On 7/29/2008 10:56 AM Paul spake thus:

I found that for our main bedroom door, the problem is that the door
that the latch resides in, is about 1/4 to 1/2 inch away from the
strike & doorjamb. (not sure if the door shrunk over time or what).
About an 1/8" or so tip of the latch barely sits in the strike when
the door closes. The other problem is, the doorjamb seems to be
pushing on the door, so that when you close the door (and you have to
kind of REALLY push on it to close for the latch to enter the
strike), since the latch isn't all the way in the strike, the
counter-force from the doorjamb pushes the door and forces the latch
out of the strike causing the door to re-open as soon as you close
it.

Hmmm, don't understand the problem as you've described it: you say
there's a large gap 'twixt door and jamb, and yet the jamb pushes on the
door? Can't seem to visualize this. Is the door hitting something else,
like the top jamb, the doorstop, etc.?

So.. what to do? I either have to find a doorknob assembly with a
longer latch that will rest deeper in the strike or i have to find a
way to make the strike sit out further from the doorjamb? Or take the
door off the hinges and rework it so it's closer to the strike/
doorjamb? (don't like/think i need to do this last option)

Again, hard to say based on your description, but it may actually be
easiest (for the short term, at least) to shim the door away from its
hinges to bring it closer to the strike. This isn't too hard to do, and
can be done with pieces of cardboard, thin wood, etc. Just take the door
off its hinges (drive the pins out if possible), remove the door hinges,
shim and remount them, then reinstall door.


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