Through the lock first
Door opening in Villena, worked out from the door in front of us
How a door is opened depends on the door: an old timber door under the castle, an armoured door in a newer flat and the entrance of a house in the campo are three different jobs.
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Four kinds of Villena door, four ways in
The town grew from a medieval core round the Atalaya out to new barrios and fifteen pedanías, and its doors follow the same timeline.
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Tall wooden doors in the historic centre
Around Calle Mayor and the Plaza de Santiago, where a house keeps its original timber door, the lock is often an old box lock, or a mortice lock with a modern cylinder added later. We open through whichever of the two is locked, and leave the timber alone.
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Hillside houses in El Rabal
Houses here were built in different centuries, some cut back into the rock, and the frames are rarely square. A door that has settled can pinch its own bolt; part of opening it is taking the load off first.
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Flat doors in the barrios
Plain wooden doors in older blocks, often with a single cylinder, and armoured doors in newer ones with several bolts thrown at once. The street door of the building is a separate lock, and sometimes the one that is the problem.
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Entrances of campo houses
Solid doors, a gate before them and often a padlock somewhere too. The house may have been shut for weeks of frost. We open the way in that does least harm, then look at what the cold has done to the rest.
From the latch to the drill, in that order
Each step is only taken if the one before it will not work, and you are told before we move on.
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Latch only
If the door was pulled to and not locked, the latch can usually be slipped without a mark.
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Through the cylinder
Picking or bypassing the lock, which leaves it working afterwards.
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Cylinder out
If the cylinder is broken or too secure to open, it is taken out and a new one fitted.
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Drilling, last
Only when nothing else works, with the price agreed first and the door left lockable.
Why the door matters more here than the lock
- 1968
The year Villena’s old town was declared a historic-artistic ensemble. The doors there are worth keeping, so we open them without marking the wood.
- Since the 1850s
El Rabal has climbed the hillside, with houses from several periods and some dug into the limestone. Frames that are not square need a gentler hand.
- 15 pedanías
Settlements outside the town where the house may stand empty for weeks. A door shut through a frost often needs freeing before it can be opened.
After the door is open
If the cylinder survived, you carry on as before. If it did not, or if the keys were lost rather than locked in, it is worth changing the cylinder so nobody else can use them. If the door was opened because someone tried to get in, start with what to do after a burglary.
For a house in the countryside, the same visit can take in the gate and the outbuildings: see rural properties.
On the doorstep in the cold?
This page is about method. If you are on the doorstep, the page for a locksmith in the middle of the night is the one you want, or just ring. Writing first is fine too: the contact page says how. Two guides go deeper: old doors in El Rabal and what frost does to a lock.
About opening your particular door
Can you open an armoured door without breaking it?
Often, yes, if the door was pulled shut rather than locked with the key. Locked armoured doors depend on the cylinder fitted: some open through the lock, others need the cylinder removed and replaced, which is planned with you before we start.
My house in the old town has a huge old lock. Will you have to change it?
Not to open it. Old box locks can usually be opened and kept. If you then want a modern cylinder as well, it can be added without changing the look of the door.
What happens if the door cannot be opened through the lock?
We explain why before doing anything else and tell you the price of the next option, usually drilling and replacing the cylinder. A new cylinder goes in on the same visit, so the door locks when we leave.
The street door of my building is the one that will not open. Is that the same job?
It is the same kind of work, but the door belongs to the community, so the president or the administrator needs to know. We can open it for you and leave the repair for them to authorise.
Tell us which door it is
Old timber, armoured, a block’s street door or a campo house: a photo on WhatsApp tells us most of what we need before we set off.
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