What Should You Do When Meet The Stuck Door Latch

As the door latch stuck, you can not close the door easily. And the safety and privacy of your room are in danger. So, you need to fix your stuck door latch as soon as possible. While, you should ensure that this problem does not recur again. There are several parts about diagnosing the problem and how to fix the stuck door latch.

 

How to Fix the Stuck Door Latch at Home

Check Door Alignment to Fix the Stuck Door Latch

A short term fix is to move the strike plate to align better with the stuck door latch. By shutting your door, you can mark the point on the door frame that latch is coming in contact with. From there you can either widen the hole both of the wood and metal, or you can unscrew the strike and re-secure it in the proper position. However, if you are only moving the strike up, down, or to the side slightly, then you may not be able to simply re-screw it into the frame. When holes are placed too closely together, they can compromise the screw strength as a thin splinter of wood separating two holes makes the strike plate very insecure.

 

If you are looking to make a permanent fix to this issue, you will still have to make the short term fix, then take additional steps to address the larger issue. If the problem is wood expansion, also known as seasonal affective disorder, you can look into redoing the finish of your door to keep moisture related effects from influencing your door shape. If the issue is your foundation, then you may want to look into if you need repair, some form of rescuing the foundation, or even just to remove the tree whose roots are pushing up from under the house.

 

Move Jammed Latch and Fix the Stuck Door Latch

With a door latch stuck because it is jammed by rust and other materials, it is always best to disassemble the lock and do a bit of cleaning. Letting the components sit fully submerged in a vinegar of about 5% acidity will do the job of separating the gunk from your metal. Rust removal is very common in older homes where you may see many mortise locks. It is something that affects all locks given enough time, but after about a day of sitting in the vinegar the locks can be wiped down and polished, which will make them look brand new. Besides just wiping down the finish, you may also need to scrub out certain nooks and crannies with a small brush.

 

How you polish the lock will determine how quickly the lock will rust again. Essentially rust creates the extreme potential for re-rusting on those same areas. This is why it is a good idea to use something like car wax to seal all of the small imperfections in the metal that are susceptible to future rust. Of course, before applying any polish, you should take the time to dry the lock components. Then once the polish has fully coated the lock, be sure to remove the excess polish so that it does not cause the door latch to stick.

 

People can check the status of your door latch and experiment the right way to fix stuck door latch. And it is also helpful for you to solve door lock problems with good lock pick sets.