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.

Thanks for the responses. So, approximately evenly distributed between
filing down the plate and stopping up and redrilling the holes...

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

I've certainly done that trick before plenty of times, but in this case
- really? Moving the centre of the holes by just 1 mm? I can't see that
working - the centre of the new hole will be within the boundary of the
old one.

Filing isn't as straightforward as it may seem, as the striker plate
doesn't simply have a rectangular hole in it for the latch to pass
through, it has a box around the hole: (eg like
http://www.thediyworld.co.uk/images/locks/lock-striker.gif

Might try and see if I can find a different striker plate in fact,
without the box, and which may well also have screw holes in a different
position...

David