Pro Handyman Blog

When you shut your door, does it latch? If not your problem may be as simple as aligning the strike plate.

On your door jamb is a door strike. This is a metal part with a curved end that the door latch contacts and latches into. If the door latch and strike are not aligned, you can try all you want, but the door won’t latch. Your choices are to either move the door latch (that’s too much work), or move the strike plate.

First of all, get down at eye level an close the door until the latch contacts the strike plate. Make pencil marks on the strike showing the location of the latch when it touches the strike. Pull the door open and you will see if the strike plate is too high or low. If it looks like the two are aligned, it may be that the strike plate needs to be moved inward towards the interior of the room. I many cases, the weather stripping (if its an exterior door) or the door stop will prevent the door from moving enough to actually latch. By moving the strike plate away from the door stop it will be able to latch.

Once you have figured out which way the strike needs to be moved, remove the screws and install it where it needs to be. Use a chisel and remove enough wood so that the strike plate sits flush. You may need to fill it the old screw holes with wooden toothpicks and glue if the adjustment is small, otherwise the screws will tend to wander into the old holes.

If you buy a slab door off the stack at a home center, you will have to cut a mortise for each hinge. Most doors use three hinges, but larger heavier doors use four. Although you can buy a template and router for this job, most homeowners won’t use them enough to justify the expense of buying them. You can also use a hammer and a chisel for good results.

I generally lay the old door and new door on edge standing up so that the hinge area faces upward. Draw pencil lines from the old door to the new door, essentially transferring the hinge locations to the new door. Now grab the hammer and chisel.

The chisel has a flat side and a beveled side. Start at the perimeter and, with the flat side facing the wood you want to keep, make a vertical chop to cut the wood around the perimeter. Make the cuts as deep as the hinge is thick so that when done the hinge will sit in a pocket that will make it flush with the surface of the door.

Once the perimeter mortise cuts are made, I start inside of the cuts and take small slices with the chisel. Lay the chisel back at a steep angle, with the flat side facing up and make quick light taps on the end of the chisel with the hammer. This will give you good control over the chisel and allow you to make accurate depth cuts right up to the perimeter cuts you made earlier. Every so often lay the hinge into the pocket to get the depth right.

Once all of the mortises are cut, you can pre-drill the holes and install the door.

A self closing door should self close, not self slam. You usually find this type of door from the garage into the house. It has self-closing hinges on it and the intent is for the door to self-close and latch…not slam and knock all of the pictures down.

If the door slams, the self-closing hinges are wound up too tight. Fortunately, it’s not difficult to adjust the hinges. You will probably have 2 self-closing hinges, one at the top and one at the bottom.

Depending upon the style of hinge you have, you may be able to stick an Allen wrench into the top of the hinge and push down on it. This will release all tension in the spring and you door will operate as a normal door. However, for this door you do want enough tension so that it closes and latches by itself…just not so much that it slams and shakes the house.

By using the Allen wrench in the top of the hinge and turning it, you can place the spring under tension. There is a pin can insert into a hole in some hinges, others hold the tension as you tighten the spring. Adjust both hinges equally until the door operates as you like.

When you buy a slab door to replace, for example, a bedroom door, you will need to mortise the door to accept the hinges. This means you will need to cut the edge of the door to the exact profile of the hinges, both in length and width, as well as depth.

This will allow the edge of the door’s surface to be flat, even with the hinges installed as they will be recessed into the edge of the door.

If the old door is still hung, remove it and set it on the floor standing up side-by-side with the new door so that the hinged sides face up. This will allow you to mark the locations of the hinges on the new door. You can trace the outline of the hinges on the edge of the door at this point.

You can buy power tools that will do this job quickly (after some minor set-up). Or, grab a chisel and a hammer and tap out the wood. I first make a downward cut with the chisel to cut the perimeter of the hinge and then remove the wood in between the cut. Turn the chisel so that the beveled edge is facing downward (on the wood) and use small taps to remove small amounts of wood, rather than chopping out a hunk that you didn’t want to. Keep checking the fit by placing the hinge into the recess and use the chisel to get a good fit. When you have all hinge locations cut out, you can install the door.

A hollow core door is inexpensive, and for good reason. There is a wood perimeter around the door, but the interior is hollow. If you cut one open, you will see what looks like corrugated cardboard. That doesn’t leave me with a strong sense of security. If your opening is too short for your door, you have to cut the hollow core door for height, and reinforce the area you cut.

For example, if you cut the bottom off of the door to the point where the wood perimeter is gone you will be left with an opening at the bottom of the door. You can reinforce this area by using the piece you just cut away from it. From the offcut, peel away the exterior veneer leaving only the wood filler strip. You may need to sand it down somewhat to clean it up.

Also clean up the bottom of the door. You will probably see the corrugated cardboard at the bottom, so you can push that back into the hollow of the door with a chisel. Basically, you want to create a space so that the wood filler piece will sit correctly.

Slather the wood filler piece with wood glue and push it into the opening. It should be a snug fit, but you can use brads or tape to hold it in place until the glue dries.

For those of you that haven’t seen a door get kicked open, it would make you nervous to see how easy it is done. A well placed foot near the handle or deadbolt will force it open. Not that the hardware is weak or breaks. No way…it’s the wood that splits and allows the door to open.

The hardware is held in place with weak ¾ inch screws that barely bite into the jamb. At the very minimum, use long deck screws that penetrate not only the jamb, but the rough framing behind the jamb. If you want to go a step further, install an armored strike plate.

An armored strike plate is a thick metal plate that gets installed into the door jamb in place of the standard flat strike plate. An armored strike plate is much larger and has a pocket to accept the dead bolt’s latch. Long deck screws should be used here also to secure it to the door’s rough framing. This gets mortised into the door jamb so it lays flat with the surface of the jamb.

Even having an armored strike plate installed won’t make the door impenetrable. Where it may have taken 1 kick to open the standard door, maybe now it will take 3 or 4. But it is much more solid.

When you close your door and it latches, can you still move it back and forth? If so you need to make a few adjustments. You see this a lot with closet doors, which probably is not a big deal. But for an exterior door you need to secure it properly.

If your door wiggles somewhat you are going to see a gap (and probably daylight). If you have thick and stout weather stripping around the door, you may not have such a pronounced back-and-forth movement as the weather stripping will push back against the door.

The real fix here is to adjust the strike plate towards the exterior of the door. This will close the gap and mate the exterior surface of the door with the weather stripping. It will also eliminate any play in the door.

Moving the strike plate a small amount is tough because the screws tend to wander back into the old holes. So you really have to fill the old holes and re-drill some new ones. Remove the strike plate and use some golf tees slathered in wood glue. Jam them into the old holes and let the glue dry. Cut the golf tees flush with the surface of the door jamb and move the strike plate into its new position. Mark the holes and pre-drill them with a small bit. You will have to chisel out some wood to accept the new door strike plate and latch location, but this is an easy job. Then screw the latch into its new location. Your door should close and latch securely.