How to Fix Your Door Knob When It Isn't Locked

Everyone may meet the situation that your door knob won’t turn in daily life. When you find that your are locked out of room, you have to take measures to fix the door knob or even the door lock. Do you know how to fix the door knob? You need figure out the main reasons that cause the door knob won’t turn. 

 

A litany of potential issues can make it so a door knob won’t turn. When you neglect lock maintenance, the latch can jam due to rust or catch on the strike plate. Things can also break within the lock. And outside of the lock, the key can also cause issues if it has worn, distorted, or is the wrong key.

 

Main Reasons Your Door Knob Won’t Turn

Wrong Key

I know you think you are using the right key, but a very common reason that a door knob won’t turn is simply that the wrong key is being used. As long as two locks are made by the same manufacturer, one key will fit both. This is how it is possible to make keyed alike door locks.

 

Even if keys are not exactly the same size or brand, sometimes smaller keys can still fit into larger keyways. A good sign that you may be using the wrong key is that the key won’t turn. However, this is not a guaranteed way of getting to the bottom of why the door knob won’t turn.

 

Broken Key 

A broken key will give similar indications as using the wrong key. However, this is certainly the correct key, only broken. When a key “breaks,” it does not have to be severe enough where you will be trying to get the broken key out of the lock. It may just have worn down to be unusable.

 

Keys wear out as the metal grooves grind against the lock internals, or as rotational torque from each key turn bending the key slightly. Feel the teeth of the key and see if they are pointy or smooth. Smooth is a good sign of wear. It is rarely possible to fix a broken key with this type of wear.

 

Lock Jam

When a door knob won’t turn, it may be due to the lock jamming. Most often, debris such as rust or dirt fills the gaps that allow different components the range of motion they need. With those tolerances diminished, the lock will jam until the debris is removed.

 

This accumulated detritus can be between the latch bolt and the housing, causing a stuck door latch. The keyway may be blocked, so the key cannot insert fully. The lock can be blocked deeper inside, which jams actuators that allow the knob to turn or the latch to retract.

 

The latch bolt may also be getting stuck on the strike plate. This issue has less to do with the lock and more to do with alignment, which has its own section. If something in the lock has broken and is not jamming up the internals, check out the section on lock damage.

 

Lock Damage

When a door knob suddenly won’t turn, or the minor issue has escalated to this extreme state, there is a good chance there has been damage. Any part of your lock can be damaged abruptly or slowly over time. You will then need to look into solutions for a broken lock.

 

Repairs are viable when the cost of the fix does not exceed the price of replacing the lock. With very extensive damage, the best option may be a replacement. What is most important with solving lock damage is determining the extent of the damage, which allows you to choose the fix.

 

If the key keeps turning in the lock, this is often an indication that the cam or tailpiece at the back of the cylinder is broken. The cylinder not moving at all can result from snapped or compressed springs. But with cheap locks, new lock installation may still be comparable to repair service prices.

 

People can judge the situation of door knob according to these reasons and find right measures to fix them quickly. It is time to get lock pick sets at home, which are useful in the process of fixing door lock problems.