Help Wanted: Unwedge a Map Leaning Against a Door
I've got an interesting problem at my house that I hope someone can help me solve.
TL;DR: There's a metal art frame wedged between a wall and the door to a room, and I'd like to move it a little so we can get the door open.
Details:
Our spare room has a door that swings in from the hallway. To enter the room one must step in and turn left, because there's a closet wall that sticks out from the wall that's to the right of the door.
We had a large (4' tall? 3'6"?) map of Middle-earth in a sturdy metal frame standing against the closet wall. Today the frame fell forward, pushed the door closed, and is now wedged between (I assume) the baseboard along the closet wall and the back of the door. We're able to push the door just a little bit, but only to the point that there's a paper-thin crack next to the door jamb, not open enough to get something meaningful in.
The gap between the bottom of the door and the floor is perhaps half an inch: I can get my fingers under it but not my palm. I was able to slide a long piece of bamboo under the door but wasn't able to get it between the art frame and the right-hand baseboard to try to push the frame to the left. Based on a video I took by sliding a smartphone under the door, it looks like the frame is resting a few inches below the door knob, so I think it's got room to move up (and hence move the bottom away from the closet wall) if there were a mechanism to do so. I think we only need to get the door open a couple inches past the jamb, at which point I could get a hand or other object in there to push the frame out of the way.
The room only has one door. It's got two windows, but they're both latched. (And the blinds are down, so I can't get an eye on the state of the room.)
So, wise and clever Internet, how can I get this thing to budge a little bit?
Without chopping a hole in the door with an axe, of course. I'm leaving that as a last-resort option.
Other notes:
I've been imagining a thin-but-firm object that can be inserted fully under the door, then somehow turned upward. Getting the geometry right seems possible but tricky: the base of the frame is about 35" from the door; the door knob is about 35" above the floor, so I think the vertical height of the right triangle is a little less than the horizontal length. The trick is getting the leverage/control to raise a long object once it's under the door. Maybe a long, thin, firm object with an obtuse angle near one end?
A firm object longer than 3 feet with a hook at the end might also work if it can pull the bottom of the frame forward.
I'm sure there are other clever possibilities, too.
This entry was originally posted at https://flwyd.dreamwidth.org/390055.html - comment over there.
TL;DR: There's a metal art frame wedged between a wall and the door to a room, and I'd like to move it a little so we can get the door open.
Details:
Our spare room has a door that swings in from the hallway. To enter the room one must step in and turn left, because there's a closet wall that sticks out from the wall that's to the right of the door.
We had a large (4' tall? 3'6"?) map of Middle-earth in a sturdy metal frame standing against the closet wall. Today the frame fell forward, pushed the door closed, and is now wedged between (I assume) the baseboard along the closet wall and the back of the door. We're able to push the door just a little bit, but only to the point that there's a paper-thin crack next to the door jamb, not open enough to get something meaningful in.
The gap between the bottom of the door and the floor is perhaps half an inch: I can get my fingers under it but not my palm. I was able to slide a long piece of bamboo under the door but wasn't able to get it between the art frame and the right-hand baseboard to try to push the frame to the left. Based on a video I took by sliding a smartphone under the door, it looks like the frame is resting a few inches below the door knob, so I think it's got room to move up (and hence move the bottom away from the closet wall) if there were a mechanism to do so. I think we only need to get the door open a couple inches past the jamb, at which point I could get a hand or other object in there to push the frame out of the way.
The room only has one door. It's got two windows, but they're both latched. (And the blinds are down, so I can't get an eye on the state of the room.)
So, wise and clever Internet, how can I get this thing to budge a little bit?
Without chopping a hole in the door with an axe, of course. I'm leaving that as a last-resort option.
Other notes:
- I'm okay with damaging the frame and/or the artwork; it was a gift that's been more of a white elephant than a blessing (and that was before it locked us out of its room). Breaking a window seems more expensive than breaking the door. (Also, it's cold outside.)
- The hinges to the door are on the inside (so I can't easily remove the door) and the screws for the knob are also on the inside (so I can't take the knob out and reach my hand through the hole.)
- There is a crawl space that goes below the room and ducting that I haven't investigated in detail. The two air vents are far away from the door, but I think the cold air return is along the wall that's next to the door, so it might be possible to reach a very long object from there to the frame. I don't know how detachable the duct work is, and I'd have to bust through the grate from behind (since the screws are on the inside of the room, natch).
I've been imagining a thin-but-firm object that can be inserted fully under the door, then somehow turned upward. Getting the geometry right seems possible but tricky: the base of the frame is about 35" from the door; the door knob is about 35" above the floor, so I think the vertical height of the right triangle is a little less than the horizontal length. The trick is getting the leverage/control to raise a long object once it's under the door. Maybe a long, thin, firm object with an obtuse angle near one end?
A firm object longer than 3 feet with a hook at the end might also work if it can pull the bottom of the frame forward.
I'm sure there are other clever possibilities, too.
This entry was originally posted at https://flwyd.dreamwidth.org/390055.html - comment over there.