How Do You Take A Locked Door Off Its Hinges

Many doors feature removable pins that let you pop the door off easily without removing the hinges but other models without removable pins require a little more work and finesse to get the job done by removing the entire hinge from the frame.

How do you take a locked door off its hinges.

If the door does not allow the lock to be jimmied open it may be necessary to remove the door from its hinges. And although it looks simple enough it can turn into a finger pinching hassle especially when you re dealing with a heavy solid wood door. Figure 1 shows a typical heavy duty security hinge with the top and bottom sections or sleeves fastened to the door frame and the center part to the door sash. Insert a long sturdy item with a flat tip preferably a flat head screwdriver if available between the top rung of the door s top hinge and the head of the bolt securing the door to the hinge.

Step 1 focus on the hinges. Easy way to get that locked door open. Rather than unscrewing them from the jamb or the door you simply need to pop the pin that holds the two halves of each hinge together. Door hinges are designed to make this as easy as possible.

So the only way to get a door open when you re on the outside and it s locked from the inside is to remove the door from its hinges. Laying new carpet stripping or painting a door sanding down a rubbing edge there are any number of reasons to take a door off its hinges. The hinge pin on most doors are located on the inside so removing them is unlikely and even if you could it would be very difficult to remove the door if you can at all. Removing a door from its hinge can be a tricky thing especially if the door s been latched in place for a long time.

While the difficulty will depend on the age and general condition of the door s hinge and pin nudging it out with a hammer and wedge should usually do the trick. A lot of bathroom handles have no keyhole just a knob built into the handle you turn to lock the door when you re in the bathroom. If there is no deadbolt just a lockset locking doorknob you can try to pry the jamb away from the door where the lock is. Whether you re replacing your old door or just doing some renovations sometimes removing a door is part of the job.

They were chosen especially for their security pins that made it impossible for burglars to take apart.