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?

On 1/18/2005 11:08 AM US(ET), Noozer took fingers to keys, and typed the
following:

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?


Don't know where you are. Don't know how the garage is constructed.
Don't know if it has footings.
But here in the NE US, right about now, it could be due to frost heave.
One side heaved more than the other?


--
Bill

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?


Don't know where you are. Don't know how the garage is constructed.
Don't know if it has footings.
But here in the NE US, right about now, it could be due to frost heave.
One side heaved more than the other?

24'x32' on a 6" slab (no footings) in Calgary, AB, Canada... Just finished
a bout of -40 degree weather. 2"x6" stud wall construction.

I'd agree with the heaving, but I can't find any evidence of movement. I
just thought it was very odd.

Going to investigate further this weekend...

And this was built with a permit? A building of that size on a slab with no
footings is going to suffer some serious frost damage over the years. Here
in southern Ontario, the mandate is for 4 foot deep footings. The frost in
Calgary has to be worse than here.

The door is simple. The deadbolt was a tight fit, with the tongue sliding
into the striker plate with only a thousandth of an inch or so clearance.
The frost has moved the door more than the clearance allowed. The door latch
has more "slop" and can tolerate the misalignment --- so far --- the
frost will finish heaving the door until neither lock will work.


"Noozer" wrote in message
news:XWaHd.111488$8l.35103@pd7tw1no...
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?


Don't know where you are. Don't know how the garage is constructed.
Don't know if it has footings.
But here in the NE US, right about now, it could be due to frost heave.
One side heaved more than the other?

24'x32' on a 6" slab (no footings) in Calgary, AB, Canada... Just
finished
a bout of -40 degree weather. 2"x6" stud wall construction.

I'd agree with the heaving, but I can't find any evidence of movement. I
just thought it was very odd.

Going to investigate further this weekend...

"Eric Tonks" etonks@sunstormADD-DOT-COM wrote in message
...
And this was built with a permit? A building of that size on a slab with
no
footings is going to suffer some serious frost damage over the years. Here
in southern Ontario, the mandate is for 4 foot deep footings. The frost in
Calgary has to be worse than here.

It's built to code for Calgary. Definately done with a permit.

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.

"Noozer" wrote in message
news:XWaHd.111488$8l.35103@pd7tw1no...
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?


Don't know where you are. Don't know how the garage is constructed.
Don't know if it has footings.
But here in the NE US, right about now, it could be due to frost heave.
One side heaved more than the other?

24'x32' on a 6" slab (no footings) in Calgary, AB, Canada... Just
finished
a bout of -40 degree weather. 2"x6" stud wall construction.

I'd agree with the heaving, but I can't find any evidence of movement. I
just thought it was very odd.

Going to investigate further this weekend...



Since you said your door is even all the way around, this suggests to me
that the problem lies between the door and the stop.

If you were in a warmer climate I would suspect swelling in the door, but
sounds to me like it is not swelling as at -40 there is not much moisture in
the air.

FYI the latch is the primary thing that holds the door shut. The dead bolt
should have free play all the way around when it enters the strike plate.
If you measure the bolt and then measure the strike plate you will see the
amount of play it has.

--

Roger Shoaf

About the time I had mastered getting the toothpaste back in the tube, then
they come up with this striped stuff.

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.

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.

I'll end up doing the same as you. I'll try to adjust it as little as
possible so I can track if it keeps shifting.

Thx!

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?

During the night, someone replaced your door with what he only THOUGHT was
an identical door?

I've heard of people reporting that all their stuff has been burlarized and
replaced with identical stuff, so I just thought....

Snow weight on the roof?

--

Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
www.mormons.com


"Noozer" wrote in message
news:PvaHd.111199$8l.43666@pd7tw1no...
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?