On Tue, 18 Jan 2005 16:08:15 GMT, "Noozer" wrote:

I've got a problem in the door of my garage (the man door, not car door).
It's very odd, so I'm asking here...

A couple of days ago I found that I could no longer engage the deadbolt on
door of my garage. It's a freestanding three car garage with no
heat/insulation.

It appears as though the door or frame has shifted and the deadbolt no
longer lines up with the catch in the door frame. Normally I'd attribute
this to settling or shifting, but the gap around the door is still
consistant and I can't find any evidence that anything is out of kilter. The
deadbolt appears to be as much as 1/8' out of line with the catch in the
frame. The door latch still engages and I can lock the door using the knob,
but what shifted to put the deadbolt out of place?



My metal front door did something similar, probably due to the
afternoon sun (at times it would get very hot to the touch even
painted a light color). I removed the strike plate, filed it down
using a rat tail file, remove a little jamb wood, and replaced the
plate. I replaced the screws with 3.5" screws for added security.
No problems and it has been 10 years. If your building is constantly
shifting in one direction, that may pose a long term problem.