Solve This Mystery For Me (Why Do I Keep Getting Locked Inside My House?)

Yesterday morning, I received up, received prepared, and headed out the door to have breakfast with my mother. Or, I ought to say, I tried to move out the door. However I couldn’t get the entrance deadbolt unlocked. Irrespective of how a lot I attempted, or how a lot I attempted to show that key, or how a lot I jiggled the deal with, or how a lot I attempted to press down/elevate up on the door, I couldn’t get the useless bolt on the entrance door open.

Years in the past, I purchased all new indoor and exterior doorknobs and handlesets for all of our doorways. I wished all of them to match, and I wished them to be black. So I went with Schlage as a result of (1) I beloved the kinds they supplied, and (2) that they had the right matte black colour that I wished. I nonetheless love the look of this entrance door handleset.

However this entrance door deadbolt has given us nothing however issues. After which factor is that it’s not only one single faulty deadbolt. We’re on our third one. On the time I purchased the doorknobs, handleset, and deadbolts for all of our current doorways, I additionally purchased matching ones for our future doorways that we’d have after our addition was constructed.

Properly, I now don’t have any extra further deadbolts for these future exterior doorways, as a result of I’ve gone via all of them on this entrance door. And now this, the third one, is doing the very same factor that the opposite two did.

The factor gained’t flip in any respect. I even tried spraying some WD-40 into the keyhole, however that did nothing. Initially, I believed that it was as a result of I home is constructed on a pier and beam basis, so sit’s at all times shifting and shifting. At instances all year long, our doorways themselves develop into tougher to open and shut. So I believed that the shifting and shifting was inflicting the bolt to bind towards the strike plate within the door jamb.

However I can actually stick my little finger in there and transfer the bolt. I can’t transfer it sufficient to open it, clearly. However I can transfer it sufficient to inform that there’s no stress in any respect on the strike plate.

With the primary deadbolt, this occurred a number of instances, and the one method to get the door open was to simply take the deadbolt off utterly, after which reinstall it. However then it occurred on a Wednesday evening when our church group was about to begin. Individuals had been ready on our entrance porch as I used to be inside, attempting my hardest to get the door open. They finally needed to stroll round the home and are available within the again studio door. I took the deadbolt off and reinstalled in order that they might no less than depart via the entrance door. However a day or two later, it occurred once more. And that point, once I eliminated the deadbolt, little steel items got here tumbling out of the deadbolt into my hand. So I threw it within the rubbish and put in a brand new one — one which was nonetheless within the field, and had by no means been used, as a result of it was reserved for our addition.

However then it occurred once more, and the second did this identical factor. So after a number of instances of uninstalling and reinstalling the deadbolt, I lastly threw it away and received the final unused deadbolt that had been reserved for our addition. And now, it’s doing the identical factor.

What on the planet is inflicting this? And why is it solely occurring on this door? I’ve the identical Schlage deadbolt on the studio door, however this has by no means occurred there.

However that is past only a minor annoyance. What if there was an emergency, and we couldn’t get out the entrance door? What if Matt had a medical emergency, and the EMTs couldn’t get within the entrance door? That is actually inflicting me stress. I actually misplaced sleep over it final evening. Is it the model? Is Schlage not a dependable model? I imply, that’s the place my thoughts instantly goes since that is the third time, and the third Schlage deadbolt, that’s doing this. But when it’s the model, then why have we not had this downside on the studio door or the lavatory door? Each of these have Schlage deadbolts on them, and I’ve by no means had any downside with them.

So I simply don’t know. Have any of you ever had points with Schlage deadbolts? Do you suppose it’s the model? Or is there one thing particular about our entrance door that’s inflicting this to occur on this door, over and over, that I’m not pondering of? I would like to unravel this thriller, as a result of that is harmful, and it’s stressing me out.

Addicted 2 Adorning is the place I share my DIY and adorning journey as I rework and embellish the 1948 fixer higher that my husband, Matt, and I purchased in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do bodily work, so I do the vast majority of the work on the home on my own. You can learn more about me here.