Good brand of latches?

[Andy Champ]

For internal doors.

I tapped on my son's bedroom door the other day. The door wouldn't open. Nor when he tried. So I got a screwdriver and took the handle off. The little square hole in the latch for the drive shaft would go round and round quite happily. A little lateral thinking later and I got him to drive the pins out of the hinges, then levered the door across a bit, gave it a smart tap and the hinges popped off so at least he could get in and out. But it's kind of worrying that the doors might decide to sulk like this - especially as the latch on that one is only a few months old, as the old one wore off.

The reason it failed seems to be a dodgy casting:

of bubbles, and IAC IMHO totally the wrong metal - it ought to be steel or brass, not some zinc-rich things like it seems to be.

The real reason I'm writing this is - can anyone recommend a decent make so I can replace them as they die with decent ones? They normally fail gradually, but they still fail to often for my liking.

Ta

Andy

[Scabbydug]

Union, Legge, Yale etc. What is stamped on the face of yours?

[Andy Champ]

ERA.

English Racing Automobiles???

Some of the others around the house are tagged "Mafol" - or something like that, the F isn't too clear.

Andy

[The Medway Handyman]

IME they aren't desinged to last long under any sort of stress, they need to be a very free fit in the latch plate.

Might be easier to adjust the existing ones before they jam up.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Look around the architectural salvage yards? Some of mine are over 100 years old and still fine.

[Andy Champ]

Let me cut that to the right bit:

"they aren't desinged to last long".

As for adjust... his door rattles, I really ought to tighten it up!

Andy