My uPVC door will not open — what can I do?
Working out from the handle and the key whether it is a jammed bolt, a failed gearbox or a seized cylinder — and which of the three you can do anything about from your side.
- Difficulty
- intermediate
- Time
- 30 min
- Read
- 4 min
- Safety
- warning
Short answer
Try the key first with the door pushed firmly inwards and again pulled outwards: a bolt under load will free if the pressure is taken off. If the handle drops but nothing retracts, the gearbox has sheared and it is a locksmith. If the key will not turn at all, it is the cylinder. Do not keep forcing anything.
A uPVC door that will not open is nearly always one of three things, and the symptom tells you which. The important thing is to stop applying force early, because a partly failed gearbox that could have been opened gently becomes a drilled cylinder and a damaged door once someone has heaved on the handle.
Safety
Step by step
- Establish which side you are on and whether anyone is shut in.If someone is inside a property with no other exit, that is an emergency and the answer is an emergency locksmith or, if a person is at risk, the fire service. Everything below assumes the door is an inconvenience, not a trap.
- Take the load off the door and try again.Push the door firmly towards the frame with your shoulder, or pull it towards you, while turning the key. Bolts jam because the door has dropped and the hook is bearing on the keep. Relieving that pressure frees a surprising number of doors in seconds.
- Try the key in both directions, gently.Turn slowly and feel for where it stops. A cylinder that turns freely through its full travel with nothing happening has a broken cam or a failed gearbox. A cylinder that will not move at all is seized or has a key problem.
- Watch what the handle does.Push the handle down. If it moves normally and the bolts audibly retract but the door stays shut, the door is jammed rather than locked. If the handle flops with no resistance and nothing moves, the gearbox has sheared internally.
- Check the obvious external causes.Ice in the lock or on the threshold, a dropped hinge after a hot spell, swelling of a timber-cored composite after heavy rain, or something wedged under the door on the far side. In a hot summer, a bowed door is a common cause and it will often release as the day cools.
- Try the other door.Obvious, and worth saying: if you can get to the other side of this door through a back door, patio door or a neighbour's access, everything becomes far easier and cheaper. Never break glass to solve a problem you can walk around.
- Stop, once it needs force.A locksmith who arrives at a door with a failed gearbox and an intact cylinder can often open it with far less damage than one arriving at a door somebody has already levered. The bill grows with every attempt.
- Call a locksmith and describe the symptom precisely.Say whether the handle moves, whether the key turns, whether the door locked normally last time and whether it has been stiff for weeks. A good locksmith will price the job differently for a seized cylinder and a sheared gearbox, and will bring the right parts.
If it doesn't work
Handle lifts and locks but will not drop to open
Cause: The deadbolt is still thrown, or the gearbox is jammed with a bolt under load — Fix: Turn the key fully in the unlocking direction first — many multipoint doors will not allow the handle to move until the deadbolt is fully withdrawn. Then push or pull the door to unload the bolts and try again.
Key turns all the way round and round
Cause: Broken cylinder cam, or a gearbox that has lost its connection to the cam — Fix: Nothing useful can be done from outside. Note whether the handle still moves, and call a locksmith. Do not keep turning it.
Handle is completely floppy
Cause: Sheared gearbox, or a snapped spindle — Fix: If the door is currently open, this is a straightforward lock replacement. If it is shut, a locksmith needs to open it first. A snapped spindle is much cheaper than a gearbox and is worth checking by removing a handle.
Everything works but the door will not move
Cause: The door is jammed, not locked — swelling, bowing, ice, or an obstruction — Fix: Push and pull firmly at different heights to find where it is holding. If it is heat-related bowing, wait until evening. Never lever against the frame.
Questions people ask
Can I take the handle off to open the door?
Removing an outside handle exposes the spindle and sometimes lets you work the gearbox directly with pliers, but only if the gearbox itself still functions. If the gearbox has sheared it changes nothing, and on a door with a split spindle the outside half will not drive the mechanism anyway.
Will a locksmith have to drill the lock?
Not necessarily. Many failures can be opened non-destructively, and even where the cylinder has to be sacrificed the door and frame usually survive. Damage rises sharply once force has been applied by someone else first.
Is this covered by home insurance?
Some policies include emergency access or lock replacement, and some bank accounts and home emergency cover include a locksmith call-out. Check before you ring anyone, because a covered call-out is usually arranged through the insurer's own network.