Locksmithing 101

Had a little problem with my rental today; the door knob loosened, stopped opening and locked my tenant out.

We got a locksmith out (thanks to Chels for finding one) who in his broken English said he was surprised that such a nice condo would use a restroom door knob for the front door (he seemed most surprised that the door knob wasn’t keyed.) Fortunately he had opened the door in about two minutes using two air wedge devices. Except the door has a closer on it and rapidly closed keeping us locked out and with it half of his tool set that had fallen in. He swore a lot but was able to get it open again regardless. It was interesting to see how quickly he got the door open without any visible damage.

With the door now open he examined the door knob and proclaimed it broken and proceeded to try and upsell me a new door knob and dead bolt for a crazy amount of money. Much back and forth ensued and he finally attempted to fix it which took all of 30 seconds. He then explained that sometimes he is nice and helps out and other times rips people off. This time he was being nice. I was thankful, at $180 to get the door open I felt I had spent enough.

If you have a favorite Seattle locksmith, let us know in the comments.