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The door knob lock on one of my doors wasn't working right. It's the kind that from the outside locks/unlocks with a key, and from the inside by twisting a tab in the middle of the knob.
Closing the door from the inside was easy, but from the outside almost impossible. It was the oddest thing. From the inside, I'd push the door closed and it would be firmly closed. From the outside, even pulling with all my force wouldn't make the door click closed.
Furthermore, even when the door seemed to be shut and locked ok, repeated jiggling of the knob from the outside caused it to spontaneously unlock and open. Apparently this could be caused by a broken return spring. But I removed the knobs from the door, and the visible springs looked ok.
Finally I noticed that the door latch and strike plate weren't aligned well. The latch was right near the top of the hole in the strike plate and door jamb, rather than centered. The trick to closing the door from the outside was to pull *up* on the knob. However, the locked door would still open easily upon jiggling the knob.
So I filed the strike plate to slightly enlarge the hole on the top side. Now the door closes easily from the outside, and stays locked regardless of knob jiggling.
Closing the door from the inside was easy, but from the outside almost impossible. It was the oddest thing. From the inside, I'd push the door closed and it would be firmly closed. From the outside, even pulling with all my force wouldn't make the door click closed.
Furthermore, even when the door seemed to be shut and locked ok, repeated jiggling of the knob from the outside caused it to spontaneously unlock and open. Apparently this could be caused by a broken return spring. But I removed the knobs from the door, and the visible springs looked ok.
Finally I noticed that the door latch and strike plate weren't aligned well. The latch was right near the top of the hole in the strike plate and door jamb, rather than centered. The trick to closing the door from the outside was to pull *up* on the knob. However, the locked door would still open easily upon jiggling the knob.
So I filed the strike plate to slightly enlarge the hole on the top side. Now the door closes easily from the outside, and stays locked regardless of knob jiggling.
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Date: 2016-01-17 06:59 pm (UTC)From:Our house moves between cold and hot season and I've ended up drilling two side-by-side holes in the garage door jamb and moving the strike plate 5mm up and down as the seasons change. At some point I'll fabricate a slightly larger one, but it's a complex assembly with a punched and formed pan, rather than just a plate with a curved lip and a hole.