3 Ways To Make An Entrance
1. Kick In A Door
Save the day (and your shoulder) with break-through tips from police officer and tactical officers training director Bob Charpinsky.
A. Assess The Obstacles
Kicking down a door may be your only option if someone needs help immediately. If the person is on the other side of the door, alert him or her to stand back before you go into action-hero mode. You can probably kick down a door that swings away from you. If it swings towards you, find another way to enter. Deadbolts make the job harder.
B. Set Your Stance
Stand a bit less than a leg’s length from the door, keeping your shoulders square and your feet about shoulder-width apart. You want to kick as close as you can to the knob or lock, which is usually the weakest part of the door.
C. Go Van Damme On It
Raise the knee of your dominant leg above your waist. In one swift move, kick, leading with your heel. As soon as your entire foot makes contact, transfer your momentum to push your body weight through the door, knee bent. Your upper body should lean
forwards slightly for maximum force.
D. Kick And Kick Again
The door may require multiple blows. If it or the frame begins to crack, good. The casing may also move, causing the doorknob to twist. See these signs? Keep kicking the same spot. If after a few kicks the door
won’t budge, call 10111 (or your local police station) if you haven’t already.
2. Push Through Pain
“I don’t believe my pain threshold is any higher than anyone else’s,” says TV prankster Steve-O of Jackass. But he does have a trick. “When I
feel pain, I tell myself, ‘It’s a good thing I’m such
a bad-ass.’ The mantra distracts me.” So be a jackass: develop your own mantra.
3. Close The Deal
Replace a dated or busted interior door with
this step-by-step guide:
What you’ll need: A pre-bored door (that has the same dimensions as the old one), nail punch, hammer, pliers, towel, screwdriver, tape measure, pencil, utility knife, chisel, drill and sawhorses or a workbench.
A. Remove The Hinge Pins
Close the old door and place the tip of a nail punch on the underside of the bottom hinge pin. Tap the punch with a hammer until the pin is almost out of the hinge knuckles. Pull it out with pliers and place on a towel. Repeat with the remaining hinges, top hinge last.
B. Ditch The Door
Hold the doorknob with one hand
and steady the door with your other. Jiggle the door and pull it towards you; once it’s loose, rest it against a wall. Unscrew the lock set and measure from the bottom of the door to the bottom of each hinge. Jot down the numbers – you’ll need them later.
C. Mark The Spots
Rest the new door on sawhorses or a workbench. You’ll install the hinges on the side opposite the pre-bored hole for the door handle. Pencil those hinge measurements on this side.
D. Carve Some Space
Unscrew the old door’s hinge plates. Align the bottom of a plate with one
of the pencil marks, pencil the plate’s outline and score this outline with a utility knife three times to break up the wood fibres. Use a hammer and chisel to carefully gouge the outline so the plate will be flush with the door. Set the plate in your gouged-out spot and mark the screw holes. Then tap the nail punch on each mark to make a divot so the drill bit won’t skip. Repeat these steps for the other hinge plates.
E. Install The Hardware
Drill pilot holes using a drill bit that’s smaller than the screws. Then, with the plate in place, drive in the screws; repeat with the other hinges.
Now ask a helper to hold the door in place as you align the hinge knuckles. Slide a pin into the top hinge and tap it with a hammer until it’s secure. Repeat with the remaining hinges.
Hold the latch faceplate to the latch hole and trace the outline using a pencil and then a utility knife. Gouge out the area so the plate sits flush. Insert the latch set through the latch hole. Mark the screw locations, drill pilot holes and drive in the screws. Slide the exterior doorknob into place. Mark holes for the screws, drill pilot holes and drive in the screws. Repeat with the interior doorknob.
