Realign a Strike Plate
A strike plate or a door strike is very important for a door to close properly. Moreover, it plays an important part of a door as it helps to lock or unlock the door. It is a small and thin protective metal place that can be found in the door jamb. What it does is it welcomes the latch or the lock whenever the door closes. Strikes plates have almost the same look such as the T-shaped that comes with a single hole. Normally, when you purchase a door specially an interior door, it comes as a set together with its strike plate. Nowadays, several options are available to purchase interesting looking doors with even interesting looking strike plates.
Strike plates, like its doors, can last for a very long time. It takes ages to rust if taken care of properly. You will notice that when it comes to the time that the doors in your home age, they will begin to fall off their hinges. But sometimes, it is not just the aging process; the door can be malfunctioned as the strike plate is already out of the alignment. Instead of calling a handyman that can cost you a lot, you can try to realign the strike plate by yourself. It\’s best not to leave an aged door with an unfit strike plate as you never know when the door might be accidentally locked and would be impossible to open. The same goes if the door just refuses to close or if it accidentally hurt you with its rusty ends. Follow these easy steps to fix your door alignment
You will need:
- Screwdriver or drill
- Hole patches
- Sandpaper
- Knife
Steps:
- First, remove the strike plate by using a screwdriver or a drill. Holding the screw plate, unscrew the top screw first then remove the bottom screw. You may need somebody to help you to hold the door and for safety just in case it might fall or drop.
- Then, you can start trimming the hole in the jamb. The trimming will function to help the hardware to enter easily into the jamb hole.
- To get a hole down with the right size, use a sandpaper or a knife. If there are any holes that might have been in the door, you can fill and patch the unneeded holes by using hole patches. Make sure to patch the holes properly.
- Sand down the patches by using some sandpaper so the strike plate can fit in firmly.
- Next, hold the strike plate over the jamb hole. Make sure to close the door to ensure that your strike plate will be realigned correctly.
- Adjust the hole if it is still out of alignment. Hold the strike plate in place to insert the bolt. Strike carefully to confirm that the bolt will pass through the strike plate and fit the jamb hole. You can adjust the bolt as needed.
- Finally, open the door to reinstall the screws back and to secure the strike plate in place.
Additional Reading:
http://www.ehow.com/how_2089187_realign-strike-plate-hinge.html
Image Credit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sukanto_debnath/2130934981/
