A few minutes ago my nieghbor, an elderly lady named Pat, rang my doorbell. She had went out to the mailbox and left her house door open but the storm door closed, and somehow the storm door locked. I went over to see what I could do. The storm door had just been installed this past fall, and she had bought a nice solid well made door. They had installed it well, with almost no gaps around the edge. I could see the cross bolt, but there was no room to get a screw driver in there without bending thongs up, and the credit card trick was not working. It was a good door.
There was just enough room to get a thin blade of a small pen knife into the door jam, and using the point, it would dig into the soft brass finish of the latch bolt. Very gently I was able to move the latch just enough so I could get a credit card into the bevel on the back side of the bolt.
Open sez me!
Pat got in out of the cold, I got a double shot of Jack for my rescue, and I never cease to be amazed at how even a very small pen knife can be a handy thing to have.
There was just enough room to get a thin blade of a small pen knife into the door jam, and using the point, it would dig into the soft brass finish of the latch bolt. Very gently I was able to move the latch just enough so I could get a credit card into the bevel on the back side of the bolt.
Open sez me!
Pat got in out of the cold, I got a double shot of Jack for my rescue, and I never cease to be amazed at how even a very small pen knife can be a handy thing to have.