A conundrum Door lock related
Discussion
Back story - My mum currently in hospital, and has been for four weeks, bar a 24 hour period where she was unsafly discharged before I had to call 999 to get her back in.
I have house keys, and front door is a stable door which has a Yale latch at the top and a mortise lock at the bottom. When I last left the house, I just used the latch. My sister went yesterday and tried to unlock the mortise lock (it wasn’t locked) and couldn’t. Key now doesn’t turn at all and the door won’t open. She gave up and left.
I’m going up tomorrow (neither of us are local to my mum) and clearly need to get this fixed! I’m hoping my sister just didn’t use the right technique and the door is fine, but I know this is a little fanciful and the door is stuck.
If I call a locksmith, I have zero proof of any ‘interest’ in the house - I’ve never lived there. I’m assuming they would want proof of residence or other interest in the property? My mum doesn’t have her phone or iPad (they are the main things I need to collect for my mum) so I can’t ring her to provide consent.
Looking online, if a mortise lock breaks, it can be a tricky bugger to remove, hence I suspect I need an locksmith. Only other door is a huge patio door and I don’t have a key. Limited choice of accessible windows to break and enter, and all front onto the road. Even if I did break in, I would have to secure the broken window before I could leave.
Any ideas? I’m more than a little stressed out with my mum’s condition so please hold any jokey responses back for now.
I have house keys, and front door is a stable door which has a Yale latch at the top and a mortise lock at the bottom. When I last left the house, I just used the latch. My sister went yesterday and tried to unlock the mortise lock (it wasn’t locked) and couldn’t. Key now doesn’t turn at all and the door won’t open. She gave up and left.
I’m going up tomorrow (neither of us are local to my mum) and clearly need to get this fixed! I’m hoping my sister just didn’t use the right technique and the door is fine, but I know this is a little fanciful and the door is stuck.
If I call a locksmith, I have zero proof of any ‘interest’ in the house - I’ve never lived there. I’m assuming they would want proof of residence or other interest in the property? My mum doesn’t have her phone or iPad (they are the main things I need to collect for my mum) so I can’t ring her to provide consent.
Looking online, if a mortise lock breaks, it can be a tricky bugger to remove, hence I suspect I need an locksmith. Only other door is a huge patio door and I don’t have a key. Limited choice of accessible windows to break and enter, and all front onto the road. Even if I did break in, I would have to secure the broken window before I could leave.
Any ideas? I’m more than a little stressed out with my mum’s condition so please hold any jokey responses back for now.
Agree with thoughts there may be nothing wrong with the lock, and your sister was trying the wrong keys / turning it the wrong way / not pulling-pushing the door while turning the key, etc.
Double check you have the correct key, possibly take some WD40 (not ideal, but its not like you are after the perfect long term solution) if the lock is jamming.
Double check you have the correct key, possibly take some WD40 (not ideal, but its not like you are after the perfect long term solution) if the lock is jamming.
595Heaven said:
I m really hoping that is the case!
My father is in hospital at the moment and I went to his house yesterday and it took me a while to work out that the same key operated both locks! So there are idiots out there who can't unlock front doors as easily as others. 
I think you have little choice but to go and try for yourself first so as to establish the exact facts.
In the past, one simply asked the police to be present when breaking in to a family member's home. I suspect that this isn't so easy to arrange these days but my first port of call if the door is genuinely stuck would be to call the police station that covers the area and ask their advice. This will be a common occurrence and one would think they'd be the central entity with the knowledge as to how to do it properly.
Sounds a bit weird to be, there are two locks, one is a latch, one is a mortice, the mortice wasn't locked and now it's the one that's stuck??
If it was unlocked, and is now stuck, then surely it's still unlocked?
I can understand a night latch getting stuck accidentally because sometimes the snib will bounce and jam the bolt; I've had this and ended up having to rip off the letterbox and poke it from inside as the whole thing was stuck, and even removing the lock cylinder wouldn't have changed that. I was lucky I could get at it, Plan B was to sacrifice the door (would've been a window, but none at ground level)
If it was unlocked, and is now stuck, then surely it's still unlocked?
I can understand a night latch getting stuck accidentally because sometimes the snib will bounce and jam the bolt; I've had this and ended up having to rip off the letterbox and poke it from inside as the whole thing was stuck, and even removing the lock cylinder wouldn't have changed that. I was lucky I could get at it, Plan B was to sacrifice the door (would've been a window, but none at ground level)
Thanks all. As per the thread title (which lost punctuation when it got posted??) it is really odd.
I am really hoping it was user error but she tried for ages and nothing worked. I’ll be taking some tools and WD40 up with me.
In some ways it is good because they can’t discharge my mum like they did on Monday if she can’t get in! Less than 24 hours later I had to call 999 and back she went to hospital. It has been a horrible experience over the last four weeks and she is scared witless. She’s 81 and was in reasonably good health before all of this.
I am really hoping it was user error but she tried for ages and nothing worked. I’ll be taking some tools and WD40 up with me.
In some ways it is good because they can’t discharge my mum like they did on Monday if she can’t get in! Less than 24 hours later I had to call 999 and back she went to hospital. It has been a horrible experience over the last four weeks and she is scared witless. She’s 81 and was in reasonably good health before all of this.
wolfracesonic said:
Probably too obvious for it to be this but if it s a stable door the top part has to be unlocked and swung open in order for the bottom to open due to the rebates on the door. I mention this as you say the mortise lock wasn t even locked. Hope your mother is ok.
Yes, both sections open inwards though so no access to see if the mortice lock has been engaged. Don’t know whether to laugh or cry to be honest. Tough times.
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