On Jul 25, 1:04*pm, meatnub wrote:
On Jul 25, 1:32*pm, David Nebenzahl wrote:



On 7/25/2008 9:23 AM meatnub spake thus:

Wife and I moved into an 60 year old (or so) row home with apparently
original door knob closures. Sorry don't know the techinical word.

The door or the knobs are out of alignment, and no matter how hard you
push the door against the door jamb, you can't get the doorknob tongue
(the metal part that sticks out) to go into the doorjamb recess metal
thingy (the part where the doorknob tongue goes into).

The previous owners put those brass looking doorknobs with crystal
clear doorknobs and brass plates... but never did anything about the
doorknob part on the doorjamb itself.

What do i do to repair this?

First of all, terminology: the parts of the door you seem to be
concerned with here are the latch (the thingy that sticks out of the
door) and the strike (the metal plate that's supposed to receive the latch.

Hard to tell for sure from your description (pictures might help), but
it's possible that the problem is that the latch isn't aligned correctly
with the strike. This is the most common problem with doors that no
longer close correctly: the house has moved over time, and the jamb,
which carries the strike, has moved it out of range of the latch.

Pretty easy to tell if this is the case: hunker down so your eyes are
level with the latch. Close the door and see where the latch hits on the
strike. If it's missing the openings in the strike, then that's your
problem.

*If* this is the problem, the usual solution is to move the strike (not
the latch, which would be much harder to do). Remove the strike, mark
the new location, chisel out a new mortise for it, drill new pilot holes
for the screws, screw it back in.

--
"Wikipedia ... it reminds me ... of dogs barking idiotically through
endless nights. It is so bad that a sort of grandeur creeps into it.
It drags itself out of the dark abyss of pish, and crawls insanely up
the topmost pinnacle of posh. It is rumble and bumble. It is flap and
doodle. It is balder and dash."

- With apologies to H. L. Mencken

Excuse my lack of terminology and thanks for the quick reply!

Latch and strike. Got it!

Ah yes, that makes sense - the jambs and house moving over time.

That's what I thought I would have to do - remove the strike and
chisel a new opening in the strike. I've been a little hesitant in
doing this, but I think since all I have to do is move the strike 1/4
of an inch or so, hopefully I won't have to chisel that much and make
things worse. Though I don't think I can do much harm, as long as I
don't chisel where the strike needs to be screwed in.

If all the good advice you have here doesn't work, you may have to
make your own new strike plate. Easy done with a hack saw, drill and
countersink and file,. For material stop by a sheet metal shop and
scrounge a piece of .060" stainless steel. Scribe the outline of the
old strike plate on it, scribe a new location for the latch opening,
cut, trim, file to fit and install in the old location. Spray paint it
with Rustoleum brass if esthetics are vital. Used this scheme many
times in old houses with significant success...

Joe