I have a door that is stuck closed and it looks like the frame of the door is getting pushed on from a shift in the opening.
What should I be looking for when I open the drywall up to find the issue?
Walls – What to look for
doorsrepairwalls
Related Solutions
First off, I make no warranty of any of these suggestions. Especially if this is actually a bank...
I would be hesitant to completely rely on an all-electronic solution, since if there is a failure (which, frankly, is likely with a budget of only 200 per lock), you don't want to have to resort to a plasma torch or something to cut open (and destroy) the door to get in.
What seems like an interesting option to me though would be some of the RF-controlled keyless locks on the market. These look like a normal deadbolt, but have an RF remote.
What would be needed in whatever is chosen is the ability to hook into it, specifically, you need two things:
- The ability to remotely control lock/unlock
- The ability to sense if it's locked or unlocked
I'm going to assume that you have some type of microcontroller running the rest of this setup. You didn't specify.. but presumably you have something that has some I/O on it, the ability to connect it to the locks, and some software running to handle what I describe below. I'll also assume that you have an alarm and monitoring.
To control the lock, ideally, you could hardwire in to it, and be able to apply a signal to lock/unlock all the deadbolts. Less ideally, you could hack apart the remotes, and have your controller effectively press the buttons on the remote(s) to lock/unlock. This adds unreliability since you're dependent on an RF signal.
Since these are keyed locks, you have a nice backup mechanism if everything fails: use the 4 keys to open the locks (and note, you'd need to be sure they're 4 separate keys).
Of course, since they're keyed locks, they're also susceptible to being picked/bumped. To try and combat that, what you can do is have your controller monitor each lock individually. If any of the locks ever open when the controller didn't tell them to, then it should trigger an immediate alarm (consider: someone is likely to pick/bump one at a time). If this is an exterior door, then this is your first line of defence, unfortunately. If it's an interior door, then you should also have motion and other door sensors that will hopefully trigger before someone gets to this door.
You also need to consider all other aspects of physical security. You're only as secure as the weakest point, so if someone can break through a window or wall or vent then it doesn't matter how good the door is. Physical security is also just a matter of time: eventually, you can get through anything. That's why I suggested having an alarm system connected, which is both a deterrent, and triggers a police/whatever response. Consider: safes, even high-end ones, are rated by the time it takes to crack them: your door will be no different. Having video cameras probably helps as well, both as a deterrent and to help catch people afterwards. Your video and security system also need to be protected, so that they can't just be disabled/destroyed.
On the other hand, too much security and you actually can attract attention. I've heard that the houses with extra locks, security cameras, etc, are often targeted by thieves since they look like they have something valuable worth protecting.
If it's pre-hung, it should be the width of your wall (sheetrock to sheetrock). That way you can easily place trim around it.
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Best Answer
Well, it's hard to say what the underlying cause is for all this. I'd suggest heaving (up) clay soils, but I would have expected that to be an issue in previous years. My next guess would be some kind of change in how much water the soil is holding, but since you didn't have any comments about that, I'll assume you don't have a leak.
All that said, getting a functional door is pretty straightforward. First, pull the hinge pins from the inside. With someone inside to catch the door, have someone shove on the hinge side. Cut about 1/8" off the binding top corner, trending down to zero at the top of the hinge side. (A circular saw with a straight guide clamped to the door will give you a pretty straight cut.) Reassemble the door and see if you can close it. Repeat the cutting if needed.
Make sure you have at least one long (3") screw in the top hinge leaf that goes into the framing. The goal is to have an even reveal all the way up the hinge side where the door meets the jamb. You may need to cut more based on tightening up the hinge.
The deadbolt and the lock strikes probably won't be aligned right. Either buy strike plates that have a taller opening or grind/file out the existing openings to make them work. I wouldn't just move the plates, as this will probably settle down in the future and then you'd have to move the plates again.