Stuck Door

[Bouffont]

Hi All,

I have a cupboard with a full size door on it (same door as the rest in the house). Unfortunatley a sterdy steel clothes horse has fallen down in the cupboard and wedged itself between the door and the wall to the point where the door wont open at all, not even a little bit!

I've tried the following:

Getting a coat hanger under the door - failed becuase the door is so close to the hardwood floor (which I dont want to scratch) that it wont fit under. Barging the door with my shoulder - failed and hurt Kicking the door as hard as possible - failed but opened the door a slight bit more Taking the door handle off - failed becuase in their infinite wisdom the people that made the house glued it on and I cant get it off no matter how hard I try. sliding a long metal ruler under the door - failed due to lack of room banging the door a lot in an attempt to move the clothes horse up a little - failed - didnt work at all Used harsh language at the door - failed but made me feel better

My thoughts now are to:

Drill through the door and reach through and move it Cut through the plasterboard and do the same.

There's absolutley no other way into the cupboard I can think of.

Anyone got any ideas!

Cheers

Tom

[VisionSet]

I take it the hinge pins are on the inside? Otherwise drift them out, sawing any peenings as necessary.

-- Mike W

[Mary Fisher]

Open Sesame?

Mary

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[dom]

You have unlocked the door haven't you?

I take it this is an inward opening door? (unusual for a cupboard).

No hinge pins you can get at?

You'll probably have to cut a hole lare enough to grab and move the object, or just cut up the whole bloody door and chalk it up to experience.

Maybe you could market the contraption as an anti-burglar device.

[Dave Fawthrop]

|Hi All, | |I have a cupboard with a full size door on it (same door as the rest in |the house). Unfortunatley a sterdy steel clothes horse has fallen down |in the cupboard and wedged itself between the door and the wall to the |point where the door wont open at all, not even a little bit! | |I've tried the following: | |Getting a coat hanger under the door - failed becuase the door is so |close to the hardwood floor (which I dont want to scratch) that it wont |fit under. |Barging the door with my shoulder - failed and hurt |Kicking the door as hard as possible - failed but opened the door a |slight bit more |Taking the door handle off - failed becuase in their infinite wisdom |the people that made the house glued it on and I cant get it off no |matter how hard I try. |sliding a long metal ruler under the door - failed due to lack of room |banging the door a lot in an attempt to move the clothes horse up a |little - failed - didnt work at all |Used harsh language at the door - failed but made me feel better | |My thoughts now are to: | |Drill through the door and reach through and move it |Cut through the plasterboard and do the same. | |There's absolutley no other way into the cupboard I can think of. | |Anyone got any ideas!

Push a steel rule by the handle to force back the latch, if the door opens away from you.

Otherwise Jemmy (floorboard lifter) it open, then repair the damage caused. The lock/latch side of the door will break dead easy.

[Eric The Viking]

Sprinkle some peas on the floor just outside the door and leave a tap running in the bathroom.

When the horse comes out for a pea jam your foot in the door.

ETV

[Chris Bacon]

If a flat air-bed can be pushed under the door, you could try that, then inflate it from the bit left poking out.

Put a bit more beef into it.

Lay some 4x2 across the room (onto a packing piece against the opposite wall). Put a packing piece against the door. Use another 4x2 as a lever.

Not sure how that'd help, unless you could get a wire through the hole..

Perhaps you can do this in a place that you can fill easily afterwards.

Re-hang the door so that it opens outwards.

[Chris Bacon]

"Angle grinder".

[Dave]

snip

That will involve a lot of make good work.

This is the option that I would go for. Easy to get in and easy to repair without being able to see the repair.

Dave

[Phil L]

If the cupboard is upstairs, go up into the loft and cut out a hole in the plasterboard ceiling of the cupboard, say about 100mm square, reach down and move the offending horse, if it's too far use a hooked implement. Repair hole in ceiling when you get nagged into it.

[Guy King]

The message from Chris Bacon contains these words:

Variable sword?

[Chris Bacon]

Eh?

[Eric The Viking]

Black & decker Scorpion Saw?

ETV

MENTUM REV JOSH HOLM

[Rob Morley]

Go through the ceiling? Cut through the hinge screws with a bolster? Remove the door stop and pull the handle hard?

[Dave H.]

How about the most powerful magnet you can find, and *through the door* drag the (steel?) clothes horse up until he door will push it out of the way? CB "mag-mount" bases are pretty powerful, and can hold a 7-foot aerial at 100 mph...

Dave H. (The engineer formerly known as Homeless)

[Mungo]

If you drill in the right place you may be able to cover the drilled hole with some sort of design or nameplate or something. Drill high enough to be able to get some fencing wire in and hopefully hook the offending item and pull it clear.

Don't force it - take a break and think over the problem.

Mungo

P.S. My eldest son informed me that our upstairs bathroom door had slammed shut and managed to lock itself with no-one inside the room. Having seen many cop shows where the door gets kicked in he was first in line to volunteer to do the same with the loo door. I told him to wait until I returned, whereby use of a long thin shafted screwdriver worked the mechanism from the hole in the front of the lock. Of course they don't show THAT in cop shows... so don't rush at the "brute force and ignorance" solution.

[Owain]

Possibly easier to use a really strong magnet, or even better an electromagnet, on a rope, which can be swung around until it connects with the steel clothes horse and then pulled. Should be able to do that with a hole not much bigger than the magnet (or two small holes, one for magnet and one for looking using a small webcam/cctvcam/borescope)

Owain

[John Rumm]

Use a stout chisel/jemmy to prise the latch side and top door stops off so that you can pull the door open a bit towards you (i.e. pulling the hinges the wrong way). It ought to come far enough to let you get an arm round the edge.

[Mary Fisher]

A few months ago Spouse and I were in the dining room. When I tried to open the door it wouldn't, something had come loose inside the 70yo handle mechanism and the steel tongue (?) was firmly in the steel holder.

The door opened inwards. All Spouse's tools were in the workshop (garage) outside the house. The only opening windows in the room are the transomes, he didn't want to climb through one because of all the spiky bushes underneath.

Luckily we keep a canteen of rarely used posh cutlery in the sideboard in that room and he managed tocut through the timber to get to the mechanism. By that time my legs were crossed, I'd wanted to leave the room to go upstairs.

The woodwork still hasn't been repaired and the handle hasn't been replaced because he mended it. He says lightning doesn't strike twice ...

Mary

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[Guy King]

The message from Chris Bacon contains these words:

It's a Larry Niven - Ringworld thing.