Ask The Home Improvement Expert
Question:
We have a 30 year old house that we love. The problem is, we have cracks in the drywall, and some doors don’t latch. Help!
Rich Lofgren, Monona
Answer:
In truth, there are several solutions for each concern - all brought about by one common and normal thread, settling. Settling often results in the cracking and nail “popping” of the drywall, and doors may become difficult to latch. Drywall issues are the most common. Typically, these are repaired by skilled painters or a drywall company in a very short time. A few typical cracks and some nail pops can be repaired in just a couple of hours.
Poorly closing doors are fixed easily, too. One simple fix is to use longer screws. One hole in the top hinge should ALWAYS be held by a screw that is longer than the others. It is meant to screw into the adjacent stud and to keep the door from pulling away at the top from its own weight. If the door won’t latch, it has likely settled.
Depending on the degree of the settling, you have a few options.
• If the latch needs to be raised to hit the correct spot on the strike plate, you can loosen the bottom two hinges, removing all screws from the lowest. Placing shims of a thin material such as cardboard (as from the pack of a notebook) cut to fit behind that hinge, then re-attaching it, will raise the plunger.
• Otherwise, the plate can be removed and repositioned. The holes can be filled with small pieces of wood, or toothpicks and wood glue. A small amount of the door jamb can be cut with a utility knife by tracing, carefully, the edge of the strike plate. The wood can be removed with the utility knife or a chisel. Again, drill pilot holes using the strike plate as a guide and replace the plate. If there is minimal movement necessary, the plate can be filed with a small triangular metal file or the edge of a standard one.
