Attempted break-in?

[JustAsking]

Just new here, trying to troubleshoot:

How can I tell if someone has tried to pick the lock of my door knob?

Tried to re-enter my house this morning after forgetting something and my key wouldn't work. Wouldn't even fit inside the lock past a few millimeters. It worked fine the night before.

Upon closer inspection the lock appears to be ground down in a small circle around the bottom half of the keyhole. The lock is less than a year old. We rent a renovated house (reno. complete in Apr '13), moved in June.

Also, the weather is frigid here. This isn't a warm day which might cause the lock to stick.

Our neighborhood is "patchy" so it's a real concern.

Thanks for any advice.

[Squelchtone]

Hi,

It will be hard to tell without a photo..

Please take a nice sharp crystal clear close up and upload to http://imgur.com or to http://tinypic.com and then Copy/Paste the link here.

Picking usually doesnt damage a lock to the point where a key cannot be inserted. bumping is another story as far as violent deformation of the lock face and pin stacks.. a guy in Los Angeles named datagram has a good forensic site that deals with this topic.

poke around his site: http://www.lockpickingforensics.com/

Squelchtone

[JoshuaWest]

the lock appears to be ground down in a small circle around the bottom half of the keyhole.

I agree completely that am image is needed for proper input, but in my minds eye, this sounds like a poor drilling attempt.
--> Take with a grain of salt for now.

[KPick]

By the text of it, it sounds like you have like an attempt at breaking your lock with a screwdriver or some straight object that can be inserted into the lock..

But I can't tell you more without more images Josh.

[cledry]

Sorry, but cold has a more adverse effect than warmth on a lock cylinder.

The lock should have a countersunk area to ease the entry of the key, possibly you just haven't noticed it before.

If you have kids, perhaps look for a foreign object in the lock, plastic fork tines, toothpicks, matches, paperclips, spaghetti, and mulch are commonly found inside locks.

[daniel22747]

Sounds like someone that doesn't know what they are doing may have tried to compromise your lock using a method of forced entry of some type. Picking would not do that. Maybe bumping if someone realy wacked away with a hammer?

Might want to try making look like someone is home when you are away using timmers to control lights and a radio. Main hours of burglary are from around 8 am to about 4 pm, when people are away at work and school.

I live in a somewhat poorer neighborhood and use these methods to make it look like someone is home when I am at work. Never had a break in yet. (However I think the rate of burglary is low in my neighborhood anyways).

Also get a new lock. Schlages are good for defeating pickers that have little experience.

[Squelchtone]

[EDIT: Post moved to Questions from the Public - This Old Lock]

OP has not been on since 3/13, who knows if or when they will be back..

[parkourer]

[EDIT: Post moved to Questions from the Public - This Old Lock]

OP has not been on since 3/13, who knows if or when they will be back..

That's pretty scary if you think about it

[JoshuaWest]

[EDIT: Post moved to Questions from the Public - This Old Lock]

OP has not been on since 3/13, who knows if or when they will be back..

That's pretty scary if you think about it

The implications are a little disconcerting.
Guess someone did get in. Haha