Old door with retro lock to mysterious room!

[Foomin1]

Beginner lock picker here! I have a few basic tools and no experience with picking locks, but im determined to learn! My apartment building is a tri-plex and has a room in the basement that is locked and cannot be accessed because our landlord lost the key (fire hazard amirite?). It's driving everyone in the building crazy not knowing what's in there so I thought I might try picking the lock. Apparently it's just a storage room our landlord uses to keep her stuff in, but shes old and doesn't even remember what's in there. It's kinda spooky too because it's right below my bedroom, what secrets does it hide?!?!?!

From what I can tell it's a rather old door (most likely the original from the 50's-60's when the building was built), and as you can see from my picture the deadbolt is up near the knob and not next to the keyhole itself. I have successfully pushed up the first two pins in the lock but I can't get any more up. I used a screwdriver with a flat head as a tension wrench and a simple pick. I'm not really hearing or feeling any of the characteristic clicking of the pins when I poke around near the back so I have no clue if I'm really getting anywhere.

Any recommendations on any specific picks I might need or techniques to use? Would a raking tool be helpful? I'm planning on buying some more basic tools, but considering how old the lock is I'm beginning to wonder if this is going to be a little more difficult than I had anticipated. Also any thoughts on how many pins it might have? What type of lock do you guys think it is?

Help me open my chamber of secrets!

[femurat]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

We don't pick locks in use because of many reasons.
We just pick our own locks. In this case you may have explicit permission from your landlady, but we have no way to verify it.
You can break a lock by attempting to pick it. Especially if you're a beginner.

If you need that door open, I suggest you call a locksmith to make a key for that lock. It would be cheaper in the end, because you won't need to fix the lock you've accidentally broken or the door that you broke after you lose your temper

If you're determined to learn how to pick, buy an old lock and play with it. If it breaks you risk nothing.

Cheers

[Squelchtone]

My reply to OPs Introduce yourself here post: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=58015&p=465914#p465914

Squelchtone
Forum Admin

[Tyler J. Thomas]

Why you guys gotta poo poo his attempt to unlock TEH CHAMBER OF SEKRETS?

[Foomin1]

Thanks for the responses guys! Sorry if my post is on the grey area of the terms and conditions here, I get it though. I'll delete the post if it's an issue!

[johnb007]

Do you really want to find the bones of her missing husband and free the ghost? Arrgghhhhhhhhhh.

[Jacob Morgan]

That is an interesting looking lock, anyone know what it is?

[74TR6]

I've seen an example of the that type of integrated lock; it was a early Weiser

As for attempting to pick the lock landlord's storage room out of curiosity, the possibility of damage to lock and legal issues have been well covered in above replies

[Squelchtone]

I've seen an example of the that type of integrated lock; it was a early Weiser

ding ding ding, we have a winner:

from ebay: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/161840640819

[sisk]

If you can get permission from your landlord with her understanding that there's a risk of breaking the lock the you've got a very lenient landlord indeed. Picking someone else's lock which is in use just to satisfy your curiosity is risky and illegal.

In this particular situation you'd not only be breaking and entering, but if your landlord took offense at your picking of her lock you may well be out on the streets. And if you broke the lock, which is very easy to do as a beginner, then you're really in trouble.

[jeffmoss26]

Very interesting Weiser!
Schlage made an interconnected lockset like that...a couple condos around here still use them. I have a 1981 Schlage manual with full parts breakdowns.

[Jacob Morgan]

I've seen an example of the that type of integrated lock; it was a early Weiser

ding ding ding, we have a winner

Thanks for the photos and for the ID. It looks like it would have been fairly easy to install--no large holes to drill. But maybe sticks out too far to work with a storm door? Nice styling with the eBay lock--it is decorated without being gaudy.

[Robotnik]

Very interesting Weiser!
Schlage made an interconnected lockset like that...a couple condos around here still use them. I have a 1981 Schlage manual with full parts breakdowns.

I saw one of the Schlage interconnected locksets (G series, IIRC?) attached to a door at the ReStore the other week. Was going to pick it up, but my wife very gently told me to not even f*****g think about it . Haven't played around with the G's before, but have rebuilt a couple E series assemblies recently.

[Tyler J. Thomas]

Very interesting Weiser!
Schlage made an interconnected lockset like that...a couple condos around here still use them. I have a 1981 Schlage manual with full parts breakdowns.

I saw one of the Schlage interconnected locksets (G series, IIRC?) attached to a door at the ReStore the other week. Was going to pick it up, but my wife very gently told me to not even f*****g think about it . Haven't played around with the G's before, but have rebuilt a couple E series assemblies recently.

G or H, H replaced G. Both interconnected series from Schlage.

I'll never forget one of my first calls ever. Lock out with a G series lock on the door. Knob trim. Couldn't pick it for the life of me. Definitely couldn't just freely drill/swap out because I obviously didn't have a replacement. Awesome. Eventually drilled out the cylinder in a way that only damaged the cylinder. She had an additional deadbolt on the door so I threw an LSDA KIK cylinder in with no tail piece (basically it just filled the hole so that you couldn't just unlock it from the outside with a screwdriver) and was done. The lock could still be secured from the inside but on the outside it couldn't be unlocked. She said she was fine with this as long as she could keep the hardware.

Dodged a bullet there.

[billdeserthills]

If you can get permission from your landlord with her understanding that there's a risk of breaking the lock the you've got a very lenient landlord indeed. Picking someone else's lock which is in use just to satisfy your curiosity is risky and illegal.

In this particular situation you'd not only be breaking and entering, but if your landlord took offense at your picking of her lock you may well be out on the streets. And if you broke the lock, which is very easy to do as a beginner, then you're really in trouble.

I still have the latches for this lock laying around