Front Door Latch Sticks

An effective front door lock keeps out burglars but when you find yourself struggling to enter your own home it may be time to adjust your lockset.

Front door latch sticks.

Remove the two screws that hold the lock faceplate on the edge of the door. You will need the following. Step 1 close shave photo by craig raine. Tighten the hinge screws and then try adjusting the strike plate by loosening its screws and shifting it slightly.

If so here s how you can fix it. Each time you open it there is a little grab before it releases. If the latch bolt doesn t move and is fully extended the issue is with the strike plate. How to fix a stuck front door lock latch that won t retract.

These are not the only possible reasons a door latch is stuck but they are the most likely to be the issues you are facing. Once you let go of the knob grab the end of the latch bolt with your fingers and pull. Do you have a door that won t open because the lock latch won t retract enough to open the door. With the door open use a phillips screwdriver to take out the two connecting screws that are located by the doorknob on the inside of the lock.

Tom s rule of thumb for keeping a door from sticking in the jamb is that the reveal the space between the door and jamb should be 1 8 to 3 16 inch wide or about the thickness of a nickel. Repairs range from making minor latch adjustments to repositioning the door. The reason the strike plate has become misaligned might have something to do with moisture expanding the wood of your door or perhaps even an issue with the foundation of your. In some instances you have a door that sticks along the strike area the metal part of the door frame where it meets the outermost edge of the door.

Sticking door locks can be attributed to. September 2 2013 september 2 2013 tyler. In other cases it may be the wood door edge itself scuffing on the door frame. Slide the doorknob off the spindle pull out the lock mechanism and remove the latchbolt from its hole in the edge of the door.

The issue with the door latch stuck only when you are attempting to open a closed door but not when the door is open you might have a misaligned strike plate. When a door latch doesn t click into position it usually means the latch and the strike plate are out of alignment. Follow along as tom fixes a swelled door in his own home with just a few simple tools. Here s how to remove and clean the most common type of door lock.

If the latch bolt moves it is sticking in the door knob and requires some disassembly to fix.