UPVC Door Stuck Closed Won"t Open

This was a challenging one! It’s a good job we like a challenge here at OpenDoor Locksmiths.😁

This customer in Bromley Cross got in contact with us as her back door wouldn’t open whatsoever, even when using all her strength on the handle (please don’t try that!).

First of all, before we repaired anything; we needed to diagnose the root cause behind the door being stuck closed, as there are a few different faults which require different techniques to open the door. This is crucial to prevent any further damage to the door / mechanism.

We did some investigating and noticed that the door had dropped out of alignment, along with the top hook of the mechanism being jammed, refusing to retract. The main gearbox of the mechanism was also completely jammed solid.🕵️

This meant that there were three different faults which all needed rectifying to get the door open, before we could even start replacing any of the broken parts. Usually there’s only one fault to rectify to open a jammed door (or two if you’re unlucky). This time we had three.🙃

We started by manipulating the rollers to try and retract the hooks & bolt, however they refused to budge even with the rollers being freed, so we had to deal with them all individually. We got the bottom hook to retract with some percussive persuasion (😆), however the top hook didn’t want to play ball & kept pinging back out, stopping the door from opening. We fabricated a special tool to prevent the hook from sliding into the strike plate, which eventually allowed us to retract both hooks.✅

However, the gearbox was still locked & refusing to budge, so we went back to the toolmaking & shaped some metal wire into a small tool, which we used to carefully manipulate the bolt back into the gearbox, eventually hearing that lovely door opening sound😀

Once open, we got the gearbox replaced, serviced the rest of the mechanism to ensure it still operates correctly, & re-aligned the door before testing it all for a final time.

We don’t shy away from tough jobs here at OpenDoor Locksmiths - Whether it’s Doors, Windows, Locks, or anything security related, we have you covered!✅

Another door fixed, another happy customer!😃