"Reb" wrote in message
...
One day my front door suddenly wouldn't open. I can unlock the knob and
it
turns, but the latch doesn't retract. I took off the doorknob, and I can
see that the spindle pushes in the thing it's supposed to when it turns,
but
it has absolutely no effect on the latch. I never had any warning of this
problem. The knob worked fine before.

I can't figure out any way to get the latch to retract. There's no way to
push something against it from the outside, and I can't get anything
around
it from the inside. The best option I can think of is to remove the door
from the hinges (not an easy or attractive option for me).

Is there a simpler way?

Can't see the guts of your doorknob from here, but it may just be gummed up,
especially if you just had a weather change. I'd squirt a little silicone in
there and see if it frees things up. Remember that when things get stuck, it
sometimes helps to push them the wrong direction- stick a screwdriver blade
in the side you didn't push on, and tried to get the striker or bolt to go
deeper, then reverse direction.

There is ALWAYS a way to get stuff apart, if putting it back together isn't
a concern. You could always attack the shell of the striker assembly with a
sharp drill, and chew enough away that you can drill a hole in the bolt to
stick something in and apply sideways force to. Unless your door is very
strange, new locksets or deadbolts aren't that expensive.

aem sends....