Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with door

Horny Cat is Trapped in the Bathroom

Hwaet — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 09:58:21 -0800

An insane cat has managed to lock herself in the bathroom. The handle looks like this from the outside, where I am. The lock, on the cat's side of the door, is a small metal piece that you push in with your thumb to lock and pull out to unlock. Other than breaking down the door, what can I do? The people I babysit for have a cat who goes into heat (long story, but she's spayed) and then harasses the baby. I don't know how the parents deal with this, but I shut the cat in the bathroom after the cat repeatedly tried to bite the kid's feet and rub her butt in the kid's face. Nice.

Anyways, I put the baby down for a nap and went to let the cat out of the bathroom, where she'd been hurling herself against the door for 2 hours. Apparently in her throes of passion and outrage she managed to push in the sliding lock and now the door is locked.

I've called the super and the parents, but no one is getting back to me. If this were my cat and my house then I'd try to just lean on the door handle until it broke. Does anyone have experience with these door handles? Any trick I can use that won't require the super to bust it down? I'd prefer to get out of this mess with a living cat and an in-tact door, but obviously the cat is the first priority.

What's this plastic garbage called, and can I replace it and not the whole door?

SpecialK — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:51:16 -0800

I'm moving out of a house I'd rented, and my dogs at one point had eaten the plastic "trim" pieces that are on the outside of the back door, which is your average metal-framed swinging with a big full-length dual-paned glass window. the damage isn't really to the door or the glass; it's to this stupid plastic trim that's around and within the glass that makes up a grid of squares. I don't know what this trim is called. Bonus question: Can I just replace the trim and not the door? Home Depot was, unsurprisingly, unhelpful.

Word for steel gates pulled down over storefronts at night?

jcruelty — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:03:51 -0800

Is there a specific word for those rolling, pull-down gates that cover up storefronts in old-school cities (Brooklyn, Barcelona) at night? Here's a picture of the kind of gates I mean. Grates? Doors? I feel like there has to be a more specific word. Spanish or English would be fine. Thanks!

soundproof bathroom

neelhtak — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:42:20 -0800

How to best soundproof an existing downstairs 1/2 bath with hollow core door? The downstairs is one large room with the door to the br in the dining room. The use of that area as dining area not changeable.

Would a solid core door help? Cork on one side of existing door? something to block the 1/4" space @ bottom of door? Exhaust fan not an option. Some sort of white noise machine? Is there one that's battery operated?

Just want to know what would work the best before onslaught of holiday company. I usually send people upstairs for privacy, but that trip is getting hard to manage for some of the elders.

Help! My door knob is stuck and I'm trapped in my room!

birdlady — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:06:44 -0800

Help! I'm stuck in my bedroom. The knob won't turn much either way and won't come unlatched. The only person who has a key to my house is out of town, so I can't even call a locksmith and have him let in. How can I get out of my bedroom? The door knob is the kind with screws only on the exterior. I've tried to slide a credit card in, but that did not yield results. Anyone have any advice to help me get out of my room?

Please help me put together a remote office door unlock system for a local non profit.

TomMelee — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 09:37:20 -0800

At secure offices, you have to get buzzed in the door. Help me build one of those systems for a local non-profit. Bonus points for inexpensive and practical for home use too! First off, I can't even really figure out what to google. I've tried "security door controls" and I get some good looking stuff, but I don't know the right terminology for what I'm looking for. So here goes.

I want a button under or at a desk (or multiple desks) that, when pressed, unlocks a door on the floor below. This is NOT a high security application, it does NOT need to be bulletproof. There are some ladies who work alone at this rural agency in the mornings, and they'd like to let people in the building w/o letting them in the office, but there's a stairwell...etc.

Ideally we can do this on the cheeeep, something homebrew would be totally fine. Very little money to work with here, everything goes to youth programming, and we'd like it to stay that way. T'would also be a fun project for our new house...so...enlighten me.

It doesn't *have* to be a door-bell like button, it could be a keyfob, but we're thinking low-voltage wires are the way to go.

There are three desks who would like to have access to the button, so I'm guessing three buttons!

You tell me!

Girl next door and marriage viability.

bukvich — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 16:40:02 -0800

Several years ago I read a small stack of relationship books. I swear it was in Maggie Scarf's Intimate Partners, but having re-read that one cover to cover looking for the precise blip it is not in that one. Do you know of any anthropology or psychology or sociology academic study which (perhaps famously and/or authoritatively) concludes: the best prediction of relationship success is you grew up in the same (or very similar) neighborhoods? Google pulls up a million results but not the one I am looking for.

knob/crack positioning

hollyanderbody — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 20:20:31 -0800

On which side of the folds of a pair of bifold closet doors go the knobs?...... toward the center of the closet opening, or toward the sides of the opening?

thanks MeFites!

Did somebody shoot my car?

escabeche — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 16:52:59 -0800

Did somebody shoot my car? This morning in Tucson, AZ we came out of the house we were visiting to find the driver's window of our rental car shattered -- that is, the glass was cracked into tiny pieces but almost entirely still in the windowframe, apart from a small hole, about hand-sized, near the mirror. That part of the glass was scattered on the driver's seat. There was also a small hole in the driver's side door, a little above the handle; the door was still locked. There was nothing of value in the car, and the interior was, as far as we could tell, untouched. No marks on the trunk.

So what happened here? Attempted break-in? But then why not sweep all the glass out of the window? And why not try to force the trunk, when the car itself was visibly empty of valuables? The folks at the rental car agency said the hole in the door looked like a bullet hole. But do people randomly shoot at parked cars in the middle of the night? Would a bullet fired at a car penetrate the outside metal of the door but not enter the cabin? (There was no hole on the inside of the door, and no bullet inside.) And would shooting the door of a car shatter the driver's side window?

how to mount plexiglas on stainless steel fridge?

kenliu — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 12:23:56 -0800

I have a stainless steel fridge and a toddler who is learning to walk. I want to mount a sheet of plexiglas over the bottom portion of the door to prevent it from getting dented. I would like this to look decent and be non-permanent so I can remove it when we eventually move. Any ideas on how I could do this? All I can think of is using some kind of tape, but I think that would sag after a while. Bonus for suggestions on how to also stick stuff to the plexiglas so that I can post up my kid's artwork (the stainless steel is non-magnetic).

Door within a door

jontyjago — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 15:06:05 -0800

Is there a specific name for the little door-within-a-door often seen on prison cells that are used to pass food through?

Click. Click.

Skyanth — Wed, 27 May 2009 04:25:00 -0800

What is the use of double locks? Not two separate lock, just the kind of lock that you can turn once (which locks the door) and then another time, in the same direction (which locks the door... more?). If the door is only safely locked with two turns of the key, why would you offer the option to turn it only once? And if the door is just as safely locked with only one turn of they key, why offer the option for a second turn?

I've been thinking about his for some time. The only explanation I can come up with is that one turn is not enough to push the bolt far enough to really lock the door. But that would mean that all non-double locking doors are actually not safe? Surely that's not true.

Quick rusty door fix.

boby — Sat, 16 May 2009 14:21:30 -0800

My outside metal door is rusting. Is there a quick fix or do I need to sand, prime and repaint? The rust is more of a discoloration than deep rust.

How to put a curtain on a metal door.

robinpME — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 07:38:08 -0800

How can I put a curtain on a non-magnetic metal door? (Asking for a friend) I just moved, and the front door to the apartment is some sort of non-magnetic metal. The door has an oval glass insert that is most of the length of the door, and lets people see into the apartment, and lets the cats see the skunks that come on to the porch at night. How can I put up a curtain to cover the glass?

Help me get started with electronics

dance — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 01:31:13 -0800

DIY RFID door lock. I've been wanting to play around with RFID for a long while, and so I've bought an electronic cabinet lock to teach myself a bit of soldering and basic electronics.

Facts about the cabinet lock:
-Works on 12v ac/dc
-Has five contacts: 1+2 12v; 3 n/open; 4 n/closed; 5 common

I'd like to buy an RFID kit to control the lock. But I have a couple of questions.

1) Would I need two power supplies, one for the RFID kit and one for the cabinet lock, or would one power supply power both?
a) What search term do I need for a power supply? All the power supplies I've seen don't have cables with soldered tips, they have plugs for sockets like mobile phones
b) Could I run it from batteries, how would I work out the life-span of the battery when I don't know the amperage draw of the cabinet lock?

2) Does n/open and n/closed refer to normally open and normally closed? Should the device be wired so that that 1+2 (12v) constantly gets supplied with 12v, but either 3 or 4 (depending on wished for functionality) gets supplied with current briefly and the lock does its stuff. I have no idea what common might be. Apart from that the lock apparently has a built-in microswitch to output to LED etc and that it could conceivably be that.

Could anyone recommend an RFID kit to power this? I've seen an $18 kit on eBay but it required modifying the PCB to actually do anything other than just recognise key fobs. But that's ideally the price bracket I'm looking in! It's what the cabinet lock cost!

Thanks

What does the inside of my car door look like?

carsonb — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 10:36:43 -0800

I'm replacing the 6.5" door speakers on my 1999 Chevy S-10 (regular cab) and I have two questions. I. What does the linkage between the outer door handle and the latch mechanism look like? As I was removing the door molding (a minor fiasco, but done) I accidentally poked my finger in through a hole in the metal and unseated the rod that connects the outer door handle lever to the door latch. I can't see the linkage directly, so I don't know how it goes back together. If only I knew how they connected, I could put them back together.

II. The factory speaker that I'm replacing connected to the wiring via a socket. My new Pioneer speaker doesn't have this socket; it came with wires that crimp onto the speaker on one end and are an inch bare on the other. Can I simply cut the socket insert off the speaker wires in the door and just join them to the bare ends coming from the speaker?

Your help is greatly appreciated.

What would happen if I closed a car door on my leg?

bchaplin — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 19:09:33 -0800

I have an ongoing fear of slamming my own leg in my own car door when getting into the car. Now, when it comes to lack of grace, I am definitely on the low end of the bell curve, so this fear is not completely unreasonable. I try to be careful, but EVERY time I get in the car lately it crosses my mind: that I need to pull my left leg completely in before slamming the door shut. Hopefully I'll always remember to do those things in that order. But just to assuage my curiosity: Has anyone ever done this? And what was the outcome?

When did the refrigerator become message central?

I_Love_Bananas — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 07:53:01 -0800

What did the refrigerator door become "the place" to hang kids' art, notes etc.? In movies and TV shows from the past, you never see things on the refrigerator doors until the late 60's. At least that's my perception. When did this really take hold? I grew up end of 60's- through the 70's and we always had stuff hanging on the fridge. Just wondering.

Can't get the lock together

Countess Elena — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 17:22:22 -0800

Can you help me get this door to lock behind me? I'm trying to lock a storage closet. The lock is of the ordinary tumbler type, with three tongues (?) close together and a smaller fourth one below. The door handle only turns when you turn the key in the lock. It's supposed to lock behind you when you shut it.

This isn't happening. The door can be pushed open after I shut it. Since the door handle still won't turn without the key, I don't think the handle is the problem. (I did turn the key in numerous ways to make sure I wasn't supposed to be actively locking it, and that's not the case.)

I think the problem is that the tongues aren't perfectly aligned and don't quite catch in the holes. I keep trying to slam the door hard and create the force to shove the lock together, but the door has one of those hydraulic wossnames that makes it shut gently every time. If I had someone on the other side to push the door hard, I bet that would work -- but of course there's only the one door out.

I could probably get this looked at on Monday, but no sooner. I've got crap in there now, though. Do you have any suggestions to work around it till then?

Music

cluelessguru — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 17:23:27 -0800

Can you remember the 1970s disco songs that start with sound effects such as machine gun fire, door opening slowly , and a man laughing ominously? I just cannot recall their names. And googling hasn't helped.

Please give me the names of a few of them.

Thanks a million.

fixing hollow, too-short door

sparrows — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 07:41:45 -0800

I need to cheaply sound-insulate a door that has two issues: it's hollow, and it has half-inch gaps at its top and bottom. For the next half-year I'm living in a bedroom inside an apartment that's been really cheaply renovated. The door to my bedroom is a super-light hollow wood door that doesn't fill the full space of the door frame. This is useless both for sound insulation and for air insulation (I want to keep out incense and cooking smells from the hall, as well as sound).

Installing a new door is not an option. So, I'm thinking I need to do two things: fill up the door with something solid, and make its top and bottom not have the gaps.

-- For filling the door, I'd like to seal the bottom (how should I do that?) and fill it by pouring in from the top, with a funnel, something that is dense and cheap but wouldn't make a horrible mess if it somehow spilled (maybe a bag of birdseed?).

-- For making the door reach its top and bottom, just some foam or cloth padding? But there is wall-to-wall carpet in the room unfortunately -- rough and dense carpet that would catch on something that drags past it -- so my solution will have to slide over that carpet. I would really like to do this without a door-sock or something else I have to bend down and manually move every time I need to open the door. Maybe the bottom could be a rubber flap of some kind?

Is dirty latex safe?

pokeedog — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 19:30:57 -0800

Compost & painted wood walls, is it a good mix? I have a number of narrow louvered doors from a remodel, that I think would be great to use as walls for a compost pile. I would configure it myself, such as something similar to this. The doors I would like to use are covered in latex paint. I'm positive there is no lead paint on them. Do you think the latex paint covered doors would contaminate my compost pile? I would imagine in a few months the paint would start to flake.

Balcony Door Secret

Tube — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 22:02:16 -0800

Do theater balcony doors have secret unlocking mechanisms? Back in the 1980's, I went to a theater in Missoula Montana with my friend Mark. We walked up the stairs to the balcony area but we saw the doors were closed and locked. At this point something very strange occurred, so strange in fact that I begin to wonder if it's a false memory.

Mark told me that theater balcony doors often have secret bypass mechanisms, which allow those in the know to open the door without a key. Mark reached up to the top of the door and located what I remember to be a hidden wire, which he pulled and sure enough the door opened. We went inside and started watching the movie. I think the manager later saw us and told us to leave...

Mark was not a Montana native, and would have acquired this information somewhere else.

Is this a common practice, or is my memory on par with alien abduction accounts...?

I need a locking doorknob.

Verdandi — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 11:13:03 -0800

I need to install a key-locking doorknob on my bedroom door. What sort of options do I have, and can I do this myself? Since I still live at home for at least a bit longer, I decided I need a little more security so I can keep my possessions where they should be (my very slightly younger brother seems to have a problem with putting things back where they belong). So, since my bedroom door doesn't lock, I'd like to make it do so, from the outside and inside.

So, my question(s):
1) How easy is this to do? I'm pretty home improvement savvy, so I think I could handle anything as long as I have instructions.

2) Are any key-lock doorknobs better than others? Or are they all pretty much the same? I have access to pretty much every home improvement store, including a small professional locksmith.

Thanks a ton in advance :)

Car Door Lock Malfunction

forallmankind — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 09:52:35 -0800

When I lock my car with the remote, approx every 1 in 5 times the drivers door doesn't lock. I hear the mechanism activate, but I can see that the little lock handle on the inside of the door only moves halfway. Similar thing happens on unlock. What's going on here and who can fix this - my regular mechanic wasn't able to help. I had a few other electrical quirks (fuel guage inaccurate, lights not powering off after locking car) which have been resolved by replacing the battery, but the lock problem's still there.

Is this something worth trying to fix? It's a minor pain that I'd like resolved, but it ain't such a big deal as to drop $100s on. Who fixes things like this? And why does it happen intermittantly - that's what's driving me crazy!

03 Infiniti G35 Coupe, 77K miles.