How to remove jammed door handle?

[kshramika]

My bathroom door seems to be stuck and I’m unable to open it from outside ! … this door doesn’t have any lock or a pin .. but seems like it’s jammed somewhere . I tried to use some screws and rotate the handle but doesn’t seem to be that easy ! Any idea what might have been jammed and how can I open it ? 

 

[JacobZ]

Hi @kshramika,

A warm welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community and thank you for your question.

Any small misalignment in a lock can cause things to bind up and make it unusable. Seeing that you only have one screw holding the two handles together makes me think this is likely the problem.

It could also be that an internal mechanism has worn down and the lock is no longer functioning as it should. I'll try to troubleshoot the problem with you, but it is fairly likely the door handle will need to be replaced if this is the case.

Removing the screw that runs through the door will allow you to remove the handles and give you access to the tubular latch which is inside the door. This is what we need to troubleshoot as the tongue needs to retract so the door can open. 

With the door handles off, you can try rotating the spindle which will look like this Ikonic 70mm Yellow Zinc Square Spindle.

Do you have any way of accessing the inside of the door? Maybe through a window? If so, the job will be much easier.

If you can't access the inside of the door, the first thing I would suggest is sticking something like a prybar underneath the door, levering the whole door upwards and jiggling the handle. If the latch is catching the striker plate, then lifting the whole door could release it enough for it to retract.

You can also try rotating the plate that surrounds the handle so that it sits in the position where the paint shows it started. In that position, try operating the handle. 

If neither of these solutions helps, you may need to either remove the door stop from the frame so you can see the tongue of the latch or drill out the connecting screw that the red arrow points to above so you can take the handle off.

Give the above solutions a try and let me know how you go. If you have no success, I will continue to assist.

Jacob