic. Thanks for being so helpful MrWizard. I shall certainly try that first!

Wow! You certainly have very expensive smiths in your area...if it is not practical to hire one to protect your laptop (Or, maybe you just have very cheap laptops).

[Doogs]

Ok! A single woman with a ranch house in bumfuck Australia. Yeah I'm available and can fix that for you in a jif Sheila.

By the way I'm single with a Brit passport.

Do you have a landcruiser and a boat?

Ah it doesn't matter. Buy a good cattle dog and no probs lass locks won't be needed.

I'll still come visit if you like and fix you up because it's bloody cold right now in the Great White North.

Just taking the piss. Hope you got it straightened out but quite frankly a lock on that door is about as useful as tits on a bull.

You can probably pick that lock with a coat hanger and some patience the upside being you'll have a sense of empowerment and look at things in a different and positive "can do" way.

[jones]

Use a hacksaw blade or better yet a die grinder with a cut-off wheel & cut through the deadbolt portion of your lock, then replace with a new or used one
You can likely press back the springlatch portion of the latch to gain entry. If you are real careful or if the deadbolt is under 5/8" long you should be able to carefully
spread that doorway and just push or pull the door open... Then you'll still have the latch part working, which should keep the dog inside

[Neilau]

If you are real careful or if the deadbolt is under 5/8" long you should be able to carefully
spread that doorway and just push or pull the door open... Then you'll still have the latch part working, which should keep the dog inside

Use a Hi Lift jack off the Land Cruiser and a couple of blocks of wood to spread the door frame . Place it horizontally across the door just above the lock.

From the look of the gap you will only need to spread it less than 1/2 inch. Note, don't use an hydraulic jack.

Get a cheap hasp and hinged staple to screw onto the door and frame plus a cheap pad lock till you can get a replacement lock.

When you get the replacement, keep the old lock, open it up and study the workings........you are now on your way.

Good luck.

[Riyame]

Please note that OP has not been back since September. Any other advise would be pretty much useless.

[keymaster1053]

Well, I may as well chime in here, that is a crazy amount of space between the door and the jam on the lock side, worst case scenario, you could use a hacksaw blade, and literally cut that bolt while the door is closed! You would then be able to remove the lock, but still at some point would have to venture out to a locksmith for a new one, but you could do all this yourself without paying someone to come to you. The other suggestion is what I also would try first, for just a few bucks on Ebay, you can have a couple of keys mailed to you to try.
I will try to explain some of my fellow forumer's sarcastic replies, at least half of us (myself included) are actual locksmiths, and you would be surprised how many people sign up here, and their first post is "How do I defeat this lock?" we have no idea if you are a criminal looking for an easy score, or a legitimate stuck homeowner (which I'm sure you are), but that's why a lot of us answered the way we did.
Believe it or not, this type of lock is a lot harder than today's standard locks like Schlage, Arrow, and the like. There are High security locks that are harder than yours like Medeco, Dom, Mul-t-lock, etc. but you need special tools/skills for your type of lock.
Hope this helps, keep us informed!
Jim.