The interior door does not close all the way or the tongue does not go all the way: why problems arise and what to do about it

Interior doors are installed inside any apartment. Unlike entrance doors, they do not need to be overly strengthened, but the requirements for appearance are increased. They also solve various functional problems. First of all, with their help, individual rooms are isolated, which is especially important, for example, for bathrooms and bathrooms. But what to do when the interior door does not close all the way? This issue deserves special attention.

Warp door frame

If the door does not close completely, and defects are not visible to the naked eye, then we can assume that the door frame is skewed. This is a fairly common reason that can arise both during installation and during operation. This deformation may be due to the following circumstances :

error when installing the box;
the effect of moisture on the wood of the box;
subsidence of the frame under the influence of an overly heavy door leaf for which it was not designed;
natural aging of the material during prolonged use.

As a rule, distortion occurs in the places where the box is attached. Repair can have 2 directions: dismantling and reinstalling the entire structure or additional strengthening of the box. To select a repair method, it is necessary to determine the location of the distortion and the degree of deformation.

Strengthening the door frame is carried out in the following order:

The casing and door leaf are removed . The integrity of the box is checked. Using a plumb line and level, the presence and location of distortion is determined.
Fastening elements are strengthened . As a rule, fastening is carried out with anchor bolts, and, most often, the stand on which the hinges are mounted is checked.
The cracks are sealed with polyurethane foam . Sometimes wooden or plastic wedges are placed in the gaps to level the posts. The evenness of all racks is checked by level and plumb.

Important ! Misalignment can occur due to the corner connection of the box itself. In this case, you will have to dismantle it and try to restore the perfect right angle. After repair, the entire structure is returned to its place.

How to open a door with a hairpin or paper clip?

In many films, the lock is opened using a hairpin or a paper clip. Moreover, everything is so simple at first glance that such a master class is worth considering in more detail. This method is ideal for those who are left standing in a robe and slippers in front of an accidentally slammed door. However, keep in mind that experience is needed even for such a simple method. And don’t forget that each lock has its own characteristics, so not everyone can succumb to the tricks of a paper clip or a hairpin.

Take two paper clips or hairpins. One of them needs to be completely straightened, and the second should be shaped like the letter “G”. The first pin needs to be straightened to the middle. After which, it is inserted into the lock literally a couple of millimeters to bend it a little. This will help give the pin the shape of a pick.

IMPORTANT: Heels or invisible heels have rubber seals. Small round tips at the ends. This is necessary to avoid scratching your scalp. But in the lock they can cause even more damage or jamming. Be sure to remove them! This is easy to do with pliers if you have them on hand. But you can cope even with your teeth.

Bend the free end of the hairpin slightly in the middle, making it like a handle. This is not necessary, but it will make your work easier. And if necessary, it will be easier for you to press on the master key. That is, it needs to be bent so that you get a small loop.
There is no need to unbend the second pin; simply bend it in half at a right angle. Insert the L-shaped master key into the very bottom of the keyhole as deeply as possible. You need to insert it in the middle, that is, the ends with rubber seals will be on the outside. Then turn it slightly all the way in the direction in which the key usually turns. But without fanaticism, he should be free to be in such a position. By the way, you need to hold the hairpin this way all the time.

But a straight pin is inserted into the upper part with a sliding movement. The curved end should point up! This is where skill and practice are required, since the upper master key needs to be positioned under the pins themselves. That is, you will lift them with this pin.

When you come across an obstacle, move up and down to pick up the pin. After that, lift it up, the lower pin can be pushed deeper so that they do not fall to their original position.

This must be done with each pin separately. And keep in mind that not everyone will give in easily. Some will actually struggle a bit, so be patient.

IMPORTANT: Listen carefully. If the pin matches the shape of the cylinder, it will make a corresponding click. Only after this sound signal proceed to other pins.

Open the lock with a paper clip

Now be very careful! When the bottom pin begins to turn, stop it and slowly remove the top pick. Then continue turning the pin until the lock is completely open. But in this case it will require a lot of patience and some skill. Do not press too hard, as the lock mechanism itself will be damaged. That is, the pins can simply “seize”. And then he won’t be able to open the door at all.
And if you hesitate too much, the pins may slip back and you will have to carry out the entire algorithm of actions again. Therefore, act smoothly until an obstacle appears, then add a little force. Then proceed gradually again.

IMPORTANT: This method is suitable for opening padlocks and simple locks! For complex mechanisms this method will be useless. And you shouldn’t get carried away with practicing opening the lock - this will lead to a quick breakdown of the mechanism itself.

Swelling

The problem with wooden doors is swelling when exposed to high humidity.
You often encounter it in bathrooms with poor ventilation. The door leaf swells when exposed to moisture and cannot fit into the frame. Repairs are carried out in this order :

The door leaf is removed from the hinges.
The dimensions of the opening and the canvas are carefully measured.
Using a plane, a layer of wood is removed from both sides of the canvas.
The processing areas are aligned in color with the main body.

To prevent the problem from recurring in the future, it is necessary to eliminate exposure to excessive moisture. The ventilation system needs to be checked. Condensation should not accumulate on the door. It is important to ensure sufficient draft, and for this you should clean the air duct and replace (if necessary) the grille. If the draft is too low, it is recommended to install an exhaust fan.

Circuit breakers

In this case, the lock will not only not close, but will also stop opening the doors. It's worth taking a look at what's going on in the fuse box. The fact is that the central locking system itself is quite dynamic. Various short circuits in its wiring are by no means uncommon.

If this is a standard lock, then you should look for its fuse in the factory block. If an alarm system is installed (and often it is this that controls the operation of the central locking), then you should look for the fuse on the positive power wire of the unit.

The malfunction of at least one of these objects explains the problem with the central locking. The way out of the situation is simple. You need to replace the blown fuse with a new one. Sometimes you have to struggle with removal - the element sits tightly in the connector.

The fittings are installed incorrectly

Door hardware includes hinges, locks, latches and handles. Quite often the reason for doors not closing is incorrect installation of hinges.

When they are set too deep, when opening and closing the canvas, the hinged shelves bend and the fastening screws become loose. To eliminate this reason, remove the hinges and straighten their position along the adjacent surface. All self-tapping screws are tightened as much as possible with a screwdriver or screwdriver.
An option is possible when the loops, on the contrary, are not recessed into the canvas or box, but protrude above the surface. They will have to be removed, and using a chisel and hammer, carefully deepen them, leveling them along the surface of adjacent door elements.
Another possible reason is that the hinges are not designed to support the weight of the installed blade. They simply cannot withstand the load and become deformed. In this case, it is necessary to replace the hinges with stronger ones or install an additional hinge approximately 20-25 cm below the top fittings.
Incorrect installation of hinges vertically or horizontally can also lead to defects. Their shelves attached to the canvas and the box must clearly coincide. Otherwise, not the entire core works, which gradually causes its deformation. If the hinges are fixed at different distances from the edge, then the door leaf will not be perfectly vertical, which means that cracks will appear when closing. These errors will have to be corrected by reinstalling the hardware.
With prolonged use, the loop core gradually wears out. This leads to backlash. The door begins to wobble and the core begins to deform. You can temporarily correct the situation by placing a metal ring on the core. It is more correct to replace the worn element with a new one.

Important ! Locks and latches can often prevent doors from closing tightly. The cause may be installation errors, wear and tear due to prolonged or improper use, or design defects. Problems with this hardware will be discussed below.

Other options

The simple tongue design is easy to open. In this case, take any suitable tool (knife, screwdriver) or plastic card and clamp the tab. The tool is advanced between the leaf and the door frame. All that remains is to turn the handle and open the door.

The latch lock is opened by unscrewing the screws located on the metal handle panel. The latch is clamped with the end of a screwdriver or some other sharp object and, without releasing, the door handle is turned. The door should open.

You can use special master keys for doors. They are easy to purchase in a store, but you should be careful when handling these items so as not to fall under criminal liability. If you open someone's door at a request, make sure that the person asking is the owner of the property. If you are the victim, it is good if you have a passport with your place of registration. A good option is to find a place where you can always keep a spare key.

How to close the door so that no one can enter? If there are no locking devices, place a small wooden peg under the door. It is easy to install a latch to close the door from the inside.

Door latch

British scientists have proven that each of us has lost the keys at least once in our lives - to the door of an apartment, garage, office, car. If this has already happened in your life, you probably remember that chill down your back when you don’t have a keychain with keys in your pocket or you find a huge hole in your bag instead of keys. If this has not happened, believe me, it will happen.

Moreover, as practice shows, the loss of such a significant piece of equipment occurs at the most inopportune moment, when we are very tired, we desperately need to go somewhere, our work is “burning”, we are taking a diploma tomorrow, an episode of our favorite TV series has just been released, you birthday and so on.

In fact, it is very easy to find yourself in front of a closed door to your own apartment and not be able to open it. If you think that this will definitely not happen to you, then know that the victims of force majeure most likely thought the same thing.

What adds adrenaline is that the loss of keys is the most common cause of trouble, but it is not the only one. Keys can be pulled out of a bag by juvenile thieves on the subway, a Chinese lock can break, the door can warp and jam the lock, and the lock cylinder can be damaged by hooligans. Even though the door and lock will remain in place, protecting your property, this will not help you much.

It’s good if you just lost your keys, and you can actually open the lock with a spare set. It’s good if your trusted friends or neighbors have a duplicate of these keys, which you prudently gave to them for safekeeping. It’s good if these friends are within reach and can help you. But what to do if there are no spare keys, if the lock is completely broken, if you are standing on the landing and are already planning your life with the homeless people in the yard? This means that you will soon learn in practice what picking locks is.

First of all, don't despair. If you have a phone, then everything is not so bad. If you don’t have a phone or the battery is dead, ask your neighbors for a phone. Secondly, do not try to open the door yourself and do not rush to make master keys. We bet you don’t even know what replacing a lock cylinder is, so don’t even try to do something following the advice of an anonymous person on the Internet. Not only will you fail in 99% of cases, you will also injure yourself, break the lock and gather curious grandmothers around you who will definitely call the police.

The smartest thing you can do is call a service for which emergency opening of entrance doors is their main profile. They are in every major city, and in Moscow there are several such services in every district. Such services usually operate on a paid basis, but around the clock. You call them, describe the situation, and they send a team of specialists to you.

For emergency opening of doors, they arrive quite quickly, within half an hour. You won’t even have time to get bored and call your friends to tell about your adventures. Be prepared that upon arrival the technicians will ask you for proof that you are not a person from the street who wants to get into someone else’s apartment while the owners are not at home. Then the work will begin - the lock will be carefully opened, if possible without damaging the door and opening. That's it - you're home.

The next step, which is wise to take right there on the spot, is installing a lock on the door. It is advisable not to postpone this step until later if it is possible to pay the visiting craftsmen for the work and components. You can find out in advance how much it will cost to open your lock and install a new one in its place. As a rule, an emergency opening costs little, but if the lock is steep and complex, the price tag increases. In general, everything is simple, fast and comfortable.

So let's repeat it again. If you have lost your keys or cannot open the door to your apartment for another reason, do not panic. It is advisable to save the emergency telephone number of the lock picking service or at least the Ministry of Emergency Situations in advance, but these guys do not particularly bother to save the lock and door. Of course, it is better to write down the contacts of those services that operate in your city or region. If you live in the city of Mytishchi, then look for

Carefully opening a lock without a key without damaging either the door or the lock itself is an art that people have been learning for years and never stop doing, just as, in general, manufacturers never cease to improve locks, protecting them from unauthorized opening . It is for this reason that the question of how to open doors without a key, or rather, solving it with your own hands, can be called a dubious undertaking - without skills and experience in this matter, you can only make things worse, especially when it comes to opening entrance doors.

Deformation of the structure due to the fault of manufacturers

Serious defects in door manufacturing can lead to the problem in question. One of the common reasons is the use of poorly dried wood in production .
When the material dries, it shrinks and the size of the door leaf decreases. Quite large gaps may appear. The canvas cannot fit tightly into the box and constantly opens on its own. Sometimes even the latch tongue does not engage.

To correct the position, the canvas needs to be raised to a level where its dimensions coincide with the opening of the box. The gap formed at the bottom is closed with a bar (threshold).

Another possible defect is poor-quality gluing of the canvas elements . They begin to protrude beyond the edges, touching the frame jamb and preventing the doors from closing.

This fabric is removed from its hinges. Using a grinding tool (grinder), all protruding defects are removed. The joints are carefully coated with adhesive. The processing area is carefully sanded and matched in color with the main body. As a rule, coating is done with a paint and varnish material. After drying, the canvas is put back in its place.

Reference ! In order to get rid of these problems, it is necessary to carefully check the product when purchasing. It is necessary to check the quality of the corners, all joints, and fittings. Particular attention should be paid to the moisture content of the wood.

General recommendations

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Periodically open the door with the key, even if you always use the central locking key fob, so that the door lock mechanism does not get stuck.

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Do not try to warm the lock with hot water if it is frozen in winter. It's better to try an electric hair dryer. Commercial liquids for freezing at low temperatures do not always help.

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Tighten the door suspension, if it wobbles, this can lead to jamming of the lock and blown fuse for its power supply.

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It happens that the immobilizer does not see the key, what to do in such situations.

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If the car windows sweat from the inside https://voditeliauto.ru/sovety-voditelej/zapotevayut-stekla-v-mashine-iznutri-chto-delat.html what to do in this case and what folk remedies can be used.

Video - repairing the central locking on a Hyundai Getz:

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Door handle and lock design

There are many options for door latches that vary in appearance and size.
However, almost all of them have a similar principle of operation: when you turn or press the handle, the compression unit is activated, which acts on the return spring and causes the tongue to move. Door latches contain the following main elements :

Locking block . Its basis is a rigert lock, which is a latch or a halyard plate. The main elements of the block are located inside the housing and ensure the locking of the latch in the socket of the return bar when closing the doors.
A pin (rod) for operating the internal mechanism. It usually has a tetrahedral shape and is inserted into the hole in the body so that its outer part passes through the entire thickness of the door leaf. The pin protrudes from both sides of the door.
Door knob . It is put on and fixed on the previous element. There are rotary and push handles.
Response plate . This is a metal plate that is attached to the door frame. It has a hole (socket) corresponding to the size of the tongue.
Decorative overlay . It covers all the elements of the lock and gives an attractive appearance.

The interrelationship of these elements in different models may vary in complexity. The design is significantly different only for locks with a locking mechanism to secure the door in the closed state.

Dead battery

This reason refers to the situation when the central locking does not lock the doors or open them. Everyone has encountered a situation where, in the morning, when you press a button on a key fob, nothing happens.

Sometimes drivers forget to turn off electrical appliances in the car, which leads to deep battery discharge. It’s easy to verify this; just open the car with the key and turn the ignition key. It will not turn on at all, or it will be impossible to start the engine. To solve this, you just need to charge the battery. The system will work again.

Possible problems with the latch tongue

In the practice of using door latches, the following situations may arise:

The tongue does not secure the door leaf when closing . There are various possible reasons for this phenomenon. If the geometry is violated and the box is distorted, a gap appears that exceeds the length of the tongue. Naturally, it does not reach the fixing bar. The reason may be that the socket is clogged and the tongue cannot fit into it. The obstruction can be caused by the accumulation of dust, dirt, hardened grease, wood and metal filings, and other foreign particles. If there are distortions, the position of the return strip may be disrupted, and the tongue will not fit into its slot. Finally, the mechanism for moving the tongue may stop functioning, and it no longer obeys the handle.
The tongue remains in the slot with the screwdriver of the strip, blocking the door from opening . It stops responding to the touch of the handle. This can happen when the tongue itself is deformed or the stand on which the return bar is located sag. When closing the door, the tongue fits tightly into the socket, but the spring force is not enough to return it to its previous position. The internal mechanism may be damaged. Most often, the cause is a failure of the return spring.

Attention ! A problem with the latch can arise either due to the fault of the manufacturer or due to improper use. This is often caused by lack of lubrication and significant mechanical stress. In order to understand the reasons for the difficulties that have arisen, it is necessary to understand the design of this fittings.

Do-it-yourself adjustment of interior doors: video

If the door has not been adjusted before, or the door with which there are problems was installed by a specialist, then difficulties may arise with its adjustment. To avoid them, you need to familiarize yourself with the design of the door block, the type and features of the hinges. It is also recommended to watch thematic material (photos, videos). There is quite a lot of it on the Internet and it is freely available.

It will help you understand how to adjust an interior door, a photo of the work done. They can be found on independent thematic forums where home craftsmen and professionals share their experiences. The video will also tell you how to adjust the door leaf. This material is required viewing if you do not have experience or skills in setting up interior doors. Below is a helpful video on setting up hinges.

How to repair a locking mechanism with a tongue?

If the latch does not fix the door in the closed state, then first check for external causes. The following situations are possible:

The dimensions of the tongue do not match the dimensions of the hole in the back plate . If they differ only slightly, then you can bore the socket with files. If there is a complete discrepancy, the bar must be changed.
Misalignment of the latch tongue and the hole in the strip . It is necessary to move it down or up, ensuring that the tongue fits freely.
Displacement of the return strip due to the skew of the box . First, the door is repaired to eliminate the distortion, and then the bar is fixed in the right place.
An obstruction within the socket that prevents the tongue from entering . You just need to carefully remove all dirt and foreign particles.

If the latch itself breaks down, repairs can be made by partially or completely disassembling the housing, depending on the reasons. Most often, the reason is quite simple - a malfunction of the spring. It must be put back in its place or squeezed if it is too loose. If other parts are damaged or worn out, they must be replaced with new ones.

During operation, weakening of the connection between the handle and the pin is often observed. It begins to dangle, which makes it difficult to control the mechanism. This problem can be eliminated for some time by increasing the mounting size of the pin. You simply wrap electrical tape or tape around it.

Important ! If problems arise with the locking mechanism, it is important to remember that repairing it yourself can cause even greater trouble. Incorrect actions can cause the latch to jam, requiring a lot of force to open the door. If you are not completely confident in your abilities, then it is better to entrust the repair to a specialist or install a new mechanism.

Poorly closing interior doors not only cause irritation and spoil the appearance of the entire interior, but also disrupt their functional purpose. The reasons for the problem may be different, and first of all, they must be correctly identified. In each case, specific measures will be required, which can be carried out independently or trusted to specialists.

Required Tools

In all other cases, appropriate measures will be required to restore the functionality of the metal structure. If the warranty period has not yet expired, you need to invite a technician, since otherwise, if you try to fix the problem yourself, the product may be removed from the warranty. If the warranty has expired and you plan to adjust the metal entrance door yourself, then you need to prepare the following:

a set of metal keys with a hexagonal profile;
socket wrenches (most often a 17mm wrench is required);
spark plug key;
file;
oiler with machine oil;
pliers;
screwdriver.