A2 · Method first
Door opening in Ibi, through the latch before anything else
Flat doors in the blocks built when Ibi tripled in size, armoured doors, the street door of a building, garden gates and the old timber doors of a mas out in the partides. Each one opens a different way, and almost all of them open without damage.
Open 24 hours · 7 days
- Latch first, then cylinder
- Drilling only with your agreement
- Proof of address checked
The first question
It depends how the door was closed
Pulled shut, a door is held by its latch: the curved tongue that springs into the frame. That is the commonest case and usually the cleanest opening, worked from the gap between door and frame with thin tools, leaving nothing behind.
Locked with the key, the door is held by its bolt, and on many modern doors by three or more bolts along the edge. Then the way in is through the cylinder: worked, or as a last step replaced. If you are standing outside it now, ring the emergency line.
Door by door
The doors of Ibi, one at a time
Flat doors in the 1960s and 70s blocks
About a third of the town’s built floor area dates from those two decades. Doors of that age often have a single lock, sometimes upgraded since. Usually opened through the latch.
Armoured doors
A steel sheet inside, bolts at several points. Pulled shut, often opened cleanly; fully locked, worked through the cylinder.
The street door of a block
Glass and metal, normally a latch and an intercom release. Opened first, so the flat door can be reached.
Gates and garden doors
Chalets out in els Plans, la Devesa and les Hortes have a gate before the house. Padlocks and gate locks are opened; welding is a metalworker’s job.
The door of a mas
The official place-name survey lists about a hundred farmhouses. Where a mas keeps an old timber door with a long-throw lock, it is opened through the lock whenever it allows.
Old houses in the Casco Antiguo
Older doors and locks on the oldest streets, round the church and the Llotja. Looked at first, then opened the gentlest way the lock allows.
Instruction sheet
How an opening is done
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Look
The door, the frame, the cylinder and how it was closed.
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Agree
What will be tried, what it costs, and what happens if it does not work.
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Open
Through the latch, then through the cylinder. Drilling is the last step, with your say-so.
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Check
Proof that the home is yours, and whether the lock still works properly.
The last resort
When drilling really is the answer
Some cylinders are built to resist exactly the techniques used to open them, which is the point of them. When one of those is locked, the honest answer can be to drill it out and fit a new one there and then. You are told that before it happens, with the price, and you decide.
If the old cylinder has to go anyway, it may be the moment to choose a better one: cylinders and locks for homes, or, if the door was forced, the repairs after a break-in. Doors on a unit, a shop or an office are handled on the business page.
Out of town
Doors out in the partides
The countryside of Ibi is divided into 23 partides, from Biscoi and Foiaderes to Santa Maria and Terròs, with farmhouses and chalets that are hard to find from a street name. Give the partida and the name of the mas or chalet, and send a live location from the gate: how to describe an address out there.
And if somebody small is on the other side of the door, read what to do in the first five minutes. Every way of reaching us is on the contact page.
Questions
About the opening itself
What is the difference between a door pulled shut and a door locked?
A door that only clicked shut is held by the spring latch, which can usually be worked back without a mark. A door locked with the key is held by the bolt, sometimes at three or more points, and has to be opened through the cylinder.
Can an armoured door be opened without breaking it?
Often, yes, if it was only pulled shut. Locked with all its bolts out, it depends on the cylinder fitted. You are told which case it is before anything is done, and drilling only happens if you agree.
The street door of our block is shut and my flat is inside. Can you open both?
Yes. The street door is usually a simple latch and is opened first. A neighbour or the building’s administrator may also be able to let you into the stairwell while you wait.
We have an old wooden door on a farmhouse. Will it survive?
Old timber doors often have a long-throw lock with a big keyhole, and many can be opened through the lock itself. The door is looked at first and you are told honestly what it will take.
Next parts
After the opening, these often follow
Guides that lead here
A photo of the door tells half the story
The door, the lock from outside and how it was closed. That is usually enough to know how it will open.
Open 24 hours · 7 days