Sign up or log in to customize your list. Here's how it works: Anybody can ask a question The best answers are voted up and rise to the top I have an external garage, with a manual overhead door (no powered opener). There is no side access door. After the recent winter, I tried opening the garage again, and the handle will not turn. I believe the lock is disengaging, as I hear a 'click' when I turn the key. The lock is below the handle, separate from it. I tried tapping the handle with a hammer lightly, but didn't want to strike too hard for fear of breaking my only possible entryway. Is there reasonable any way to get in, or do I need a professional? And if I need to call someone--does it make more sense to call a locksmith or a garage repair company/specialist? If the lock is separate from the handle and turns freely, my guess is the handle is the issue, not the lock. Overhead garage doors almost always latch by extending pins through the tracks on either side of the door.
It is likely that one of these just got bound due to expansion, contraction, ice lifting, or whatnot. I'd try a couple things before doing anything with the lock itself. First, grab the handle and alternate between jerking the door up and down while you try to turn it. If this doesn't work, you may be able to carefully remove the trim on either side of the door. Usually there will be enough of a gap to slide in a flatbar or something similar to tap on the latching pins. If they're stuck, knocking them up and down a couple times will usually free them. I think the right answer is to buy a side access door and cut a hole in the wall to install it in. You've just illustrated one reason those are a "good thing" - leaving in a hurry in case of fire is another. Just did this for a neighbor a month ago. Much cheaper buying a new lockset for $20. Sign up or log in Sign up using Google Sign up using Email and Password Post as a guest By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.
Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged garage lock garage-door or ask your own question.We all have those rare (or not so rare) occasions where we lock ourselves out of our house. While you could learn how to pick your own locks, reader ilovetofu shows us how to open a garage door in seconds. To open it up, all you need to do is thread a coat hanger or hooked piece of wire through the top of the door and open the emergency latch (which can also be done by the rope many emergency latches have). Check out the video to watch it in action. Unfortunately, this method could also be used by someone else trying to break into your house.If you’re not the type to forget your keys and get stuck outside, ilovetofu adds on his method for protecting himself from this vulnerability: I secured my opener’s quick release lever using a plastic zip tie. You may also want to remove your rope if you have windows in your garage door.Of course, this makes your emergency latch a bit more difficult to open, but it all depends on what dangers you’re more likely to encounter.
If you’re more likely to set the house on fire than get your garage broken into, for example—you’re probably better off leaving the emergency latch free. Got any other tips for breaking into your own house (or protecting it from outside break-ins)? Share them in the comments.Your garage is supposed to prevent trouble by keeping your car safe from the elements (and from thieves), but sometimes garages have problems of their own. Garage doors won't open, refuse to lock or age and warp. Here's how to solve garage door dilemmas.The power to your garage is out with the door shut, and you need to get your car out or you'll have to take a bus. You'll notice a cord—usually with a red handle—dangling down from the guide track that the opener uses to open and close the door. This is the manual override. Once pulled, it allows you to open and close the door with your own power in the form a little elbow grease.Cold weather has stiffened the mechanism of your garage door opener and caused it to lose power.
Most garage door openers made in the past 15 years have pressure adjustments for both raising and lowering. Check and adjust these settings seasonally to keep things running smoothly.That sagging garage door is getting harder and harder to open. Garage doors, especially older, wooden models, are as susceptible to the ravages of time and gravity as the rest of us. If your aging doors are a little saggy, square them up with the tension rods positioned on the back of the door. The rods are placed diagonally from top to bottom corners and can be tightened at a turnbuckle to straighten out the door--do a little at time to allow the door to adjust to the change. If your door isn't already equipped with tension rods, you can buy them at home centers.Your dream car is parked in out of the elements, but it's not secure because the garage door won't lock. Most garage doors have two horizontal bars that move out from the center of the door into slots along the side of the door in the door track, effectively locking the door in place.
Over time, these bars can shift slightly out of position so that they are no longer correctly aligned with the locking slots. To realign the bars, unscrew the guide brackets on the edges of the door so that they are loose enough to move, and then reposition them so that they smoothly guide the locking bars into the locking slots. Lubricate the lock mechanism with machine oil and you're done.After working on the car, you find a big oil stain on the driveway. Pulverize a scrap piece of drywall with a hammer (any new home construction site will have dumpsters full of waste pieces of drywall). Crumble the pulverized drywall with your hands and sprinkle on the stain. Leave it overnight, and rinse off in the morning. Reapply and brush in with a bristle broom in cases of stubborn stains.Although small stains and cracks can usually be fixed with store-bought products and a little elbow grease, bigger troubles in your home's masonry walls call for more expertise. Bring in a mason or structural professional when:+ A crack in a masonry wall is large and growing rapidly.+ A foundation wall appears to have shifted.+ You find large patches of black mold on the wall.+ The wall is actually buckling.+ Bricks, mortar, or stucco simply crumble away to dust at your touch.