Wooden Front Door - handle is very stiff

[alexandra123]

Hello

Looking for some advice here.

I have a wooden front door with a small window in it at eye level.
Every Winter I have terrible trouble opening and closing the door. In the summer everything is ok. This seems to me to relate to expansion of the wood in the cold weather. To lock the door I have to lift up the handle.There is bolts that come out from the inside of the door for locking when in the closed position - one on the top and one on the bottom.

On a cold day - if I open the door and lift up the handle I find it sometimes very hard to get the handle up. I did this to eliminate the frame being the issue. I put some oil on the bolts it but it did not really do much good.

Sometimes it makes a noise like it is very dry.... Is there anything I can get to sort this out ? I am starting to feel like popeye with the amount of force I need to use to open the door.

I am not sure if the inside of the lock needs to be paired down or if it is just an oil that it needs.

Thanks in advance

 

[NHG]

It might be worth taking the handle off and cleaning the spindle or replacing the spindle if it is very worn (which it should'nt be), again a bit of WD40 or even better a silicone spray (whatever you have handy don't go out to buy anything).

Again give a good clean to the moving parts of the lock and spray with WD40/silicone spray again also check your receivers in the frame and clean out (amazing what can gather in these receivers. Don't forget a little oil to the hinges as well.

If all this fails to improve things maybe your lock is just work out and needs raplacing.

 

[extopia]

The expansion is putting the door out of alignment and putting pressure on the locks and other hardware making it hard to open/close. In the summer, when everything's OK, you should waterproof the door with new coat(s) of paint or varnish. The hard part is you need to cover all surfaces, including the bottom, so you'll probably need to take off the door.