Next, stick the key in the hole and turn it back and forth a few times. If the latch in question is a door lock that refuses to turn easily, try adding a few drops of graphite powder inside the keyhole of the lock. After lubing the latch barrel, turn the doorknob back and forth several times to give the oil a chance to spread along the entire barrel, which will give it back its original range of motion. In a pinch, cooking spray or a few drops of vegetable oil or shortening can fix the problem as well. Machine oil is available in a spray or a small can with a dropper to make adding just a few drops a breeze. If so, your latch barrel needs a bit of lubrication. When you have it extended, give it a pull and see if it will come out further. Hold the door open and examine the latch barrel’s movement as you turn the doorknob both ways. If your house is an older one, it may be that the problem is a sticky latch, which is one of the easiest latch problems to fix. Once the door is cut too small, a new door is needed. Be sure to stop and check at regular intervals rather than filing off too much and winding up with a door that is too small for the frame. This will square the door and keep it from binding. This calls for sandpaper or a planing tool, which will allow you to shave off a very small layer of wood along the area where it sticks. Does the top edge appear to be level? If it is not, it may cause the door to stick in one corner, or one of the bottom corners may drag along the floor. Visually check the top, bottom and sides of the door. If not, you might need a bit more shim or to add a small one to the center hinge, which will allow a balancing between the two. Then, tighten the screws back up and check to see if the door swings evenly. Next, add a piece of wood shim or other hard material behindthe hinge. First, loosen the hinge screws most of the way. When the door is out of plumb, it requires inserting a little amount of shim between the back of the hinge and the doorjamb, which is usually the bottom hinge. You may notice that the door swings back and forth when left ajar or that it refuses to stay open by itself. Occasionally, the misalignment of the latch is due to the whole door being off kilter. If your screws are sharply pointed at the end, they are self-tapping wood screws and you may not need to drill pilot holes into the door jamb first. Next, use a drill to make a shallow pilot hole and, while holding the plate in place, hand screw the first wood screw into place. Once you remove the striker plate by unscrewing either two or four screws, slide the striker plate to its new position and mark the exact position for the new screw holes with a pencil or marker. The old holes can be filled with a bit of wood filler, which you will find at any hardware store. However, if the latch barrel misses the striker plate hole by more than 1/8 inch, it should be removed and repositioned with new screw holes before being tightened into place. After tapping the striker plate back into position, be sure to tighten the screws so that it stays in place. If this is the case, the misalignment has probably been caused by a very slow shift over time, after becoming slightly loose through normal wear and tear. If it only misses by 1/8 inch or less, the problem can likely be solved by tapping the plate in the right direction with a hammer. Before you attempt to move the strike plate by completely taking it off and repositioning it, try to slide it into position first.įirst, shut the door and take a look at how far off the strike plate is in order for the latch barrel to align with the plate hole. ![]() Luckily, this is an easy fix and all that you need is a screwdriver, small chisel, hammer and a pencil or marker. ![]() The problem of a door not latching is commonly caused by a misaligned strike plate, so the first thing you have to do is to check the strike plate first for alignment. Once you successfully make the repair, care should be taken to keep all moving parts, such as hinges, in good working order by annually adding a few drops of all-purpose oil or lube.īeginning to Make Sure The Door Will Latch Properly Following, you will find a list of a variety of ways to solve the age-old problem of a door that will not latch properly. Alignment issues, mismatched parts and repairs that were not made right are only a few of the things that can go wrong. Just as there are many types of doors, there are even more reasons why one will not shut correctly.
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