door latch failure?

[Fred]

Hi,

I have something like this:

my doors. The doors have closed and opened fine until now, so I think they have been fitted properly but lately the doors have been "sticky". At first I thought the damp weather had made the doors swell but after really battling to open the door last night, I found that when the handles are pulled down, the latch does not fully retract into the body. The couple of millimetres that remain proud are enough to retain the door.

Does whatever is inside wear out with age and have this failure mode? It seems a bit dangerous that the door can fail and lock you in! Or is it just that you get what you pay for?

TIA

[Peter Andrews]

> in my doors. The doors have closed and opened fine until now, so I

The alloy 'bit' where the square shaft goes through often cracks so that when turned it doesn't fully retract the latch. Whatever the reason fit a new one at less than a £.

Peter

[Roger Mills]

> in my doors. The doors have closed and opened fine until now, so I

I've just checked a random selection of my internal doors, and quite a few of them don't retract fully. I don't know whether or not they did when first fitted - but it isn't usually a problem because there's enough clearance between door and frame for the latch to stick out a bit without binding in the plate.

As others have said, the most likely cause of your problem is that the latches have worn, but it *could* be that the doors have swollen with the damp sufficiently to reduce the clearance whereby the latch binds even though the door itself doesn't bind in the frame.

[Dave Liquorice]

Only if it's an external door, at this time of year the humidity inside will be starting to fall as the heating starts to kick in. I wouldn't expect to find that sort of latch on an external door...

[Fred]

I did wonder whether they may have been fitted so that they didn't fully retract but why would they start binding now, when they haven't before? Like another poster said, they're pennies to buy, so I'll buy a couple of new ones and compare old with new.

Another poster said they were nasty fittings. Is there anything better to use?

Thanks.

[A.Lee]

Yes. Pay more for a good one. This is pretty good:

I fitted some last week for a customer, cost me £5+vat. Well worth it, similar, if not the same as the ones at Screwfix. Real good quality, came with satin chrome or brass faceplates. Also, the screws enclosed were usable, unlike most of the supplied screws with door fittings. Alan.

[The Medway Handyman]

You mean the ones with a PH head somewhere in between 1 & 2 but not quite either, or the ones that snap off as you tighten them, despite the pilot hole?

[A.Lee]

Yes, they are the ones, if they dont snap, they rip the slot out, so you need pliers to get them out. It is usual for me to throw away any supplied screws. I tried these as I dont keep many chromed screws, so was quite pleased when I found they were pretty good. Alan.

[The Medway Handyman]

Me too :-)

[Fred]

I don't need a lock as these are just internal doors. Isn't the latch and the lock independent though? Do you just use yours as latches and ignore the locks? Why is the latch mechanism better in these? TIA