Does a door bother you because it won’t latch or stay closed? Don’t worry; many house owners suffer because of such situations, and such problems usually occur due to misalignment between striker plate and latch. Door latches often get loose and suffer misalignment, mostly in old houses.
If you are planning on dumping your lock hardware, you must stop now. In this article, we have mentioned step-by-step details on fixing a door that won’t latch easily.
Tools Required:
Hand Drill
Glove
Utility Knife
Putty Knife
Chisel
Hammer
Screw Drive
Materials Required:
Wood Filler
Toothpick
Superglue
Lipstick
One can follow these instructions to fix a door with loose latches. This guide will help you assess the situation, help figure out the main problem behind the door alignment, and finally, correct those issues so that all your doors can function smoothly.
Step 1: Determine The Root Problem
Everything from elevated or sagging plates, loose hinges to a latch that sits low on door strike plates can prevent your house doors from being shut.
The very first step is to look for the alignment, as mentioned earlier, by slowly opening and closing the door. While doing so, make sure you closely review the door latches and strike plate. If your door latch sits too low, you will need to adjust your strike plated a bit higher.
Step 2: Evaluate The Hinges
Loose hinges can also be the reason behind door sagging and its spoiled locking mechanism. If your door latch sits too high, one can fix it by removing a screw from the bottom hinge to shift the latch downwards. In contrast, you can remove a screw from the top hinge to lift the latch upwards.
At the same time, you can also use a screwdriver to tighten up all the loose screws in your door latch and strike plates. Ensure you do not fit the screws tightly as that can affect the door.
If, even after adjusting the screws, your door won’t shut close, then replace one of your hinge screws with a three times longer screw. This method can improve door jambs caused by door hinges, making the latch fit perfectly in the plate hole.
Step 3: Push The Strike Plate Downwards
One of the most common problems in door lock occurs when the latch is too low on the striker plate. If you see such a problem with your door, you have to shift down your striker plate for your door latch to fit in perfectly.
Instead of shifting your striker plate downwards, you can also place a chisel on the top of the striker plate and hammer it down. This method would shift the striker plate 1/8 inches downward to make a perfect fit for your latch.
