Method first
Door opening in El Campello without breaking the lock
Most front doors open through the lock itself, with nothing to show for it afterwards. What it takes depends on the door: a latch pulled shut, a euro cylinder turned twice, an armoured door with a long key. Here is how each one is dealt with.
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- Nothing broken in most cases
- You are asked before any drilling
- Proof of address first
Doors in this town
The front doors we meet from Muchavista to the Carritxal
The town hall’s list of named buildings gives a fair picture of what is behind El Campello’s front doors: about 180 apartment buildings, some 75 residential complexes, around 70 blocks of apartments, and a couple of dozen bungalow developments and groups of detached houses, besides the older homes of the centre and the fishermen’s quarter. Each brings its own kind of door.
- Flats in blocks along Muchavista and the centre: usually a reinforced door with a euro cylinder, sometimes with a second, top lock.
- Ground-floor houses of Carrer la Mar: doors straight onto the street behind the promenade, often older locks that have lived with sea air for years.
- Bungalows and residenciales: your own door, with a communal portal or pool gate in front of it that has its own lock.
- Villas in Coveta Fumà, Cala d’Or and the hills: heavier doors, often armoured, and a garden gate before them.
- The cobbled lanes of Pueblo Acantilado: a complex built to look like an old fishing village, where the right door is easier to find with a photo of it.
How it is done
Three ways in, in the order they are tried
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Slipping the latch
A door that was only pulled shut, with no key turned, is held by the latch alone. A thin, flexible tool slides between door and frame and draws it back. Quick, and it leaves no mark.
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Opening the cylinder
A door locked with the key is opened through the cylinder by picking or by an impression method. The cylinder keeps working, and so do your keys when they turn up.
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Drilling, as a last resort
A high-protection cylinder or a broken mechanism may leave nothing else. Only the cylinder is destroyed, a new one goes in on the spot, and you agree to it before it happens.
Whether a cylinder is worth upgrading after it has been opened is a separate decision, covered on the lock change page.
Before anything is touched
Why you are asked to prove it is your door
Opening a door for the wrong person would be the worst thing a locksmith could do, so the check is the same for everyone: a document with the address, a rental contract or booking, or the owner on the phone. If your papers are inside, the door is opened in front of you and you show them before anyone goes in.
For a tenant, the landlord’s number helps; for a holiday guest, the manager or host. Owners of lets will find how this works for their guests on the holiday rentals page.
The visit
What happens at the door
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A look at the lock
Type of door, type of cylinder, whether it is latched or locked, and whether a key is in it on the inside.
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Your proof and the price
You show that it is your home, and the price is agreed before work starts.
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The quietest method that will work
Latch, then cylinder, then drill. You are told which one and why.
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A check with you inside
Lock and unlock from both sides before anyone leaves, so you know the door is right.
If you are shut out right now, go straight to the emergency service. For a portal or pool gate that will not open for the whole community, see communal doors and gates. A terrace slider that has locked itself is a different mechanism, handled on the sliding doors page.
A common one
The morning door that clicks shut
The classic case is a door pulled to on the way out, keys on the hall table. Why it is usually quick, and how to make sure it does not happen twice, is in locked out on the school run to Villa Marco. Every way of reaching us is on the contact page.
Asked on the phone
What people ask about their own door
Will the door look any different afterwards?
When it opens through the latch or the cylinder, no: there is nothing to see. When a cylinder has to be drilled, the door and frame are untouched and only the cylinder is replaced, with new keys.
Our armoured door has a lock with a long double-bitted key. Can that be opened?
Yes, though it takes longer than a euro cylinder, and the method depends on the make. A photo of the lock and the key, if you have a spare one with someone, helps choose the right approach before the visit.
The key is in the lock on the inside. Is that a problem?
It can be. A key left in the inside of some cylinders blocks the usual methods from the outside. Say so when you ring, so the right tools come with us.
What do you need to see before opening?
Something that ties you to the address: an ID or padrón certificate with it, a rental contract, a booking confirmation, or the owner or the community president confirming it on the phone.
Can you open the door to a storeroom or a garage in the residencial?
Yes, if it belongs to you or the community has asked for it. Communal doors and gates are usually opened at the request of the president or the administrador.
Next along the line
Often needed after the door opens
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A cylinder that resists snapping
New euro cylinders, snap-resistant and anti-bump upgrades, tired multipoint gearboxes: planned work on a day that suits you.
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Help the same night
Keys left inside, a key snapped in the cylinder, a lock that stopped turning on the way out: ring at any hour and someone answers.
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Communal door repairs
Portal doors, pool gates, pedestrian doors into the garage and master-keyed systems, for presidents and administradores of residential communities.
Guides that deal with this
A door you cannot open?
Tell us what kind of door it is and how it was left. A photo on WhatsApp is the best start.
Open 24 hours · 7 days