'Jacking' a door frame.

[The Medway Handyman]

I bought a book from Amazon recently "How to open locks without picks or keys".

Basically rubbish, 23 typewritten pages reduced to A5 with a cheap card cover, cost me a £10.

Looks like it was written years ago given the chapter about opening vehicle quarter light windows. First chapter is about slipping a blade between the door frame & the 'moulding strip' to open a Yale type lock. Clearly wouldn't work with a door frame that is rebated - like all modern door frames.

However, one chapter caught my eye, jacking or spreading a door frame.

The concept is that you use a bottle jack & suitable timber spacers to force the door frame apart enough , so that the lock bolt is free of the mortise in the frame.

Since a lock bolt is only about 3/4" long, it seems vaguely possible on some doors. Interesting idea - any thoughts?

[Andy Hall]

Was this for the day job or the evening one?

Seems you were had

A very flexible one?

Probably, but why?

[George]

That depends on how far apart the door flat is from the frame.

A burglar is hardly going to carry a bottle jack and a couple of pieces of timber round with him is he. ;-)

This an american book?

[Ian]

Oh dear.

Well you must be thick if you can't use Google to get far more comprehensive information and ebooks for *FREE*. Would you like one sent via email?

How do you think the police get in through uPVC doors so quickly without making much noise! Prize the frame apart and give it a thump. Wooden doors are not much of a problem to anyone with a drill. The locks on your fancy upvc doors are so insecure I am amazed they meet any insurance approval. Most can be opened in just a few seconds using a bump-key or a bit longer using a pick and tension bar. All can be drilled and due to design faults the door and/or lock can be drilled quickly to allow access. So much for high security or British Standard ratings.

[The Natural Philosopher]

No, but they always carry a bloody great big crowbar.

This is tyeh i equivalant.

[Rob]

Or a sledgehammer, as I found out one new year's day early morning. Bloke demolished two solid wood doors, one double locked, with (I think) single blows. It was only the sight of me in the buff at the top of the stairs that made him turn round ;-)

Rob

[Mogga]

They don't on new ones. The guy from one door comany was telling us they only build doors to the standard required by drug dealers to prevent police access.

[The Medway Handyman]

Just interested really.

I'm sending it back.

[The Medway Handyman]

Nerbut a handyman could.

How did you guess?

[The Medway Handyman]

Sounds like an episode of The Sweeney! "Get yer trousers on, you're nicked."

Do tell more!

[The Medway Handyman]

You offering? Yes in that case.

[Andy Hall]

.. and for that matter, an angle grinder.

This isn't you is it? The geography and occupation fit......

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Andy Hall saying something like:

[meow2222]

Dealers do not fit upvc doors.

NT

[The Medway Handyman]

[Andy Hall]

It was the blue leotard and gold pants that gave it away.

[Si]

In message , Andy Hall writes

and the tell-tale signs of the whale-bone girdle hiding the beer gut

[The Medway Handyman]

Except you would need rebar not whale bone :-)

[Chris J Dixon]

I once locked myself out of a rather grotty flat. Luckily the door, though Yale locked, opened outwards, as it led straight onto stairs.

The only equipment I had was the tool roll for my Honda 50. I used a spanner handle to spread the gap between door and jamb, then was able to use a pair of screwdriver blades to inch the straight side of the bolt back.

Chris

[Timothy Murphy]

My wife managed to leave the key to a rented car in the boot with the car locked. A man from the rental company opened the door with a balloon-like device which he inserted in the gap and then blew up with a kind of hand-pump. I looked afterwards, and could see no damage at all.