Misaligned Threshold Locking Pin in French Doors
 

Does anybody have a good solution the following problem:

I have a set of outward-opening French doors, which, of course, consist
of an operating door and a door that usually remains closed and is
locked by vertical pins which extend into the top of the door sill and
into the bottom of the threshold. The threshold of these doors is
aluminum.

The problem is that whoever installed the doors drilled the hole for
locking the fixed door slightly in the wrong spot into the bottom
threshold, so that the door, when closed and locked, is not pulled
tightly enough against the weather stripping and stop. I am trying to
figure out how to reposition this hole inward by about 1/4" to tighten
the seal. Of course, this is a problem because the hole is cut through
aluminum, and I cannot figure out how to 'fill" that outward 1/4" of
space if I move the hole slightly inward.

Is there a clever way to address this problem, or must I replace the
entire bottom threshold with a new one and re-drill the hole in the
correct location?

Thanks.

Misaligned Threshold Locking Pin in French Doors
 

tacker wrote:
Does anybody have a good solution the following problem:

I have a set of outward-opening French doors, which, of course, consist
of an operating door and a door that usually remains closed and is
locked by vertical pins which extend into the top of the door sill and
into the bottom of the threshold. The threshold of these doors is
aluminum.

The problem is that whoever installed the doors drilled the hole for
locking the fixed door slightly in the wrong spot into the bottom
threshold, so that the door, when closed and locked, is not pulled
tightly enough against the weather stripping and stop. I am trying to
figure out how to reposition this hole inward by about 1/4" to tighten
the seal. Of course, this is a problem because the hole is cut through
aluminum, and I cannot figure out how to 'fill" that outward 1/4" of
space if I move the hole slightly inward.

Is there a clever way to address this problem, or must I replace the
entire bottom threshold with a new one and re-drill the hole in the
correct location?

Thanks.



There is a solution that either works, or gets you completely
screwed. I have used it on occasion to solve this problem.

Drill the hole where you want it to be. You may find that
this is a lot harder than you anticipated. You may find it
easier to just drill a larger diameter hole where the existing
hole is now. Take some epoxy putty, mix well and completely
fill the hole with it. Put a coating of vaseline on the pin
on the door. Holding the door exactly where you want it to
be, extend the pin into the putty. Retract the pin, wait for
the epoxy to dry, then slightly enlarge the hole so that the
pin extends and retracts easily.

Do NOT leave the pin extended into the putty. If the epoxy
adheres to the pin, then you are in the completly screwed
position that I spoke of earlier. Don't ask me how I know this.

--
Robert Allison
Rimshot, Inc.
Georgetown, TX

Misaligned Threshold Locking Pin in French Doors
 

Robert Allison wrote:

tacker wrote:

Does anybody have a good solution the following problem:

I have a set of outward-opening French doors, which, of course, consist
of an operating door and a door that usually remains closed and is
locked by vertical pins which extend into the top of the door sill and
into the bottom of the threshold. The threshold of these doors is
aluminum.

The problem is that whoever installed the doors drilled the hole for
locking the fixed door slightly in the wrong spot into the bottom
threshold, so that the door, when closed and locked, is not pulled
tightly enough against the weather stripping and stop. I am trying to
figure out how to reposition this hole inward by about 1/4" to tighten
the seal. Of course, this is a problem because the hole is cut through
aluminum, and I cannot figure out how to 'fill" that outward 1/4" of
space if I move the hole slightly inward.

Is there a clever way to address this problem, or must I replace the
entire bottom threshold with a new one and re-drill the hole in the
correct location?

Thanks.



There is a solution that either works, or gets you completely screwed.
I have used it on occasion to solve this problem.

Drill the hole where you want it to be. You may find that this is a lot
harder than you anticipated. You may find it easier to just drill a
larger diameter hole where the existing hole is now. Take some epoxy
putty, mix well and completely fill the hole with it. Put a coating of
vaseline on the pin on the door. Holding the door exactly where you
want it to be, extend the pin into the putty. Retract the pin, wait for
the epoxy to dry, then slightly enlarge the hole so that the pin extends
and retracts easily.

Do NOT leave the pin extended into the putty. If the epoxy adheres to
the pin, then you are in the completly screwed position that I spoke of
earlier. Don't ask me how I know this.




--
Jeffry Wisnia

(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"Truth exists; only falsehood has to be invented."

Misaligned Threshold Locking Pin in French Doors
 

I think this is a darn good idea. Just a couple possible variations.

On Sat, 12 Nov 2005 15:27:00 GMT, Robert Allison
wrote:

tacker wrote:
Does anybody have a good solution the following problem:

I have a set of outward-opening French doors, which, of course, consist
of an operating door and a door that usually remains closed and is
locked by vertical pins which extend into the top of the door sill and
into the bottom of the threshold. The threshold of these doors is
aluminum.

The problem is that whoever installed the doors drilled the hole for
locking the fixed door slightly in the wrong spot into the bottom
threshold, so that the door, when closed and locked, is not pulled
tightly enough against the weather stripping and stop. I am trying to
figure out how to reposition this hole inward by about 1/4" to tighten
the seal. Of course, this is a problem because the hole is cut through
aluminum, and I cannot figure out how to 'fill" that outward 1/4" of
space if I move the hole slightly inward.

Is there a clever way to address this problem, or must I replace the
entire bottom threshold with a new one and re-drill the hole in the
correct location?

Thanks.



There is a solution that either works, or gets you completely
screwed. I have used it on occasion to solve this problem.

Drill the hole where you want it to be. You may find that
this is a lot harder than you anticipated. You may find it
easier to just drill a larger diameter hole where the existing

Or use a grind stone in an electric drill to enlarge the hole
backwards. It's aluminum so it should go fast, although I guess it
will clog the stone. But little stones are cheap. (and I think they
can be cleaned by grinding some steel or something.)

Then I would consider putting 2 or 3 headless nails, finishing nails,
into the wood beneath the sill so that their tops are just below the
surface of the threshhold. Enough to fill the space that shouldn't be
there.

hole is now. Take some epoxy putty, mix well and completely
fill the hole with it. Put a coating of vaseline on the pin
on the door. Holding the door exactly where you want it to
be, extend the pin into the putty. Retract the pin, wait for
the epoxy to dry, then slightly enlarge the hole so that the
pin extends and retracts easily.

Excellent. Especially the vaseline.

Do NOT leave the pin extended into the putty. If the epoxy
adheres to the pin, then you are in the completly screwed
position that I spoke of earlier. Don't ask me how I know this.

Aw, come on. Howdjunoit?

I had a similar problem. I had a winesack without a cap, and I
think I used vaseline, but I might not have gotten every spot.. Then
I shaped some PC-70 around the greased nozzle and let it set the
required time. I had to use water pump pliers to get the new cap off
and even then it wasn't easy. But I drilled a hole for the string in
the top of the cap and it's all good.

I think one could wait a bit before removing the pin, for example
maybe 5 minutes for something with 12 hours drying time, maybe. At
least a little longer than the max time it gives you for using the
stuff. (apply within 5 minutes, some say.) It would depend on how
long that particular epoxy takes to set a bit, but not harden all the
way.

It would pay to glue a bunch of other things with the same stuff
first, and get used to it.

There is also white PC-70 now, and many other tthings I haven't used.


Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let
me know if you have posted also.

Misaligned Threshold Locking Pin in French Doors
 

Thanks. That sounds like an idea worth attempting. Little to lose.

Are you talking about those two-part epoxy putties that you massage
together to blend, then place where needed?

Understand totally about not leaving the pin extended while curing.

Misaligned Threshold Locking Pin in French Doors
 

Tacker,

A cheap fix would be to find a piece of pipe that is a little larger ID
than the vertical pin as a sleeve. Drill a hole in the proper place to put
the sleeve. Cut the sleeve so it is a little short ( doesn't stick up above
the threshold ). Fill the old hole behind the sleeve and around the top of
the sleeve with wood putty. Sand the putty flush with the threshold, Paint
the putty gray or silver.

Dave M.

Misaligned Threshold Locking Pin in French Doors
 

David Martel wrote:
Tacker,

A cheap fix would be to find a piece of pipe that is a little larger ID
than the vertical pin as a sleeve. Drill a hole in the proper place to put
the sleeve. Cut the sleeve so it is a little short ( doesn't stick up above
the threshold ). Fill the old hole behind the sleeve and around the top of
the sleeve with wood putty. Sand the putty flush with the threshold, Paint
the putty gray or silver.

Dave M.



As long as we're getting to the "gilding a turd" stage of this thread,
why not go a little further by finding a pistol cartridge casing about
the right size, cutting it to length and sinking that into the
epoxy/Bondo/wood putty you pushed into through the hole in the
threshold. That way, the head of the cartridge casing blocks the goop
from getting up inside it, capice?


Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia

(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"Truth exists; only falsehood has to be invented."

Misaligned Threshold Locking Pin in French Doors
 

On 12 Nov 2005 09:06:08 -0800, "tacker" wrote:

Thanks. That sounds like an idea worth attempting. Little to lose.

Are you talking about those two-part epoxy putties that you massage
together to blend, then place where needed?

To my ear, "massage" sounds insufficient. At least for PC-70, the
weaker epoxies in the syringe, and others I've used, I fold one part
into the other part over and over and over again. From different
angles, etc. 20 times maybe. In the middle of this I swirl it all, in
each direction, all to get a good mix.

Just making sure the color is uniform doesn't seem sufficient to me,
because I think our eyes average out the color and it doesn't mean it
is mixed at the small level. (Like one doesn't see the individual
red, green, or blue dots on a tv screen or in the funny papers, even
though they are there.)

And when I haven't done this as well as I describe, at least twice it
didn't harden as quickly as normal. Maybe it never hardened. The
second time this happened, I kept the remaining mixture for a couple
days and it never got very hard.

Understand totally about not leaving the pin extended while curing.


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