Filing the strike 1.
Front door thumb latch stuck.
Open the door wide and put on a pair of safety glasses to protect your eyes.
This will probably require an 1 8 allen wrench for the interior knob or lever.
Remove the two screws on the inside door knob faceplate with a phillips screwdriver.
Disassembling the door knob.
Once the door is open try to actuate the door latch with the handle.
Inspect the strike plate on the edge of the door frame.
There may be a through bolt whose head is hidden by a screw cap below the knob.
The knob will not turn to retract the stuck door latch.
You may want to spray wd40 or other lubricant on the lock mechanism.
A latch bolt that sticks in the strike often leave tell tale.
On the kwikset locks this looks like two little teeth that the cylinder pushes back.
A sticking door latch might require some lubrication or it might be jamming against the.
Equip a rotary tool with a carbide tip bit.
To take yours out just use your phillips screw driver again to take out the two screws in the face plate.
You can see where the cylinder entered the dead latch mechanism and pulled the latch back.
You ll have to unscrew it to reveal the bolt head.
If this works then you can open the door and it s time to replace the dead latch.
Taking the lock of the door is often simpler than it would be to take a deadbolt or exterior door knob lock of the door.
Sometimes the lock button being stuck is endemic of the latch bolt freezing so you might not be able to take advantage of spring loaded latch through the gap between the door and the frame.
When possible it s easiest to file the slot in the strike plate a little bit so that it will receive the latch.
The handle or knob must be jiggled to unstick the latch.
Unscrew the thumblatch off the door.
The door latch is not extended before rotating the knob.
If door latch doesn t align adjust the position of the strike plate.
For less than a 1 8 inch misalignment of the latch bolt and strike plate file the inside edges of the plate to enlarge the opening.
More force is needed to turn the knob and unstick the latch.