About them @#$%ing strike plates, settling houses, a sledgehammer, and a bucket of prozac

[Thomas G. Marshall]

I need a little help here. From 10 minutes after my house was built 8 years ago, the doors have been going in and out of plumb.

The thing that really drives me bonkers is that there seem to be no strike plates in any of the places I've looked that are made with tall openings to accommodate such rogue doors. All I've found were much larger strike plates for /exterior/ doors, and they are just too large. I'm willing to router/chisel a new recess in the door jamb to fit a larger plate, of course. That might be a different post.

The sledgehammer reference is what I was looking for the first time I attempted this. Was going to destroy something to feel better. Went to BJ's looking for a bucket of drugs.

Ok, questions, since I [more than] clearly don't know what I'm doing.

1. Does anyone know of bigger opening strike plates. Say, 1/2" taller than normal to accommodate renegade pain in the ass door movements?

1. If I do physically move the plate, do I {shudder} redrill, fill the holes with glue & matchsticks and hope that it is enough to hold the new screw

1/8" down?

1. Should I loan my sledgehammer to a friend far away, as a safety precaution?

Thanks so much in advance,

Thomas, going nuts.

[Dave Hinz]

Do you have access to a friend with a milling machine? Case of beer ought to do it. If you're in Wisconsin, drop me an email.

[FriscoSoxFan]

Why not just widen the strike plate opening. A dremel and a few seconds should do it.

[tom]

You could also make sure the hinge jamb is securely fastened to the framing. That should limit most of the movement you're experiencing. You'll have no problems with the matchstick/glue approach. Tom

[Thomas G. Marshall]

FriscoSoxFan said something like:

Thought of that. Have a dremel; small chuckle: it works up to about 1/2 of its 30,000 rpm spec (clogged with dust from an attempt to cut through a corian/like sink counter).

Problem is that there is almost no plate left before the screw. I'll give it a "whirl" though. (sorry, sorry).

[Thomas G. Marshall]

tom said something like:

Well, judging by the fact that the doors go in and out of working, it must be a house setling issue. I'll double check the hinges: I have found already one set of hinges where the powerdrill must've had its clutch set too strongly, since the screw holes are stripped out. Thanks for that idea.

So the matchstick/glue method is a good one? I think I remember doing it once maybe 20 years ago, and I remember that one of the issues was that it helped if I sculpted out the bottom of the hole wider than the entry of it so that the matchsticks had no where to slip when the screw went in. Does that sound like I did it right, or botched it.

In any case, wouldn't drilling a hole that overlaps another hole by 1/2 be very tough to do? Should I stick a router bit in my drill and go "sideways" ?

[CW]

A few minutes with a file would do it.

[Dave Hinz]

Well, sure, but it'd look like crap.

[CW]

[Teamcasa]

Only if you're inept with a file.

Dave

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[tom]

Mr. Marshall wrote: tom said something like:

Well, judging by the fact that the doors go in and out of working, it must be a house setling issue. I'll double check the hinges: I have found already one set of hinges where the powerdrill must've had its clutch set too strongly, since the screw holes are stripped out. Thanks for that idea.

Not just the hinges, but the_ jamb_ to which the hinges are attached. Make sure it's solid.

So the matchstick/glue method is a good one? I think I remember doing it once maybe 20 years ago, and I remember that one of the issues was that it helped if I sculpted out the bottom of the hole wider than the entry of it so that the matchsticks had no where to slip when the screw went in. Does that sound like I did it right, or botched it. That'll work. You don't even really need glue.

In any case, wouldn't drilling a hole that overlaps another hole by 1/2 be very tough to do? Should I stick a router bit in my drill and go "sideways" ? Just jamming a twig into the old hole can work fine. Tom

[Dave Hinz]

(shrug) suit yourself. I'd rather do it, you know, right.

[CW]

[TeamCasa]

Me too, however others have given the good advice to fix the door, frame and others tips. I was focusing on the file comment. Some of us can actually work a file just fine. ~

Dave

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[George M. Kazaka]

Tom Look for a place that sells commercial hardware in your area You would be suprised at the various plates and hinges and odd hardware that is available that you will not ever find at the Big boxes

[Charley]

The first thing that you should do is find out what is really moving in your house and why it is moving, then develop a strategy to fix the cause rather than the effect. Your doors aren't your problem. Adjusting door strikes without fixing the real cause will only temporarily solve your door latch problems. If you don't fix what's causing everything to go out of plumb, in a short time you will be adjusting the door latches all over again.

Let me guess; your house has no basement, it's on piers over a crawl space, and when it rains water collects under your house. Am I right so far? If not send another note and tell us what you think is causing your house to go in and out of plumb or settle. Significant humidity changes are usually the cause.

If I'm right, then you need to make changes in the shape of your land around your house so surface water runs away from your foundation, at least 15 feet away, when it rains. Fix the gutters and downspouts too. All of the rain water has to go away from the house, not under it. After you get all that fixed and the ground under the house is reasonably dry again (you may need to wait a few months for it to dry) the next thing that you need to do is to cover the dirt in the crawl space with plastic sheeting to stop surface evaporation. Also, you need to ventilate the crawl space to keep the air in there as dry as possible. Then you need to get a big house jack and some blocking and go under your house and re-level your floor beams by adding shims between the piers and the beams (you may want to hire someone for this part - it ain't fun and takes some house mover skills). After your house is dry underneath and level again you will probably discover that you don't need to adjust the door latch strike plates and the doors will open and close like they did when your house was new, because humidity changes in and under your house won't be as great anymore.

I've cured several houses with "moving door latch syndrome" this way.

[Mark & Juanita]

If the OP has a house built on a floating slab, then the house is supposed to move with changes in soil moisture (assuming that the house isn't sitting in puddles caused by drainage issues). Many homes built in areas with clay soil will move by design.

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[Lobby Dosser]

Could you elongate the screw holes in the strike plate - not the jamb - like you would do for a table top?

[Bugs]

I have the same problem. If there isn't too much error, I use a Dremel with the little cutoff blades and finish up the corners with a file. If the plate has to be moved, drill out the old screw holes & Glue in hardwood dowels trimmed flush. Then remount the plate in the correct location. Matchsticks & glue make a mess out of everything. Bugs

[Bugs]

My problem was a wet basement. Only cost $7,000+ to fix it. Still had to adjust the #@* strike plates. Bugs