Getting locked in the bathroom by mistake is not a pretty feeling at all and you keep wondering how to unlock bathroom door twist lock, right?
Well, it’s worse when you have an appointment to keep but you’re locked and stuck in the bathroom with no way out.
The frustration that comes with this mercilessly slices through the veins and muscles in your body, especially when you didn’t go into the bathroom with your phone. So, no locksmith can come to get you.
The solution is to pick the lock yourself. Keep reading to discover how to open a locked bathroom door to save yourself and a loved one if they ever get in that mess.
6 Ways To Unlock Bathroom Door Twist Lock
You can unlock it in many ways like:
- With a paper clip
- With a credit card
- With a bobby pin
- With a wire coat hanger
- The locksmith technique
- The take-it-off technique
As you can see, there are so many methods you can employ when it comes to opening a locked bathroom door. Forgot your keys?
Don’t worry, we’ll show you some of the proven and tested methods you can adopt to bail yourself out of a locked bathroom door situation.
Before we begin…
The first thing you want to do before you try any unlock mechanism is to determine the kind of lock you’re dealing with.
The common bathroom locks adopted into homes these days are either the pushbutton doorknob or a twisting lock mechanism.
These doorknobs usually have emergency access that comes in form of a circular hole resident at the center of the door. This emergency access is on the outer part of the doorknob.
Once you know what type of lock you’re dealing with, you’ve taken a step towards unlocking the door.
In essence, you’re either opening a locked bathroom door without a keyhole or a door with a hole on the outside in place of a keyhole.
Note that the design of your door, with or without a keyhole, is what determines the unlocking technique that works for your situation.
THE PAPER CLIP TECHNIQUE
The first hack is to try to unlock the door with a paper clip. It works every time and is one of the easiest methods for unlocking a twist lock.
Start by straightening the paper clip for the purpose of picking the lock. Then, check for the location of the hole on the knob.
By design, it sits in the center of the handle. If you can’t see a hole there, check the curve of the metal that runs into the door.
Next, push the clip into the hole and run it around in the knob like you’re looking for something. Keep moving the clip around inside the knob until you hit the locking mechanism in the knob.
You’ll know when this happens after you feel the clip latch onto something in the knob or make a click sound. Unlocking the bathroom door with a hole on the side without your key is somewhat of an easy task.
Watch this video to learn this technique!
THE TAKE-IT-OFF TECHNIQUE
There’s no paper clip in sight? No problem! Simply take off the doorknob. While some folks might opt for breaking the knob off the door like in the cool action movies, there’s a more subtle approach to this method.
To take off the knob, a sturdy screwdriver would come in handy. Simply screw off the mounting screws that hold the knob to the door.
While some doors make it easy for you to access the mounting screws, others have their mounting screws inside the knob.
In this case, use a butter knife or a sharp object to take off the part of the knob that joins with the door. Once it’s off, you’ll see the mounting screws. The goal is to loosen the mounting screws.
With the mounting screws off, the knob would fall off nicely. Then, you can screw it back in place nicely.
THE CREDIT CARD TECHNIQUE
If you happen to carry your credit card around the house with you or it’s in a place you can easily access, your card could be converted into a temporary key.
However, if you’re worried that you might break the card or damage it someway, try something else like a non-functional gift card.
Note that this technique can only work with a door that has a latch bolt locking mechanism and that has an angled edge positioned towards you.
With the card, push the angled edge of the latch bolt inside the door.
THE BOBBY PIN TECHNIQUE
Here, you’ll be required to pick the lock with bobby pins just like in those movies you’ve watched.
The only difference is that it will take a while for you to unlock the knob with bobby pins compared to the time used to unlock the knob in movies.
Straighten two bobby pins so you can use it as a substitute key. Then, send it into the bottom of the keyhole.
Wiggle the pin around inside the lock till you hear a click or feel pressure. Then, deploy the pressure you feel inside by turning the pin against it by handling the pin as though it were a key.
Boom! You’ve unlocked the door. As earlier stated, realistically, using bobby pins to unlock your door takes longer than it does in movies.
THE WIRE COAT HANGER TECHNIQUE/ PULL THE BOLT TECHNIQUE
To make this happen with this technique, you’ll need a lot of patience and a blend of wire coat hanger. This works fine for doors with latch bolts.
For starters, mold the hanger into the shape of a long handle with a hook at its tail end. Then, push the hook into the space that exists between the jamb and the door edge.
You’ll be able to hook the latch bolt after which you’ll pull the hanger towards yourself. With your other hand, keep turning the knob while you pull the hanger towards your direction.
Viola! The door opens. This is how to unlock bathroom door from outside. It could work if you’re inside too.
THE LOCKSMITH TECHNIQUE
If for some reason you’ve still not been able to unlock the door, or you do not have any of this equipment around, then, you should call the locksmith to bail you out.
Although this option seems easy, it should be the last resort. The reason? It might come with hefty spending that you didn’t plan for. But, if all else fails, then take it in good fate and call the locksmith.
Now, watch this video to learn several methods of unlocking such bathroom keys.
Rough Ways You Can Try Out To Unlock Bathroom Lock
Now, if those unique and smart ways don’t work out well for you, there are some rough ways you can try.
But only do these when it’s very urgent to get access to your bathroom. Otherwise, wait for a locksmith to come and help you out.
So, here are some more ways to unlock a door-
- The Hammer Method
Use this as your last resort and only opt for this one if nothing else works at all. Because in this case, you will be breaking the lock of your, and there is no fixing it either.
The method is pretty simple; you just have to keep bashing the lock until it breaks completely.
- The Drill Method
This is another last resort you can go for when nothing works. Sometimes, using a hammer can damage your door along with the lock.
To avoid damaging your door and only work on the lock, you can use a drill.
You will need to be very careful when you are using this method. Because even a little misalignment can be dangerous to you, you can damage the door as well.
Just drill a hole on top of the keyhole where the lock is usually placed and use a screwdriver to open the lock.
- The Butter Knife Method
Well, you can use a butter knife to make your way through the locked door. This works for a push-button bathroom lock much better.
All you have to do is put the butter knife in the keyhole, then twist until you hear the release of the lock.
Now, one thing to look out for here is that you will need a strong, sturdy knife.
Because it’s very easy to break a knife while twisting it when it’s halfway inside the door lock, also, try choosing a knife that isn’t very sharp as you don’t want to cut your hands in the process.
- The Hinge Removal Method
If you want to avoid damaging the door or the lock, there is one way to fix this issue. You can remove the hinges of the door to unlock it from the other way.
Well, you can only do this if you have access to the door hinges in the first place.
All you do here is take a screwdriver and remove the screws on the door hinges. This way, you can take off the entire door from the other end without damaging anything at all.
This is also the last resort option because come on, who would want to remove their entire door as a solution?
As you can see, these aren’t the solutions you should be going for immediately. So, make sure you tried the 6 ways above first. Only go for these when you are out of any option at all.
Things To Be Careful Of
There are some things you should always keep in mind. Especially if you get locked inside the bathroom, you should keep these things in mind.
- First of all, you have to remain calm when you get locked inside. Because the more you panic, the more you will lose focus, and it will harm you. Also, you won’t be able to develop any solution at all, so make sure to stay calm.
- Now, if you are locked inside, you probably don’t have any tool to help you out with unlocking the door. In that case, the best possible way is to break the door down or find another way to get out.
- Try keeping some plastic cards or tools inside your bathroom so you can have emergency uses of them. Also, get door locks that are easy to open with such items in case of emergencies.
Conclusion
Now that you’ve educated yourself on how to unlock bathroom door twist lock, you might want to consider putting some of this equipment in places where you can easily find and reach out to them when necessary.
You do not need to break the lock wherever you have a problem with the lock. It would only incur unnecessary expenses. Instead, when next you go to the market, you’ll do well to shop for a lock-picking set and put it around the door.
It would help you deflate emergency situations. Mistakes happen all the time. But won’t you rather be prepared for it?