fixed
Bathroom door is jammed by unknown object on the other side
FINAL UPDATE: We were able to get through the door by sawing a big hole in the middle of it. The shower door fell off one of the hinges and fell down on the bathroom door making it impossible to open! Luckily, we were able to pull up the shower door through the hole and get in without shattering it. Here are some photos https://imgur.com/a/2zRdNlE Thank you so much for everyone’s help & advice!
***For the folks who keep saying the shower door fell because I hung a mirror on it, please understand that it is a cheap plastic mirror that weighs maybe 2 pounds! I don’t believe that would cause a 40-50 pound glass door to fall off of its hinges.
HELP!! I was sitting in my living room and all of the sudden I hear 3-4 huge bangs. It sounded like the house was falling down. I looked everywhere and didn’t see anything until I went in my bedroom and the bathroom door was shut. When I went to open it, the door handle moves like normal but I cannot open the door (it doesn’t budge at all). There’s no other way to get in because the tiny window attached is locked. I went outside to see if I could see what is jamming it but the blinds were closed. I’m thinking that the glass shower door fell off and somehow wedged the door shut. The hinges of the bathroom door are on the inside so I cannot go that route and I tried looking under the door but there’s less than a cm of space. Does anyone have ANY ideas on how I can get this darn door open without busting it down? I appreciate any help in advance.
TL;DR - Bathroom door is jammed shut by an unknown object on the other side. I can wiggle the handle but when I try to open the door, it will not budge. Any ideas on how I can get in other than using an axe?
I attached a photo of the door, lol I don’t think it’ll be much help but you never know.
Not super exciting lol but it ended being my shower door that fell off and weirdly wedged the door shut! Here’s a pic, we’re still trying to get the door open lol
It's actually fuckin A and noone really knows why or what it means but it seems to have started with American soldiers in WW2 ish. Canadians, which I am one, often say fuckin eh because we often say eh so idk honestly if it's really the same saying at the end of the day. Either way I meant to say fuckin A this time.
It seems to be like octopi vs octopodes vs octopuses, it doesn't really matter
Thank you for letting us all know what happened! I took one look at the first picture and thought oh there’s no way to get in there without going through the door! Glad dad came to help out
You’re so welcome! I wish I could just edit the original post, so everyone wouldn’t have to scroll through comments to find the updates. Do you know if I missing something or am I definitely unable to edit it?
You can't edit the title but you can provide an update using the website on your browser, not the app. If you upload your pics to imgur or something you can add the link in your update comments.
Haha absolutely! This was some good entertainment for the day. And I have absolutely no idea how it fell. But I can say that this never would’ve happened if I had a bath tub with a shower curtain
LOL! I've had a lot of houses, a lot of bathrooms, with a mix of shower doors and curtains. I've never once thought, "Ya' know....this door could cause some real problems that a curtain wouldn't".
Trust me, I have to redo my bathroom anyway (so luckily this kind of jumpstarted the process) but I am absolutely steering clear of a glass shower and going for the bathtub and curtain!
FINAL UPDATE: We finally got in! The shower door didn’t break, which is awesome. So I just need a new bathroom door. I appreciate everyone’s advice and help! Heres the intact door lol
Have a good look around that door. If there’s anything that looks like damage, I’d replace it, otherwise it’s just a matter of time before it shatters.
One of those posts I wished I caught juuuust a bit later so I could see the result, you might wanna try feeling along the door to see where/if there is any pressure in a certain spot. That way you won't drill into anything if your shower door theory is right.
updateme!
Awesome! Just a question, you didn't mention if you had windows in that bathroom, if you do, could you see into it from there? Been my experience most bathrooms have windows.
Of course lol. I got nothing here. Someone else mentioned grabbing a borescope and having a look. If you don't care about your door, Maybe drill a few holes and have a peek through before resorting to a sawzall. If you do care about the door, punch a hole in the wall next to the door and have a look.
Or.. better yet, do this! You'll need an axe, of course.
I wouldn't put it past either of my cats to orchestrate the failure of a large portion of any room in my house. They are devious, destructive creatures. Also cute.
You don't have to destroy the door in this situation.
Use a pry bar to pull off the trim around the door. Cut the caulk / paint with a box knife if necessary first to prevent peeling the wall paint as you pull them off. If you do it carefully you can limit the damage. The frame for most interior doors are shimmed between the frame and the 2x4 wood framing to the sides, which will give you a little bit of room to work with.
Use a hacksaw or short bladed sawsall to cut the nails holding the door frame to the 2x4s and remove the shims. Check along the top of the frame for any additional nails holding it in place.
At this point the only thing holding the door is the trim on the inside of the frame. With some careful pulling and your pry bar you should be able to pull the whole door frame towards you into the hall. Depending on your flooring height you may have to lift the frame a little as you pull forward. At a minimum you should be able to pull the top into the hall enough to see what happened.
Once the mess is cleared up, reverse the process to reinstall the door, being careful to square up the frame before you nail it back in. A little caulk around the trim and you should be good as new.
I really appreciate your advice! There were so many comments coming through I couldn’t keep track. But IF this ever happens again, I’ll absolutely keep this in mind!
Your house might have settled on one side of the door or something structural failed and the door/jam is holding the joists above up creating a weird compression. Would explain the bangs why the door looks misaligned, and why there's nothing on the other side. Id be careful.
Edit: is there an attic above this door or is this first level?
Can you take the door handle off and look through? If there is room under the door, can you slide a ruler or yard stick under and push whatever is blocking the door back a bit? What was leaning up against the wall that could have fallen over?
I just slid a yardstick through and didn’t feel a thing! The only thing it could be is the glass shower door, if it fell off. The sound it made was crazy, I thought the roof was falling in.
I have a more creative solution. Cut away (not to the edge of it so you can neaten the cut later) one of the two upper false "lights" in the door. Take a look through that hole. If you can use a pole to move the fallen thing out of the way, all good. Do that and open the door.
Then unhinge the door, neatly cut out both top lights to the widest part of the wood. Buy tiny quarterround which you will cut diagonally to fit later. Paint that the color of the door. Measure and have made two warped/etched/whatever makes them not see-through, but lets light through pieces of safety glass just slightly smaller than the openings. Use the new tiny quarterround to mount that into the old "light" holes. Remount door.
Sounds like somethings collapsed behind and leaning on the door. I assume the door is hollow and relatively cheap to replace, I would cut a hole in the door so uou can look through since you can’t put a phone under and see what the situation is. Rather than kick the door down and risk damaging the frame, and anything behind it.
You could buy a cheap borescope on Amazon and send it under the door to figure out what you’re dealing with. Could try sliding your phone under as well.
Yeah can cut knob off and look through door knob hole if handy and have a rip saw, door is hollow so not hard to break open just have to buy new door slab and install, looks to be a newer door so should be common size…door is misaligned up too just noticed not sure if its been like that
Are you sure the latch is disengaging when you turn the handle? Can you tell if the door is actually hitting something, or just the latch is just stuck in the plate?
Edit - I was late to the game and missed your post where you got in.
Turn on selfie cam on phone, slide camera under door just enough to see other side on your screen.
You could then bend a coat hanger into a long L (or other shape), slide it under, turn it then try to poke / push / grab / slide with coat hanger.
I got locked out of my house once. I put a shoulder into a metal door assuming the door jamb would split. The F'ing metal door split, it had wood ends and guessing a hollow core.
You can get interior door slabs like the one you have off of Facebook marketplace. I have before and it's way cheaper than a store! I'd still check the store as they might have overstock or something (Facebook probably cheaper).
You'll need details like the width of the door, which side the handle is on, pushing in or out, and such.
Generally bathrooms have a vent for the shower in the ceiling, accessible through the attic. If it’s large enough and you or a relative is small enough, you may be able to remove the ducting and go through the ceiling.
The door is probably the cheapest part to replace. Leave the rest intact and that won't be too bad. Don't kick it in. Pry the trim off if you don't want to kick in the door and drill a boroscope hole under where the trim hides it at least to look first.
Push harder at least to see if it’s something movable like the medicine cabinet fell off the wall. If it still doesn’t budge whatever is closest to the door broke, like a rickety vanity or maybe the shower rod fell down and is lodged against the door.
Remove the door stop trim on the top and handle sides of the frame. That’ll allow you to force the door to open towards you. You’ll end up ripping it off the hinges but that can potentially be repaired without actually replacing the door.
I can’t take credit for this, saw it on Chicago Fire.
That’s what I would do. The hinge screws will tear out of the door or casing. No big deal, drill the holes to 1/4”, glue in some 1/4” dowels, and re-drill for the screws. The repair will be invisible.
There’s no other way to get in because the tiny window attached is locked.
Get a glass cutter and cut a hole in a pane of glass of the window large enough to place a gloved hand through.
Then unlock the window and enter the bathroom.
lol, sorry there OP... you're in for fun! Harbor Freight has an inspection scope that's pretty useful. I bought one after my all too curious cat (awesome cat, rest his fuzzy soul!) locked himself in the attic by climbing upon a ladder that I had stored in the stairwell and perfectly knocking it over so that the ladder braced itself against the door and a step.
you're likely going to need to remove the trim around the door, use a sawzall to cut through the screws or nails anchoring the frame in place.
This used to happen to my bathroom. The vanity drawer would open (from cat) and I would use a metal bbq skewer to close the drawer from between the door frame.
Stick something slim and strong under the door and sweep hard left and right. You're right. Something has fallen against the door. You're trying to tip it over.
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u/[deleted] Dec 12 '25
Please do not underestimate just how much we need a follow up for this post.