I need a doorknob consultation!

[Penelope]

Sigh. I have lovely vintage crystal doorknobs on my interior doors, but one is really tricky (it will stick the door shut if you turn it just right) and today the kids locked themselves in my bedroom by accident.

It was fine - I crawled in the window and dh helped me take the door off, and then we took the knob off and taped the door latch so it can't engage (basically the door can't fully close now.)

I don't want to replace it, but obviously I can't have an unsafe door in the house. And I'd like to be able to close my bedroom door, IYKWIM. : Will taking it apart and using WD40 on it work? Do I need a new spindle for the doorknob?

Advice, please!

[LaLaLuna]

I would take it apart and see if I could fix it. I have done this before with old doorknobs; sometimes just taking them all the way apart and putting them back together again can do the trick- like they get mis-aligned or something over the years. Lubing it wouldn't hurt either.

Glad you got the kids out ok; my ds locked himself in the bathroom of a restaurant once when he was about 5 (he managed to figure out how to LOCK the slide latch but he couldn't figure out how to UNlock it!) - it was a bad five minutes.

[Penelope]

I have taken it apart and put it back together with no discernable improvement. Sadly.

So I'll try WD40, and maybe swap this knob out for a different one which gets less use, like one of my two office doors. No big thing if it gets stuck then!

[mightymoo]

They do sell those type of old glass doorknobs at home depot (at least I think my dad has mentioned it - they have that style of doorknob and I know exactly what you are talking about) - you could check them out and see if you could buy a new one for the guts and use the old one for the knobs, etc - make a mutt out of it.

Otherwise other than what you said about switching them, if you really want to save the doorknob I think you could try a locksmith.

[Penelope]

I think I can get a new spindle for much less than the whole doorknob. Sot that's Plan B in case the WD40 doesn't help. But if I do need to replace it, or if I decided to branch out into those doors with ordinary knobs, I'll check HD for sure!

Now my problem is that I can't get the office one *off* in order to switch them.

There's a thead on the TableTalk part of salon.com called "my sorry-ass tiny little first world problems" and this SO qualifies.

[LaLaLuna]

Originally Posted by Penelope

There's a thead on the TableTalk part of salon.com called "my sorry-ass tiny little first world problems" and this SO qualifies.

In that case, I'll add my doorknob woes to yours; when we moved into our new house the entire thing had been fitted out in those hideous shiny gold 80's doorknobs. I've slowly replaced most of the interior knobs, as I can afford to; when it got to the front door (which had TWO knobs, being one of those double door deals) I not only was not able to get the stylin' black oiled bronze knob to fit into it, I BROKE the bloody door. So after many long adventures to find a beautiful door that fit the space and didn't cost a couple grand, we got a new front door (which of course required an entirely different knob) and all was good. Now the ugly gold knob on the back door is going gunnybag on us; I'm afraid to touch it. :

[oregongirlie]

If it's a nice old doorknob, don't replace it with anything from Home Depot! I'd look for an architectural hardware salvage place near you and take the whole knob, spindle and lock set (Is it a mortise lock with a keyhole?) to them. They might be able to fix it or advise you right there.

[Penelope]

ITA that I should work hard to save this doorknob. But it's only medium-high on my list of priorities, so I think I'd eBay an old one (or a few) before going to a salvage place.

[Erin+babyAndrew]

we have those doorknobs too, and I think we have a bucket of parts for them in the garage, LMK if you need anything. We have a similar problem on our bedroom door, the knob is fine but we lost the plate part that goes on the door frame (read: dh too lazy to go find another one and screw it on) so we have an old t-shirt draped over the top of the door. This keeps the door closed since it makes a tight connection so the door can grip the frame.