Good brand of latches?

Nov 13, 2007 5 Replies

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:



formatting link
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


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

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

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.

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

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

Join the Discussion

Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.

Didn't find your answer?

Ask the community — no account required