Why is this backdoor not closing properly?

Question

Hi, these are the pics of the backdoor in my Council estate block:

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The lock has been changed a few months ago because it wouldn't even lock. Now the door locks, but only if you manually push the door. Most residents here can't be bothered and I don't like that because drug addicts and occasional feral kids enter to smoke some weed.

I keep on reporting this to the Council. Somebody comes and fixes it and it works for a couple of weeks and then it goes back to not locking automatically.

Is there anything that I or a simple handyman (that we have and pay for) can do to fix it forever without calling the Council?

SF

Andy Burns · Accepted Answer

Probably the feral kids tweaking them to ensure future access.

Automatic door closers usually have at least two adjustments to the speed and strength of the mechanism, look for screws/allen key holes on the ends ... or better still take more photos and find what make/model you're dealing with and look for related instructions

Fredxx · Answer

I presume that is a fire-door and as such it should close and latch closed?

There could be many reasons for the failure to close. One is the closer, but it could also be a clearance issue on the bottom or the sides?

Thomas Prufer · Answer

This last!The adjustments you might have are: where the closer sits on the door, in thedistance its mounted from the hinges. The angle of the arm on the closer. Screwsto adjust overall strength, then opening damping, closing damping, and the lastbit of "slap" that lets to door close harder and faster to ensure that the lockengages. These are interrelated, and easy to get right if you have theinstructions, or at least an idea of which adjustments this closer has. Going by the number of screw holes I have seen around newly mounted doorclosers, tradesmen seem to ignore the instructions, mount the thing and thenre-mount it until it sort-of works.  These things include a mounting templatefor a reason...Thomas Prufer

Peter Johnson · Answer

On Tue, 03 Jun 2025 07:57:20 +0200, Thomas Prufer   snipped-for-privacy@mnet-The fire door to my integral garage has a closer that when I boughtthe house hearly 30 years ago slammed the door closed.Tolerating it for a few years, following a comment on here aboutclosers, I decided to investiage the settings. Couldn't find anythingonline so it was down to trial and error, but it only took a fewminutes to get it to close in a controlled manner.

Chris J Dixon · Answer

Quite a few years ago, staying in a hostel in Prague, our room was next to a heavy internal door, which slammed through the night. A quick tweak to the two adjusters, with my Swiss Army screwdriver, soon achieved silent but secure closure.

Simples :-)

Chris

Why is this backdoor not closing properly?

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