Internal door - jammed shut - handle not operating latch

[tabbypurr]

the garage door has a slide bolt from inside it so I can't go from the othe r side. However, I saw the post about kitchen knives and being that over t he years of being a broke single mum, kitchen knives have come to the rescu e for various things, hah, it appealed to me. And yep, it worked! Well it got it unlocked. Now I can't force it open because the paint has dried (g arage side) and it's stuck. I've 'knived' it (new word) but still can't ge t the force to pull it open. Remember the lock and handle is in pieces so I can't get the grip on it to pull it open. Anyway, I think tomorrow I will work it out, get a little person to go in between the door and slide bolt gap and try and push from other side. Some things are best left to sleep o n and it's a garage so nothing in there of urgency (not even a car at the m oment). Anyway, thanks for the good ol' kitchen knife advice!

a thin enough blade can often be run round to break the paint that's gluing it. Something more like a wallpaper knife.

NT

[Stuart Noble]

A paint scraper tapped from above with a hammer usually does it. May have to put a screw in the door (or a cup hook or similar) to give you something to get hold of

[Muddymike]

You missed the fact that all the DIY tools are locked in the garage.

Mike

[Stuart Noble]

Off to the Pound Shop then

[tonydevers75]

A bit after the fact but I had a similar problem and can hopefully help any one else like myself that stumbled across this thread. My internal door wou ldn't open and was stuck. Unfortunately because of the way the door met the door frame I was unable to squeeze a credit card, kitchen knife, etc in be tween the door to push the lock back. So I removed the door handle I could see broken pieces of metal in the mechanism. I removed the loose bits of m etal and tried using pliers with the metal bar that was part of the door ha ndle/lock mechanism to turn to retract the lock with no success.

What worked for me was using an Allen key. Due to the shape of the Allen K ey I was able to push it into the barrel and push the bolt back into the do or so I could open the door.

Good luck,

Tony

[rugratzread]

We have got an y tools, advice?

[Tim+]

Here?s some advice.

Tim

[tabbypurr]

With table knives it's often possible to get one inbetween latch tongue & frame and thus push the tongue back.

I'm assuming the handle isn't just turning freely, if it is then remove it & operate the spindle.

NT

[Brian Gaff]

Now this is interesting, we have a post which says re: which makes it a reply to an original that we cannot see. Then we have a bundle of words apparently in a random order, though the sig line is making sense. The question is, why?? Brian

[Martin Brown]

The way the cheap and nasty ones fail these days is that the crude metal casting that the square shaft goes through disintegrates so that turning the door handle no longer moves the tongue far enough.

You basically have to remove the handles to gain access and put the biggest most brutal screwdriver or oversized square bar you can find into the broken part and twist it out of the way maintaining some pressure on the door so that when the tongue does clear it opens.

I had it happen to me on an internal door quite recently. The shoddy quality of the casting it was surprising it lasted as long as it did.

Thinking back there was a warning in that the door had become a bit harder to open over some period of time but I put it down to winter damp making the wood swell (not imminent catch failure).

The other way is feed stout wire behind the catch against the sloping side and pull hard with pliers to move t out of the way. Depends a bit which side of the door your tools happen to be when if fails.

[Rob Morley]

It's a Google Groups user, using Google Groups, so as expected really.

[Brian Gaff]

Glasshoppa he say, Manuy questions have no answer because te question is wrong. Brian

[carolyn.mccam]

Slide a piece of wire into the space above the latch and and wiggle it down until it comes out below the latch. If you curve the wire slightly before you start it will pop out below the latch. Twist the 2 ends of the wire tog ether using pliers. As you keep twisting and applying more pressure the lat ch will pop open like magic!

[Graeme]

In message , [e-mail] writes

I wonder whether that door is still stuck, five years later?

[Brian Gaff]

If he has been locked out since 2013, then I'd suggest he watches out for the killer spiders inside. Brian

[tabbypurr]

Maybe that's how HOHers live.

I also can't see how her suggestion would work.

NT

[suetay_uk]

But there are other people with handles that don?t work!

[Chris Hogg]

I'm sure the OP (whoever he/she was) found that really useful.

[rmlaws54]

Use a punch and knock out the rod from the hinges.

[Chris Hogg]

Do you really think he hasn't fixed it after six years?