The Door Knob Incident (5 Comments)
The door knobs in our house have never been stellar and now they are falling by the wayside quickly. They get to the point where they refuse to turn and operate anymore. Stubborn things.
The knob to the Girl’s room was getting worse and worse. It took quite a bit of effort if the door was shut to get it open again. One morning, the door was shut and it took me trying quite awhile before Pixie got it open from the inside. I told them to not shut it completely until their father could look at it.
That advice was followed for an hour or two and then the door was shut. Pixie on the inside of the room. Sunshine decided she wanted in and couldn’t get the knob to turn. I gave it a try, and tried again, and again. I had Pixie try from the inside. No luck, still stuck.
I tried getting a credit card like item to slide in and work the latch back but couldn’t get it in there. The screws for the knob were on the inside as were the door hinges. The door opens in. I called The Col. to get advice as to what to do. He was stumped too. The window is hard to open from the outside and too heavy for Pixie to open from the inside. He asked if she was upset.
No, she was drawing on her bed so no need to hurry.
He finally decided to try slipping a screwdriver under the door to her and coaching her on how to get the screws out. He said to remember that she was opposite of me when telling her which way to turn the screws. He knows my failings.
I slipped the screwdriver under the door to her and chanted to myself “lefty loosey, righty tighty” then remembered to reverse that and told her to turn the screw towards the living room wall. She decided that the screwdriver was too big.
I told her, mainly in jest, not to worry, that we would slip food under the door to her. She seemed pleased with that prospect.
I got another screwdriver and slipped it under to her and repeated my instructions.
She was able to get the screws out. Whew!
Ok so the knob was apart. Now what? I tried pushing on various parts of the mechinisim that was still there. Nothing did anything. So I called The Col back. What do I push on? He couldn’t really tell me but did suggest that I take the knob on my side, that luckily had more of the workings on it, and use it to see how the door worked. I put it in, turned it a few times while I watched it and the latch snapped back!
As I let Pixie out she grumped that she was unhappy as she wanted to get her food pushed under the door to her. Can’t please some people.
Now that is an adventure! My kids would have had a blast retelling that story! Hmph…no food under the door, the injustice of it!
Comment by Jules — January 11, 2009 @ 8:28 pm
Too funny!
Comment by Michelle — January 12, 2009 @ 10:37 am
Jeesh! What your family has to go through before new knobs are put in…you are getting new door knobs right? Why do we wait to do such simple tasks around the house? I know that I have several things like that, that if finally taken care of would only take a few moments of my time. Such is our silly lives.
Comment by Liesel — January 12, 2009 @ 12:21 pm
Replace them? Why, we would miss out on all these adventures? Where would I get blog fodder?
Comment by JustMe — January 12, 2009 @ 4:53 pm
We must have the same door knobs. Our have done that too. I got stuck in our bathroom. Sean took the knob off and it still would not open. I had to take the door off the hinges. We have slowly replaced the door knobs on half of our doors. I think we better change Little girls, before that happens to her. I don’t think she would be able to use a screwdriver properly! I am glad that Pixie figured it out with your coaching!
Comment by Christina W — January 13, 2009 @ 10:50 pm