Why didn’t I think of it before?

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Ever since we moved to this house, getting on for ten years ago, the front door has not closed properly. If we push the door shut, it stays in position but it doesn’t go quite close enough for the latch to actually click into the slot in the metal plate on the frame (I’m sure there’s a proper name for that, but I don’t know what it is). If it’s particularly windy the door will blow open, generally followed by a swirling cloud of leaves! In contrast when we lock the door that’s always been absolutely fine. Both the latch (operated by the handle) and the bolt (operated by the key) go into the same long slot, and they are almost exactly the same width. I’ve thought of moving the metal plate, but it would need to be moved aside by about 1 mm which would be impossible since the screw holes would of course be in almost the same position as they currently are which means that I would just end up with bigger holes and loose screws. On Saturday it suddenly dawned on me to try filing the metal. I knew there must be less than 1 mm of metal to remove to make it work. I got a metal file and filed the side of the slot in the door plate (a bit tedious because I could only use short strokes because of going into the hole in the frame) and also tried to file a bit off the side of the actual latch. It took a little while but the end result was a success and now it makes a satisfying click when we shut it, and it stays shut! The only annoying thing is – why did it take me all this time to think of trying such a thing?? All rights reserved. © Text and image copyright Fleur 2026.