On 27/07/2012 09:03, Martin Brown wrote:
On 27/07/2012 08:30, Lobster wrote:
A bit of a ball-ache, this - front door is secured by a mortice
latch/lock but is ever-so-slightly out of position, so that the latch
will only engage if you either slam the door, or close it fully and
gently, and apply a sudden 'shove' to get the latch to click into place
(something that SWMBO's not strong enough to do). In other words, the
striker plate needs moving no more than 1 mm outwards from the frame.

Adjust the plate by filing some metal off the edge which is catching.
You might also want to look at why the door frame is moving about!

Bear in mind that wood swells in the damp and shrinks in the warm and
dry so tolerances can drift about a bit naturally.

If you put dry marker or engineers blue on the latch surface you may be
able to see where it is catching eg on a burr or something.

There's no way I'd able to fill and redrill the screwholes in the frame
effectively (the old and new would overlap). Suggestions, please?

Block the old screw holes with matchsticks. Use a bradawl to start a new
hole on the edge of the old one.