Let me start by saying that although I’m no locksmith, I have replaced a doorknob before.
So the other morning I went to leave the house, and the door handle wouldn’t work. I unlocked it (the lower handle with the little thing you twist to lock/unlock) and turned the knob. The knob turned just fine, and the smaller of the two bolts (the really tiny one) went back and forth no problem but the main bolt stayed put as if it were super glued.
Which I’m really beginning to suspect that it is, because I have now completely removed every other piece of the knob, and the only thing left is the hollow bolt which is still stuck fast – deep in the door frame with a brass strike plate preventing any access to it.
Through the now open borehole I can actually get a very good grip on it with the pliers and have pulled and twisted, yanked and pried to the end of my strength on three separate occasions, and I still can not get the frickin’ thing out!
What can I do to get this door open? At this point I’m thinking that even if I take it off the hinges it still won’t come open.
And what could possibly explain this? I had these locks professionally changed just a few months ago, so no one else should have a key to get in.
Taking the hinge pins out should allow you enough play to get the door open. Even if the latch bolt is super glued into the hole, you’ll have a tremendous amount of leverage.
From my experience in door knob/lock construction, I suspect that if the knob turned normally, the part the knob connects to inside the door is no longer attached to the latch bolt.
Any pressure on the door that could be keeping the bolt from moving? Sounds like what happens when you “penny” someone in their room in a college dorm.
The bolt has a flare on the inside of the bore hole, so I’m worried that even if I manage to get it off the hinges, I still won’t be able to get the door off. I’ll take a closer look at this when I get home tonight though.
In the past I have used furniture repair glue that had an ingredient to swell the wood around a connection. Is there anything you know of which would have the opposite effect? The only cause I can come up with that doesn’t involve the nefarious actions of my psychopath ex would be that there has been an insane amount of rain here recently, and the wood may have swollen.
I was going to ask about the weather, and decided against it as being too far out of the realm of possibility.
Obviously, this flare must be on the inside of the door, at the business end of the latch bolt, because if it was on the latch plate end, the thing wouldn’t work under normal conditions. I don’t think that taking the door off the hinges would be affected by this fact at all.
If you can get the hinge pins off, I think you’re going to be OK. The latch is beveled on the outer side, right? When you get pins off, the door pivots inward, the bevel should give you clearance.
The tiny little bolt, that doesn’t move very far, right? It should only extend to the latch plate in the door frame, when the door is closed. That little bolt locks the big latch. If it is not fully extended, the big latch will not retract, except by turning the handle. If it is fully extended, the big latch will freely retract, so you can shut the door just by closing it. I suspect this is why you can’t manually pull the big bolt out of the way, the little bolt is locking the big latch in the extended position.
Pulling the hinge pins should definitely work, especially if you have access to both sides of the door to push. I would do this immediately before worrying about anything else.
Ideally you would have a friend to help put the door back on the hinges later. It can be a tricky job to do solo.
Well, if it’s swollen from humidity, possibly a bit of attention from a hair dryer might dry things out and shrink the wood. Caution is strongly advised, however, as wood and heat don’t go together well. Don’t just prop up the hair dryer and go take a long shower.
But from what you’ve said here, possibly getting your friendly locksmith back to take a look at things might be a good idea. Especially because if it is super-glued, it would be good to have a witness.
Cheesesteak is correct, the small part of the latchbolt should only extend out to the strike plate (keeper). The function of that is to prevent someone from using a credit card or tool from jimmying or ‘carding’ the lock.
If possible, push on the door and see if you can get the small part of the latchbolt to come out into the strike plate hole.
You say you “had these locks professionally changed just a few months ago”.
Question: Aren’t they still under warranty? As a General Contractor/Carpenter, I would think that they are. Or should be, Igenerally warranty all labor and materials* for one year.
Like KneadToKnow, I too, am curious as to the brand of lock. The quality can vary greatly, depending on the brand and application/style of lock. (commercial as opposed to residential)
*(Materials that I purchase and install.)
I can’t rule out moisture/humidity as a source of the problem. Unless the jamb has swelled, and caused the door frame to be out of square, or has put the door in a bind of some sort, I don’t think that’s going to be the problem.
As regards the “nefarious actions of my psychopath ex”, if the lock has been “super-glued” in some way there should be some sign of that having been done.
IE: Excess, dried glue. Even if the keyway has had glue squirted* into it, once the handset(s) have been removed, the latchbolt should still operate.
*(It should be easy to ascertain if that is the problem. If the key goes in, that ain’t the problem.;))
Finagle’s suggestion is where I would begin, before you start disassembling your door.
(Unless of course, you’re confident in your carpentry/locksmithing skills. Just sayin’…)
I don’t actually think it was super-glued, but that really describes the symptoms perfectly. In order to have super-glued it they would have had to have it open. And given that nothing has been stolen, and nothing else in the house appears to have been tampered with, and nothing was done that would make it actually easier for an angry person to get in again, even he isn’t stupid/crazy enough to go to the effort of picking a lock just to super-glue it shut again.
I do think it’s possible that he tried to pick the lock and broke it in the process though.
Could it be that the weight of the door is “binding” latch. Maybe try this: have someone lever the door up and down as you are pulling on the latch. If they can rock the door up and down a little, that might free up the latch enough for you to pull it out.
Not super likely, I realize, but worth a 1-minute try.
Perhaps I am missing something but isn’t the “hollow bolt” usually attached to a faceplate on the edge of the door, such that the only way to remove it is to open the door, remove a couple screws, and pull it through the edge of the door rather than through the bore hole? If that is it, then it is no surprise that you couldn’t budge it. Maybe you could post a picture of what you actually have left.
I’m coming to this conclusion. We did have an earthquake recently (Shut up Californians! ) and the door jam itself may be off-kilter. I tried pushing and pulling laterally, but actually the penny post above got me thinking, what if it’s up and down I need to move it?
I’m not going to take it off the hinges until Sunday, because only then will I have time to lever it back into place afterwards. But I’ll give this a try tonight if I can manage it on my own. Maybe a crow bar underneath and just step on it while pulling.
If that does turn out to be the answer, I’m going to feel like a twit for having destroyed the knob set! :rolleyes:
No, it slides through the faceplate on the door and is longer than that. The offset (length of the bolt) is the distance from the center of the knob to the end of the hole in the door jam. Turning the knob slides it back just far enough to clear the faceplate on the door jam.
So the “flare” I’m talking about is inside the borehole (the big hole the knob itself fits through). If I had the door open, I’d still have to pull the bolt through the borehole to remove it. The flare prevents it from exiting through the other side. Which makes sense now I think of it, because otherwise you could disable a knob pretty easily, and most people wouldn’t notice right away.
“The offset (length of the bolt) is the distance from the center of the knob to the end of the hole in the door jam.”
I think you mean the “backset”, if you’re referring to the distance from the center of the ‘bore hole’ to the edge of the door. The great majority of doors in homes utilize a 2-3/4" backset on exterior (entry/exit doors) locksets, and 2-3/8" on interior latchsets.
“If I had the door open, I’d still have to pull the bolt through the borehole to remove it.” HUH?! :dubious:
Are you positive of this? I’ve been installing doors and locksets for over 25 years, and I don’t think I’ve EVER come across a lockset designed that way. The bolt (the part that slides back and forth, and keeps the door locked) on EVERY lockset that I know of, installs from the outside edge of the door. (Usually with two wood screws, unless it’s a hollow metal door.) The only exception to that would be a “full mortise” lockset, (and even that type, installs from the outside edge of the door) and from what you’ve already described, you definitely DO NOT have that type.
It would help immensely, if you could post a picture of what you’ve got. I’m about 98% sure that I could ascertain what is wrong with it (or at least, tell you how to get it open) if I could see what you’re dealing with.
Minor nitpick: It’s spelled ‘jamb’, not jam. The jamb is the frame that the door hangs from and fits, into.
) and the door jam itself may be off-kilter. I tried pushing and pulling laterally, but actually the penny post above got me thinking, what if it’s up and down I need to move it?