A client recently asked me to look at her door. Her complaint was that she could close and lock the door at the knob but had to put her shoulder into the door to get the deadbolt to lock.
While some might say this keeps the door closed tight and keeps the draft out, she was not
able to unlock this deadbolt from the exterior, using her key. That was a problem!
There's more than one way to skin a cat
There are a few ways to approach this scenario, such as relocating the deadbolt or strike plate so one aligns better with the other.
I chose a simpler approach. Using a mill file I simply file off a small amount of the deadbolt plate on the interior side until it latches effortlessly.
When doing this you need to continually close the door and engage the deadbolt, file a little more, test, file. You know when you have shaved off enough metal when the deadbolt closes easily and the key
works well.
Remember - A little bit goes a long way!!!!
