can't open back door

kevin7

Any help or advice?

The multipoint lock on the back door is suddenly giving some trouble and the door just will not open.

The mechanism on the door seems to still be operating correctly. The key works in the lock and the lock can be locked and unlocked.

I can turn the door handle both ways correctly, and can feel and hear the upper and lower multipoint locks engaging/disengaging.

However, when it is all unlocked, the door just wont open. I can feel that there is a little "give" in the door when it is unlocked....i.e. I can feel that the upper and lower ends are not being held tight in a closed position. Something is preventing it from opening though! Is it possible that the central "latch" (or whatever it is called) is not coming away like it should and it the one thing that is preventing the door from opening?


I have unscrewed the two screws from the door handle, so the handle on both sides of the door is now off. This leaves a long square shaped rod going through a square hole which can be turned which will engage and disengage the upper and lower locking points.


I cannot access any other parts of the lock to remove anything further, seeing as I cant open the door to access the side of the door.


Finally, maybe its of relevance....the door wasn't opening and closing smoothly for the last few months. It needed a bit of a shove to close properly, i.e. it wouldn't just swing into place when closing.
I'm not sure what was rubbing, but it felt like maybe the bottom of the door was grating along the metal bracket on the floor, so I was already thinking that I would need to do something with how the door was fitting.

Any ideas on what to do would be appreciated!

Gen.Zhukov

Assuming it's a wooden door and frame it sounds like either or both have swollen due to damp/ingress of water. Also the damp in the door/frame may have frozen and expanded even further allowing even more damp in.

As far as a solution goes I'm not too sure. The wood really has to be dried out a bit to shrink. How you would go about this is tricky with a whole door. Is it possible to heat the room the door opens into to a high and prolonged heat. That may help.

sky6

if you're sure the lock is working ok then it can only be stuck. Get a block of wood and a Hammer to it and it should open.
Or try lifting the bottom of the door with a jemmy or screwdriver and push or pull to free it.
You can then access what needs to be done to cure it.

ardle1

Sounds like one of the locking 'hooks' coming from inside your door is not clearing properly back into the door from the frame! If you can slip something in between door and frame it should tip it up enough to clear the door frame so it should open.. Then view your door from the side as you operate the locking mechanism to see what the problem is. You may have to remove one of the striking plates from the frame side just to give more clearance.

ardle1

Also, if one of those latches hooks is not clearing the frame, you may want to get a pry bar and gently between top of door and frame apply some force so door goes down just a little and operate door handle at the same time.

cheif kaiser

Exactly the same thing happened to me and used a pry bar as suggested above, actually it was a fire poker but had the same effect and door just popped open. A part in the central section of the lock had broken causing it to jam so €50 for a new lock and a bit of adjustment of the top and bottom receivers and job done! You did however mention a grating sound coming from the bottom of the door, are you sure a pebble or something didn't get stuck? This has also happened to me on occasion so maybe try prying it from the bottom first.

kevin7

Thanks for the various lines of advice.

I have tried some of what was advised and can now clearly say that the upper and lower locking points are NOT a problem. When trying to pry the door open from the outside, the upper and lower ends will move in by approx 1-2 cm, so I can actually see that these are not getting stuck in the holding bits.

It is clear that the central point of the door - i.e. at the handle - is the one point that will not budge. It would appear that the "latch" (not sure of the terminology) does not recess itself as it should back into the door when the handle is used.

I can't see how this is going to be fixed. I would guess the only thing to do is to force the door open, smashing either bits of the lock of the door frame.

This being the case, I guess its time to call a locksmith and see what can be done!

confusedeire

kevin7 wrote: »

Thanks for the various lines of advice.

I have tried some of what was advised and can now clearly say that the upper and lower locking points are NOT a problem. When trying to pry the door open from the outside, the upper and lower ends will move in by approx 1-2 cm, so I can actually see that these are not getting stuck in the holding bits.

It is clear that the central point of the door - i.e. at the handle - is the one point that will not budge. It would appear that the "latch" (not sure of the terminology) does not recess itself as it should back into the door when the handle is used.

I can't see how this is going to be fixed. I would guess the only thing to do is to force the door open, smashing either bits of the lock of the door frame.

This being the case, I guess its time to call a locksmith and see what can be done!

Try holding the handle down and giving the lock area of the door a bit of shock treatment with a mallet. It might just be stuck with a bit of corrosion. Best of luck

kevin7

confusedeire wrote: »

Try holding the handle down and giving the lock area of the door a bit of shock treatment with a mallet. It might just be stuck with a bit of corrosion. Best of luck

Just tried that to no avail, thanks.

Only so much hammering I can do. The top half of the door has a large pane of frosted glass. If I bang too hard I'll end up cracking the glass.

Alun

Could you squirt some WD40 or similar into the area where the latch is?

ardle1

If you can see the latch from inside you should be able to hook a coat hanger or similar gauge wire behind the latch and pull towards you operating the handle at the same time.

massy086

kevin7 wrote: »

Thanks for the various lines of advice.

I have tried some of what was advised and can now clearly say that the upper and lower locking points are NOT a problem. When trying to pry the door open from the outside, the upper and lower ends will move in by approx 1-2 cm, so I can actually see that these are not getting stuck in the holding bits.

minology) does not recess itself as it should back into the door when the handle is used.

I can't see how this is going to be fixed. I would guess the only thing to do is to force the door open, smashing either bits of the lock of the door frame.

This being the case, I guess its time to call a locksmith and see what can be done!

Where are you based kevin as if your dublin i should be able to help i have got plenty of these open.but it require.s glass out of door

mikehn

Had a possibly similar issue last year when a plate around the lock on the door caused the issue, one of the screws had loosened allowing the plate to stick out a little which caught on the frame. I was able to slip the blade of a craft knife in when putting pressure on the door to hold it closed and hold the plate back to enable the door to be opened.

kevin7

Thanks for all you suggestions.

Here's what I did....

The latch was stuck and wouldn't move with the door handle, so I drilled through the door frame from the outside - through the wood and through the metal socket which is embeddded in the frame where the door latches.

I was able to then push the latch back into the doorwith a screwdriver.

To find the spot to drill at, I was able to compare the front and back doors which were similar.

Door finally opened, I dismantled the lock and took out the latch altogether.

I guess the plan is eventually to buy a replacement lock to get my latching action back again.

The door and the frame seem to be worse after this whole episode than before, i.e. the door used to catch a little in the frame, now it catches a lot - a pretty decent shove is needed to open and close the door.

I did try a fair bit of gentle prying at the door with a crowbar before I finally gave up on that and went with the drill - this may be to blame.

Anyway...happy enough for not that the door is usable.

Thanks again for all your help.