Stumbled into an old Food Court at Northbrook Mall and got locked in for 20 minutes

Went to check out the Northbrook Mall outside Detroit last Saturday. I was poking around the old food court area near the east entrance. One of the hallway doors swung shut behind me and the handle was busted. Couldn't get it open for a solid 20 minutes until another explorer came by and pried it from the other side. I always carry a flashlight and water but never thought about a door wedge. Has anyone else gotten stuck in a weird spot like that and changed what they bring along?

2 comments

2 Comments

hayden72013d ago

Yeah I learned that lesson the hard way too. Got stuck in an old maintenance closet in a strip mall that was supposedly abandoned. The door had a push bar but it was locked from the outside somehow. Now I always carry a small flathead screwdriver and one of those plastic door shims. Honestly the shim has gotten me out of more jams than my flashlight ever has.

corad8413d ago

Actually that's a really good point about the door shim, but I gotta say something about the push bar thing. Most push bars on old doors like that, they don't actually lock from the outside in the way you're thinking. Usually what happens is the door closer arm gets worn down or the latch just doesn't catch right after years of use. I've seen it a bunch where the bar mechanism itself is fine but the door frame is slightly bent or the strike plate is all rusted up so it feels locked but it's really just stuck. I carry a little pry bar now too along with the shim, mostly because I've had too many doors that just need a tiny bit of force to pop open. The whole getting trapped thing changes your whole approach to what you carry, that's for sure.