This little - known hack might have you rethinking this classic household feature .
Getty Images / Garrett Aitken
I ’ve given very picayune thought to door stoppers throughout my sprightliness thus far . I ’m a fairly frequent mover and know that craftsmanship timber varies , so I ’ve throw onto a decorative door stop for any door that is n’t level enough to stay on open on its own . But when I saw the previous door stopper hack trending on TikTok , I commence to question if I ’d been missing something all along .

Credit:Getty Images / Garrett Aitken
When you think of door stoppers , you likely picture the spring - loaded type settle on the baseboard that is project tostop the doorknobfrom hit the paries . But it turn out , preventing harm to drywallisn’t their only use . Here ’s a hint : They may serve the same procedure as my trusty souvenir door stopper . We ’ll explicate this surprising trick andwhat kind of doorsit might ( or might not ) work on . If you could pull it off in your home , you have the potential difference to save yourself some foiling while simultaneously impressing your housemates .
Yes, There Are Two Uses for a Spring-Loaded Door Stopper
There are several TikTok videos that show this little - bang alternative use for door stoppers . A pop capacity creator posteda TikTokabout it in 2022 to the tune of over 500,000 view . More recently , another content creator posted a close - up tutorialto TikTokthat has already racked up more than 9.1 million horizon in just over two months . As usual , commenters had plenty of questions and objections , but most remark involved disbelief that detail has n’t been made common knowledge .
So , what has heads scratching ? We all fuck that those spring - load door stoppers are there to preserve your wall from damage triggered by the thickening as the door swings clear . They ’re usually place on thebaseboard moldingdirectly in logical argument with thedoorknoband are made of tightly coiled stainless steel with a rubber cap on the ending to protect the interior of the doorway .
As the videos point out , they can also prop up a threshold wide open . In other words , stop it from closing shut , slightly or all the way — just like you might apply a freestanding room access stop for the same effect . The way to do it is sluttish ; some even say embarrassingly so . Using your hand or foot , bend the door bar down and labor the door back towards the wall as far as you could . Note that your hand or base will be more or less in the way , so it wo n’t open to the full , but you ’ll get jolly penny-pinching . Then , softly force the bottom of the doorway over the rubber tip of the show-stopper . If all goes as planned , the door will ride out put until you ’re quick to shut it . To do that , simply bend the stopper down to liberate the threshold .
I Tried the Hack: Here’s What Happened
When I first learned about the trick , I mechanically take over it would be pretty straightforward to pull off . presently , I only have spring - dilute threshold stopper in my flat , but I want to test it out . confessedly , I was lazy with my first few effort and tried using my foot to try and deform the stopper . When that did n’t do the fast one , I got down on the floor and used my hand instead . It still seemed my room access would n’t detain open despite my best efforts .
I then realized I was aiming for the rubber end of the stopple to stay put out under thedoor figure , as witnessed in the viral video . Once I get go of that whim , it lastly worked with the rubber tip wedged underneath the frame .
Why You Might Want to Skip the Door Stopper Hack
I truly found this alternative design for the doorstop helpful , peculiarly since my unexampled pup from time to time thinks my decorative threshold stopper is a toy to trifle with . But it ’s also because of the dog that I do n’t want to keep my bedroom door open using this hack after reading a remark that made a valid power point . If your pets , kids , or even yourself are prone to being cumbersome , all it takes is one inadvertent bump into the doorway and the node will put a hole in the wall without the stopper doing its traditional job .
So , what ’s a better solution ? For one , correct yourdoor hingescan go a long way in helping your threshold abide open . secondly , reckon investing in a magnetised doorway stopper , which will give you the best of both public : A stop and a prop .