Problem solved!

I ended up having my nephew work on it. He was able to retract the latch
using a flat blade screwdriver and a knife between the door and the striker
plate. He moved the latch a tiny bit at a time using the screwdriver while
the knife held the latch in place to keep it from snapping back each time he
lifted the screwdriver. It only took him a few seconds, and he managed to
do it without damaging the door, the frame, or even the striker plate. He
pointed out that he got lots of practice as a kid, sneaking into my (locked)
bedroom to snoop around when I was at school. All's well that ends well, I
suppose.


"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?

Reb