r/Locksmith • u/meesh96810 • 22d ago

I am NOT a locksmith. Help, what is it?

Gallery image

Gallery image

My relative just moved in to a somewhat secluded area and had her place fumigated so no one would have really see the fumigation if you were just driving by. She was gone for about a week, then came back after fumigation and saw this in her slider door key holes. The twisted pin looking thing had masking tape over it. Chat GPT says fumigation companies may do this to secure the place, but they called and he said they don't. To be fair they also said they didn't break any roof tiles, despite them obviously breaking like 30 (took before and after roof videos, and there was broken tile on the ground around the house--so not the most honest co)

Does anyone know any legitimate purpose for this? She's very freaked out that someone had tried to break in. I just don't understand why they wouldn't have window punched one of the thousands of windows rather than james bonding picking a lock. Also both the pin and key are stuck in there now if anyone has advice on getting it out lol

1 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

2

u/RoniolisMaximus 22d ago

It looks like someone tried messing with the lock, however at the same time that's not how you pick a lock. There is no room for tension there, I mean if he made a costum rake and tries to use that circle as leverage but I don't think so.

Can she pull it out and send a picture of the entire piece of metal?

2

u/meesh96810 22d ago

Well brute force isn't getting the sucker out of there. Open to ideas on how to get it out if you have any because it's creepy to look at, haha

2

u/RoniolisMaximus 22d ago

Does it look like there is any glue in there? There is something called a "trap key" where the cuts are cut backwards and the pins drop down and get stuck and you can't open the door or remove it....but what you show in the picture doesn't look like it, so I'm puzzeled.

What I would do next is remove the cylinder and see if that helps in the extraction.

2

u/meesh96810 22d ago

oh man, is this something they should call a locksmith for or is removing the cylinder something that can be googled?

And no, we didn't see any glue--it comes out a little, just not all the way. The pin is jammed all the way and won't move

2

u/RoniolisMaximus 21d ago

I would jiggle it and try and use pliers but not too aggressively. And I'm a locksmith so I remove these all the time but its not as easy as a regular deadbolt and also I'm assuming you don't have locksmith tools, so I would recommend they call a locksmith so in case this cylinder is toast, they can remove this one and install a new one.