|
Y'know, I really, REALLY hate having to be MacGyver within ten minutes of getting out of bed.
It was a pretty much typical day. I rolled out of bed five minutes before the alarm was set to go off, turned my cell phone on, and went into the little bathroom off the master bedroom (just big enough for a shower stall, a sink and a toilet). I shut the door behind me but didn't lock it. We never lock the bathroom doors when it's just family -- if the door is fully closed we know someone's in there.
As I ran the hot water in the shower stall my cell phone (on the other side of the door, in the bedroom) finished booting up and chimed. I recognized the chime as the text app we use to keep in touch with our daughter. She's taking a trip and I'd asked her to keep in touch. I decided to check the message before getting into the shower.
I turned the door knob. It turned easily in my hand. Really easily. Wa-aaa-ay too easily.
The bolt wasn't moving.
At. All.
The door was still securely shut.
I tried the lock button, just in case I'd set it accidentally. Nope. I tried putting tension on the set by pulling the knob and then turning it. Nope. Pushing the knob and then turning it. Nope. I tried pounding on it a few times. Nope.
The door was jammed shut and the bolt was stuck in the striker and I was locked inside, and that was that.
Removing a privacy set is pretty easy -- but all my tools were on the other side of the door. I could call for help -- but my cell phone was on the other side of the door.
My wife has been taking evening classes at a local university and spending a lot of time at the local library. The fact that I had been doing some serious pounding away at the door without a response from her wasn't promising.
I took a quick look at what I did have and decided that, if it was really an emergency, I could get through the door. I had a steel steel scraper in one of the drawers, left over from when I'd removed some wallpaper, and I could use it to break through the hollow core door, if I had to, but that would take a lot of time, make a real mess, and be a lot more expensive in the long run.
I tried calling my wife. After the third or fourth time I heard her answer. I finally conveyed to her the fact that I was trapped in the f***ing bathroom.
"Oh," she said. "I was wondering why you were making all that racket!"
(I took a deep, calming breath.)
She tried the knob from the other side. The bolt didn't move. Neither did the knob on the inside of the bathroom -- the interior mechanism was pretty obviously shot.
I told her where to find the heavy, flat bladed screwdriver and explained how to pull the pins out of the hinges. She eventually worked them out.
Even after pins were removed the door was pretty well jammed shut. The strike side has a slight bevel to it, but the hinge side is flat. And the bolt was still stuck in the striker plate. I pounded the top side free, but it was harder to pound at the lower hinge -- there wasn't much room between the toilet and the bottom of the door to position myself for a good swing. But, eventually, it popped out.
I'll be making an unanticipated trip to Home Depot this evening to pick up a new privacy set. And there's a small split in the door frame by the lower hinge, but I don't think it'll need much to cover it.
But first, I think I'll have a mug of tea.
|