New door wont stay shut
#21
Yes i did that and the latch now goes in the hole
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#22
I'll try that tomorrow,,I'm not home

(Quotes aren't working for me)
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#23
(02-22-2020, 02:11 PM)Marc Wrote: I had a new exterior door installed about 2 weeks ago. It's a fiberglass door with leaded glass and it came with the jamb.  I had a carpenter with "45 years" experience install it.  When he was finished he said give the weather stripping time to compress,,,so I may have to push the door to close it. That wasnt working. I had to use the deadbolt to shut the door.
 After looking at it myself,,I doubled lthe strike plate. That worked for a day. Then I noticed the latch bolt wasnt extending out all the way when closed so it would pop open.  I somehow managed to get that to work.
  Today I had a refrigerator delivery and we had to unscrew the hinges off the jamb. The pins wouldnt come out.   I am now back to square one. The door wont stay latched closed and we have to use the deadbolt.  Even if I lean real hard on the door the latch wont go into the hole.....it seems.
  I'm about to post an ad locally asking for an expert  door repair/installer to look at it. Before I do that,,is there anything i can try?

I just now went to look and the latch bolt is hitting the lower edge of the strike plate.
I think you are too quick to rag on the contractor. First thing is you do not remove hinge pins on ball bearing hinges. Very good chance of knocking the bearing loose. Two possibilities come to mind of why the door won't stay latched. First is the margins on the head, is it even? If not the hinges need shims to get the head margin even. This will probably raise the latch so it enters the strike plate. Check the hole in the jamb, any debris that will keep the latch from entering fully.  Open the door and work the knob or lever, does the latch extend all the way? Does it extend all or part of the way but does not close when releasing the knob or lever? Try turning the screws just a bit that connect the inside and outside knobs. Often when a lock is installed the connecting screws are tightened so much that the latch will bind. 
If the latch works fine when the door is open ,and the margins are reasonable then look at the strike plate. The strike plate may need filing.
Your last sentence " latch bolt is hitting lower edge of strike plate" tells me that the bottom and maybe the middle hinge need packing.
I'll assume you haven't done this before. Your contractor will be able to do this in 15 minutes or less. If you want to try it  yourself then the following will help.
The cardboard from the hinges is what is used for packing. Cut the cardboard 1/16" or so shorter than the mortise height. Score the cardboard 1/4" wide. Fold over itself so the next score will still be 1/4" wide. One more time but cut thru this time instead of scoring. This gives you 
three 1/4" pieces of packing that is connected. If it turns out the packing is a bit too much, remove it and cut thru one piece. 
When you want to raise the lock side head of the door the packing will go against the closed portion of the mortise. First back off the two screws close to  the closed part of the mortise. The other two screws are loosened only 2 full turns at most. In order to slip the packing into the mortise the hinge must open  only at the back of the mortise. Slip the packing in , make sure  it is against the mortise and in back of the screws. 
Tighten the screws that are the highest and lowest on the hinge. This will push the door head up and make the margin better, tighten the other screws. I forgot to mention you may need to back off the middle  hinge same as the bottom. If the middle hinge needs packing only insert 1/2 the thickness or less . EG. 3 pieces on  the bottom , only install 1 piece of packing if needed. I only pack the jamb, rarely have to pack the door. If a metal jamb in masonry opening is off and no way to fix it , then I may have to resort to packing both the door and the jamb.
I use a stick of wood to pop the hinge by gently prying the door against the jamb. Just enough to insert the packing. 
Some carpenters wedge the door bottom and completely remove the leaf on the jamb. Then they pack it and replace the leaf. I've have done this a few times, mostly when the door opening is right next to a wall. 
Hope this helps
mike
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#24
Out of all the exterior prehung doors that I have installed very few ever were made right. Either the hinges sit the door too low or too high or the latch plate doesn't line up etc. The most common in the latch plate not being far enough in the frame so you have to push the door and use the deadbolt to get it to seal. That just requires a little chiseling to sit the plate further in.  

         And yeah like mentioned ball bearing hinges aren't supposed to be disassembled.

      And that said our fiberglass front door that I put in 10 years ago had it's issues like the hole isn't quite square since one side is a little short and they cut the hinge mortises in too deep which is very common as well.  

        On yours it's just a matter of adjusting hinges and plates. Everyone these days expects stuff to be plug and play since it was build in a factory and yeah it doesn't work that way and the quality of allot of stuff is going down hill requiring more fiddling which is odd since we have all this fancy cnc equipment and manufacturing techniques... In the automotive field the parts today are pure garbage. Try finding a properly made set of lifters...
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#25
Thanks Robert and Mike.
Mike,,,I'm going to attempt your method. The lock set works very nice..no binding or anything like that. You're correct,,I havent done this before...I replaced hollow core interior doors but that worked perfectly (just doors,, left the original jambs).
What is the closed side of the mortise...the edge furthest from the hinge pin?
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#26
(02-22-2020, 11:36 PM)Marc Wrote: Thanks Robert and Mike.
Mike,,,I'm going to attempt your method.  The lock set works very nice..no  binding or anything like that. You're correct,,I havent done this before...I replaced hollow core interior doors but that worked perfectly (just doors,, left the original jambs).
What is the closed side of the mortise...the edge furthest from the hinge pin?

Yes Marc, I could not think of another way to describe it. After you get the margins corrected then the latch may fall into the hole. 
mike
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#27
(02-23-2020, 04:30 AM)mike4244 Wrote: Yes Marc, I could not think of another way to describe it. After you get the margins corrected then the latch may fall into the hole. 
mike

Put some lipstick on the latch and see where it is hitting.   Ask your wife which one to use as she will know it.   Rolt
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#28
Lol
I got the latch pretty good so I can skip the lipstick.

Now the only problem I see now is that the door sits a bit proud of the jamb on the lock/latch side. It was like that before but the latch didnt line up. Now the latch works but i still have to push the door to make the deadbolt work. The shims didnt affect that.


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#29
I never heard that you can't take bearing hinges apart.  I install 100's of doors with bearing hinges and I always separated the two halfs
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#30
Sorry, I just skimmed through all the responses so I apologize if I'm repeating someone. Have you tried pulling out the weatherstrip? It should only be a press fit in an 1/8" groove and will come out. Does the door shut flush with the jamb then? If so, your installer might be right. Weather stripping can be very "full" and does need a little break in time.  Have you checked the hinges and their screws? The hinges should be flush with the jamb and the heads of the screws should be flush with the face of the hinge. The door could be hinge bound if anything protrudes. Especially the screw heads. The srews typically line up with each other on the opposite leaf of the hinge. If two opposing screws are protruding and hit each other, the door will want to sping back open.  As you stated sometimes a hinge needs to be shimmed to make the door function correctly. You could try replacing the hinge screws closest to the jamb stop with three inch screws driven through the jamb and into the framing behind. That will "lock in" the hinges. The factory hinge screws are probably only an inch long, maybe 3/4" and if the pilot hole in the jamb strips the screws don't hold and the hinges wiggle and cause alignment problems. Also, make sure the legs of the jamb are in the same plane, nice and plumb down from the head. if one leg is forward from the other, you're fighting a losing battle.  Imagine a picture frame that is twisted. The glass will never seat properly and might break with an extreme twist. Same idea with a door. Your new fiberglass door will be ridgid and might be contacting at the top or bottom first making you have to push hard to get it to latch. The easy fix for that is to move the hinges in toward or away from the jamb stop to disguise the twist. You can make the lock side nice but the twist will show on the hinge side. The best way to solve a twisted jamb is to remove everything and start over.
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