How to 'tighten' an exterior door?

That's why I suggested galv deck screws. They can self drill very near to the original holes.

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That was my first thought too. Simply MOVE the strike to 'snug' up the door. But the strike is mounted with counter sink screw heads which already have holes. Moving a screw hole 1/16 inch, much less than its diameter, doesn't strike me [pardon the multiple use of the word] as an easy task.

I thought about wood epoxy to fill everything up, then carefully reseat the strike plate by carefully drilling very small diameter pilot holes for the strike plate screws. Doing this would be a major task, from experience with wood epoxy fillers, may not be successful, and during the curing process, the door will be left unsecured - not going to be allowed by the financial controller.

Moisture I did not think of. We're in AZ so not a lot of humidity. Plus, in our 'rainy' season. In other areas of the house, I noticed some wood swelling, improving their fits, and this door is still slightly open, so hunidity probably is not the factor on whether this door fits well.

I feel it's just mechanical wear on the mating parts. The latch is worn, developed 'wiggle', and the strike plate has been worn off a bit. All adding up to not closing the door well.

It's too bad that exterior doors can't be made with a rolling latch mechanism like you findon an EMC Chamber, eh? Close the door, then torque it down tight with leveraging rollers. Now THAT would seal out stuff from the outside.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon
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I don't know how to inform everone at once with this news server, so....simply reply to myself may get the information out to all you kind contributers:

The strike plate does NOT appear worn. It is mounted firmly in the sill.And, does have a small metal tab that could be bent outwords to catch the bolt [or whatever its name] forcing the door tighter. However, that tab appears to be for a different function than to provide an 'adjustment' It appearsto be part of the stable mounting for the strike plate.

However, I did notice on the bolt's mating side there appears to be a strip of nylon-type material. That would quiet the door, provide self lubrication, BUT! it appears to be worn down a bit. Not sure it's worn down enough to justify the gap I see, but possibly.

So *if* I glue a strip of nylon along the top of the bolt, could be done?

I'd still rather add metal to the strike plate instead. Especially since it has that tab to give a large flat surface as a place for the shim metal to mount on top of.

Reply to
Robert Macy

The function of the strike plate is to push the bolt in to clear the jamb until such time as it can go *SPRONG* and seat itself in the hole.

Make it as hard and complicated as you want. Me, I'd just bend the furshlugginer tab, that's what it is for. And I would have done it two days ago,

Reply to
dadiOH

.....no......

Will try now that EVERYBODY seems to be bashing me about the head and shoulders for NOT trying.

What's in the video?

Reply to
Robert Macy

Why didn't you just look?

Several minutes of a guy showing how to do a dirt simple thing; namely, bend the tab in a strike plate. I suspect it is intended mostly for those who have not yet figured out how to wipe their own ass.

Reply to
dadiOH

Well, certainy not me :)

I just try to gently guide people into taking some sort of action to solve their crisis. OK, sometimes it takes a nudge, especially when OP has been told repeatedly by both thee and me what to do and how to do it. In this case the nudge was a bit firmer than normal :)

Reply to
dadiOH

Also known as "presenting to the least common denominator".

Reply to
DerbyDad03

Good. It's about time.

Maybe you can provide some insight into this: Why do people always come up with the most complicated, contrived, nonsensical, physics-bending, expensive solutions to simple problems?

You've got an extremely simple problem that has two simple inexpensive solutions:

  1. Bend the effing tab.
  2. Replace the effing weatherstripping.

You've spent more time analyzing and coming up wacky reasons why this happened and wacky ways to fix it than it would've taken to implement either of these common, accepted, solutions to a common problem.

For some reason it starts with a simple leaky door seal and the solution escalates and escalates and escalates until you're knocking down the house with a bulldozer and building new! All over a simple leaky door seal!

Please, can you explain your thought process and how you come to the conclusion that your convoluted solutions are better than the simple solutions offered by this group?

Reply to
dennisgauge

p with the most complicated, contrived, nonsensical, physics-bending, expen= sive solutions to simple problems?

pened and wacky ways to fix it than it would've taken to implement either o= f these common, accepted, solutions to a common problem.

escalates and escalates and escalates until you're knocking down the house = with a bulldozer and building new! All over a simple leaky door seal!

...and to save some money, the old door will be retained and installed in the new house.

lusion that your convoluted solutions are better than the simple solutions = offered by this group?

Reply to
DerbyDad03

with the most complicated, contrived, nonsensical, physics-bending, expensive solutions to simple problems?

happened and wacky ways to fix it than it would've taken to implement either of these common, accepted, solutions to a common problem.

escalates and escalates and escalates until you're knocking down the house with a bulldozer and building new! All over a simple leaky door seal!

ROTFLMAO!

Reply to
krw

p with the most complicated, contrived, nonsensical, physics-bending, expen sive solutions to simple problems?

pened and wacky ways to fix it than it would've taken to implement either o f these common, accepted, solutions to a common problem.

escalates and escalates and escalates until you're knocking down the house with a bulldozer and building new! All over a simple leaky door seal!

lusion that your convoluted solutions are better than the simple solutions offered by this group?

Thought process was based upon having too many horrible experiences where in solving a problem, I moved from Point A to Point B, but destroyed Point A and therefore could not move back after Point B displayed 'unforseen' problems, or worse, failed for some reason.

I have had horrible experiences putting in weather stripping. Just does not work out well for some reason, so I 'preferred' to keep the original weather stripping that came from the factory with the door, rather than muck around with it. Also, never found anything that looked similar at HD [only store that I have real access to, and Walmart doesn't count]

For some reason I envisioned bending the tab causing the cheap metal that is supplied in parts these days to simply crumble off, breaking away as I try to bend it. Thus, I was VERY reluctant to embark on a solution that so detroyed Point A, there would be NO way back. As I said, the tab looked like it was in there for another prupose, AND if I had bent the tab, the tab would only apply pressure to the bolt at the end of the bolt, near the end of that soft nylon strip I saw on the bolt. Again, the tab would quickly wear into that plastic - so again, I was very reluctant to try a solution that may have unforeseen problems later AND Point A had been destroyed when I implemented the solution. Plus, with the bent tab only applying pressure at the tip of the bolt means the door could close, appear to be closed, but the bolt has only moved out to be touching the tab, because the door was NOT pulled shut enabling the bolt to catch the bent tab. That means everytime I use the door I must manually pull it closed to make sure the bolt engages the tighter closing bent tab. Again reluctant to pursue Point B when Point B looked like it had a new, different failure/problem.

I know the explanation of my thought process is wordy, but this is my mental process. But, you asked and deserve an answer, and the help here is excellent, perhaps others have wondered why, so I took time to explain. So, people understand that my brain goes through a series of what if? what if? what if? All this flashes through my brain when pursuing a solution to a problem. Similar to the motto, "Measure twice. Cut once.", which probably is more defensible than my long series of envisioning consequences of an action..

Reply to
Robert Macy

Oren, I think I recall, you had excellent comments.

This stucco has tiny little spikes, which would be a nightmare to roll paint onto and get coverage, plus, I've fought roller overlap marks like I'm fighting the brush overlap marks. Changing to roller painting seemed like changing one problem for another and still not get the effect I wanted.

I did not refuse to post images, but simply had no way to post images. If you can, I will gladly send them to you, approximately 35kB to

200kB sizes, not those 4MB humongous photos. which you could either view for yourself or post for others.
Reply to
Robert Macy

There is nothing wrong with considering potential consequences of an action. It's a good thing, actually, as it helps people determine which of several possible solutions will be easiest and/or work best.

The problem comes when people give too much weight to or exaggerate the possible negative consequences. Consider the tab...

Most people have bent a piece of steel and know that it doesn't break without a lot of back and forth bending. But suppose it did break. So what? You would be no worse off than you were originally relative to the door closing. And strikes are a common item, easily replaceable, available at any hardware store.

As to the purpose of the tab, what could it be *other* than adjustment? Security against intruders? How? A more solid latching? Many strike plates have no tab. For that matter, you don't even need a strike plate to securely close the door (but you would have to first turn the knob to retract the bolt); the main purpose of the strike plate lies in the portion on the outside of the door; the part bent toward the jamb...it gradually engages the bolt as the door is closed and pushes it in.

Regarding the nylon on the bolt, I have not seen such. The bolts on my doors have a small, steel, sort of half round rod along the flat side of the bolt. It moves with the bolt but can be pushed in independently of the bolt. I thought it might have something to do with the locking of the door but apparently not. I do not know its purpose.

------------------- I now understand its purpose. I took about 60 seconds to see what it does (you could have done the same). Normally, it either does not enter the strike at all or very slightly when the door is normally closed. If one pulls the door harder, it will enter a bit more. Consequently, its purpose is to provide a "finagle factor". If the door bolt and strike are perfectly aligned, it does nothing; if the bolt is a bit loose in the strike, it can enter the strike slightly thus removing rattle from the closed door.

In your case, it gives you another way to tighten the door; namely, by filing a taper on the outside edge; being tapered, it will more fully enter the strike plate. (Note that neither that nor bending the tab will tighten the door if you now have to exert much manual force to do so. All either will do is let the bolt or rod enter more fully and the force from that is no more than that exerted by the spring pushing on the bolt). I wouldn't worry about it being nylon either. Nylon is quite resilient and wears well too; even if it does wear, that wear would just let it penetrate more deeply into the strike. The only thing about it that remains surprising to me is the fact that one of my doors - all exterior - does not have it even though all the locks were purchased at the same time and are (supposedly) the same model. ________________

Regarding the weather strip, much of the factory applied has a semi-rigid, barbed portion that fits into a slot on the jambs. Sometimes they also put in a couple of staples or small nails but lacking those it just pulls out. Handy when you want to paint. Putting it back can be a bit harder since the insert part is only semi-rigid; for stubborn sections, I lay a piece of 2x4 on it and whack the 2x4 with a hammer. Goes right in.

If you browse via Google, you can probably find an exact or almost exact replacement. All you really need is a hollow vinyl shape close to the proper dimensions or a bit over. It should be hollow (or closed cell foam) for the insulation properties of trapped air and so that it will compress a bit if necessary. You don't want it to compress a lot as it can then prevent the closing of the door; compression also diminishes the effectiveness of the insulation.

Even though you probably can't find an exact replacement at HD/Lowes, they will have something that can be used. If you need one with the barb, they have one shaped sort of like this: / The lazy "L" is semi-rigid with the horizontal leg barbed, the "slash" is a thin piece of foam wrapped with vinyl. If you don't need a barb, all manner of self adhesive ones are available, both in "D" and "P" profiles. Flat foam too but the profiles are better. ________________

Robert, I don't mean any of this post as a condemnation of the way you think. A lot of people - me included - have difficulty seeing the forest because of the trees; i.e., they get bogged down in the details. A fertile mind sees many ways of arriving at the same place or accomplishing a desired goal. Which of those ways is best? Which will lead to disaster? In most cases, the answer to both questions is: none. There is almost always a better way of doing something and nothing any of us has ever done has led to the end of the world. Realizing that, the trick is to do SOMETHING. The difference between success and failure is action.

Reply to
dadiOH

OK, I *DO* have interior doors. I should have written, "...one of my exterior doors does not have it..."

Reply to
dadiOH

There are numerous photo hosting sites that allow you upload your jpg images for free and then provide a direct link that you can post back here. Many also includes img links so that you can embed photos in posts at forums that allow that (not a.h.r).

I use PhotoBucket, but there are many others, some better, some worse.

For example, here is a link to an image that I used for a question I posted in this group a while back.

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Reply to
DerbyDad03

That URL took me to what appeared to be a promised photo, spent 3 minutes filling in info about signing in etc for photobucket, but even after 10 minutes no picture appeared. After visiting websites like this I have to purge my system of superflous unseen files and delete a lot of spyware type cookies. So, I don't like to visit these website unless there's a real need. Since I have so many problems just viewing an image, I hate to think what would happen if I actually signed up to post an image.

I know more detail than you wanted, but that is why I have so much difficulty finding a way to post an image. As I said, gladly send to someone whose an ongoing contributor to such sites, let them post for me, and then help would of course be better quality. Or, is there an image posting website that limits intrusion into your system while posting and viewing? Or, is such a 'benevolent' website out of the question today?

Reply to
Robert Macy

I don't understand the problem you had trying to view the image, I use the Firefox like browser Pale Moon and the image popped right up without any drama, just the image and nothing else. What web browser are you using? O_o

TDD

Reply to
The Daring Dufas

Opera 9.64

Reply to
Robert Macy

I don't know what Issues you are having, but anyone should be able to either click on that link or paste it into any web browser's address bar and go directly to the image.

I use that site all the time and no one has ever complained about access to the images. They've seen them, commented on them, etc.

I just entered that URL manually into the address bar on an iPad that has no connection to any of my userid's and the image pop right up. No signing in required. The problem appears to be on your end, not with the link.

Reply to
DerbyDad03

I think I have Opera installed, I have a dozen different ones to play with so I'll try it in Opera and see what happens. ^_^

TDD

Reply to
The Daring Dufas

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