Method, not muscle
Door opening in Aspe, worked through the lock and not the frame
Opening a door well means keeping the door. In Aspe that might be a heavy wooden door in the old centre, a flat door at the top of a stair in Huerta Mayor, an armoured door, a villa door in Santa Elena or a gate at the end of a country track. Each one is opened its own way.
Open 24 hours · 7 days
- Through the latch or the cylinder first
- Drilling only with your agreement
- Price agreed before any work
The principle
Why the lock is tried before anything else
A lock is a cheap part; a door, a frame and the plaster round it are not. So the locksmith works through the parts that were made to move: the latch, which slides back when a door has only been pulled shut, and the cylinder, which can be turned without its key on most ordinary doors. Only when neither is possible is the cylinder drilled or removed, and that is explained to you, with the price, before it happens.
If the cylinder has to go, a new one is fitted on the same visit if you want it: see lock change and repair.
Door by door
Town house, flat, villa or gate: how each one opens
Town houses in the old centre
The oldest streets lie round the Basílica del Socorro and the Plaza Mayor, a core of lanes the council's own planning report traces back to the town's medieval layout. Town houses of that age often have a solid wooden street door with a mortice lock set inside the timber. These are opened with care for the wood: a split stile is a carpenter's job, not a locksmith's.
Flats behind a shared street door
La Coca, La Prosperidad and Huerta Mayor are the densest part of town, blocks of flats on narrow streets. There are two doors to pass: the street door of the block, then yours. The flat door usually has a euro cylinder, and that is where it is opened.
Armoured and high-security doors
Armoured doors (puertas blindadas) and doors with anti-snap cylinders are built to resist exactly this. They can still often be opened without harm, but it takes longer and you are told what to expect first.
Houses with a front garden and a gate
The 1957 Sagrado Corazón houses were built as single-family homes with a front garden, and most still have one: a garden gate before the front door. Villas in the urbanisations add a driveway gate. Gates are opened first when they stand between you and the house.
Fincas and country houses
A finca can have a gate on the track, the house door, and several outbuildings, all with different locks. Those houses have a page of their own: locks for fincas and villas.
Shops, offices and units
Glass shopfronts, office doors and the side doors of industrial units are covered on the commercial page.
On the day
The order things are done in at your door
-
The door is identified
Type of door, type of lock, and whether it was only pulled shut or locked with the key.
-
You are told the method and the price
Before any tool touches the lock, so you can say yes or no.
-
The door is opened
At the latch or through the cylinder whenever the door allows it.
-
The lock is checked
If it was worn or damaged, you hear that, and whether it can wait.
Before you call
Two guides that may save a visit
- A front door that won’t latch in summer: when the trouble is the wood, not the lock.
- An inherited house with no keys: papers to gather before anyone opens the door.
For a door that has to be opened tonight, go straight to the emergency call-out page. The list of places we go covers the town and the three neighbouring towns, and the contact page has every way to reach us.
Asked on the phone
What people want to know about opening a door
Will my door be damaged when it is opened?
In most cases, no. A door that was only pulled shut is opened at the latch, and a locked one through the cylinder. Drilling is the last resort, it is explained to you first, and it goes ahead only if you agree.
The door was double-locked with the key. Is that harder?
It takes longer, because the bolt has to be drawn through the cylinder rather than slipping the latch. Many cylinders still allow it. If yours is an anti-snap or high-security model, you are told what that means before anything is done.
Do I need to prove the house is mine?
Yes, and it protects you as much as anyone. An ID with the address, a rental contract, a utility bill or a neighbour who knows you. If the papers are inside, they are checked as soon as the door is open.
Can you open the street door of the block as well as the flat?
Yes, if you live there and nobody can let you in. With a communal door the community or the administrator decides on any change to the lock afterwards, not the locksmith.
The gate of our villa is locked and the house keys are inside. Which do you open first?
The gate, usually, because it is in the way. Gate locks are often simpler than the house door. Say what kind it is on the phone: a padlock, a lock box welded to the gate or an electric lock.
What people ask for next
With the door open again, what next
- A worn cylinder replaced The lock is tired, or I want a different one
- Country-house doors and gates The house is out of town, with a gate and outbuildings
- A call-out at any hour I’m outside my own door and it can’t wait
Guides on the same subject
Describe the door, hear the method
Ring and describe it, or send a photo of the lock on WhatsApp; the method and the price are explained before anything is done.
Open 24 hours · 7 days