Front door has seized - help!

nikki2804

The handle of my front door appears to have seized (in the sense that you can't move it down to open it and I'm locked in) The house is rented but the LA appears to have closed for the festive period and they are not answering the emergency number.

Although I have a back door I am mid terraced so I can't exit this way. Any ideas how I can rectify the situation until I can get hold of my LL?

WestonDave

Is it frozen - try warming the area gently with a hair dryer to see if it frees. If it does you might want to stick some WD40 on it to drive out the moisture which is freezing. If that doesn't work you will probably have to call a locksmith yourself and risk having to pay for it.

qurious

Hi, this happened a short while ago to one of the inside doorhandles in my house, I had some spare handles in the house, and changed the handle on the door, it was the bar that goes into the handle that wasn't working. I got a drill with a metal drill bit and drilled a hole in the latch to allow me to put a punch in it to withdraw the latch. Then I was able to open the door. If you don't rely on the handle to lock the door you can take it off this will allow you to get out of the house untill someone can come to fix it.