Attic Door Stuck

Troubleshooting a stuck door latch.

Attic door stuck.

To open my loft hatch i normally just push it up with the end of the pole and the spring releases the door. The arm on that side looks like it s bent out. In any case we need to get up into the attic and cannot pull the stairs down. It is not opening and i can t get into.

Try to open the door while it is shut. The knob will not turn to retract the stuck door latch. If your home has an attic crawl space but is not large enough to merit a doorway and a set of proper stairs having a set of pull down attic stairs allows you to access the crawl space without sacrificing any room in your home. The latch will not retract even when the knob is turned.

If the hindges are on the outside try taking them off then yank the door open or get a long knife anf try pushing it into the cracks between the door and frame and maybe it will cut through the. The stairs fold conveniently up into the crawl space and are completely invisible from within your living space. The door latch is not extended before rotating the knob. In order to get the door to close we have to bend the arm back in as much as we can and hook the spring back over the bracket at the top.

We have a pull down attic wood ladder with heavy duty springs on each side. More force is needed to turn the knob and unstick the latch. Stuck likely as a result of the wood expanding with the humidity in the house the past few weeks.