side door (back door)

crowitch77 · Mon Nov 26, 2007 6:35 pm

as some of you know i am VERY new to being in a MH home. i went out one day and when i came home a few hours later i decided to do some laundry. i opened my laundry door and my back (side) door was wide open. WHAT THE HECK!?!?!?!? i freaked thinking someone broke into my house. but then i realized nothing was taken. i shrugged my shoulders thinking it was a fluke. then it happened again a week later and then again 2 weeks after that. why is this happening?!??!?! the door is LOCKED and now i have a mess of bungee cords and a new chain on the door. since the bungee cords it hasn't flung open.

so, uhhh WHY is my door opening? what can i do to make it NOT do that without keeping this mess of cords all over my laundry room (it looks like a spiderweb went awry!). do i need to call ghost hunters??? <~~~sorta kidding on that last one.

thank you!!!
Piper

Yanita · Mon Nov 26, 2007 7:04 pm

Hi,

I just went to read your profile and there isn't one. So do you happen to live in an area where the ground is freezing, frost heaves, more rain than usual...in other words the home has probably shifted/settled so that the door latch is not going into the striker plate.

It could be as easy as re aligning the striker plate during the cold weather or while your home is shifting....

Happy Holidays,

PS...LOL, you don't have to call Ghostbusters!

crowitch77 · Mon Nov 26, 2007 7:38 pm

i am in michigan so yes our seasons change daily. how do i go about moving the striker plate? i mean, so it won't do that?

i am so new to this it's not even funny LOL!

ok, it sort of is funny.

Greg · Mon Nov 26, 2007 7:51 pm

Piper, Yanita is right, I sounds like the latch is not fully latching. It sounds too early in the season to be having a frost heave problem to me. If you have an aluminum door frame you may need to file the latch opening some to make it fully seat. You can use some colored chaulk on the latch to see where it hits. Greg

76artcraft · Wed Nov 28, 2007 11:30 pm

Hi,
It's really strange but the exact thing was happening to my back(side) door this past summer.

If I used the back door I always tugged on it to make sure it was secure and it was. Then I would find it had popped open in the middle of the night or after I had been somewhere, but only like once or twice a week.

So if the latch isn't fully latching that great would it be secure one time then pop open the next?

Old Guy · Thu Nov 29, 2007 1:16 am

You might double check the perimeter blocks, or lack thereof, under the door. Many times they settle, or aren't installed in the first place. If you look at the top of the door when it is shut, it should be an even "gap" all the way across. If the gap is bigger on the latch side, raise the blocks under the hinges a hair until the gap is even, that will solve the latch not aligning with the striker plate. If it is bigger on the hinge side, either lower the blocks, or raise the ones on the latch side.
One last thing, I have had to replace "bowed" studs on the latch side, which seemed to develop a life of their own with temperature and especially humidity changes.
Don't know how old your home is, and am sorry to tell you all this, since you are new to mfd homes, filing the striker hole larger will solve the problem like Greg said, but usually they align is everything else is ok.
Good luck!

Brenda (OH) · Fri Nov 30, 2007 5:59 pm

adjusting the strike plate (if it is not far enough out, you can remove it, put something behind the plate at the top and bottom and replace the screws. if need something very thin, maybe try pieces of plastic from a margarine tub, if need something much thicker, maybe pieces from a paint stirrer?

if it still keeps doing this, you may want to add a very tight door chain or metal latch that does the same thing, so at least no one can walk into the house..... come to think of it, would the door be able to pop open if you had a big sliding bolt latch on the inside, like you would use on a shed door?

just when I start to think I am the only one that weird things happen to in the MH, I see a unique problem like this!

Brenda

crowitch77 · Mon Dec 03, 2007 10:05 pm

i can't do that because there is a very deep threshold. or frame.

i'm kinda wishing i didn't get this place

i am so new to all of this and i don't have anyone to help me.

Yanita · Tue Dec 04, 2007 7:52 am

Hi

Here is a link that may help you adjust your strike plate.

http://askmichaelsaunders.katabat.com/c ... =3.337.196

This is a very easy thing to do on your own. When you get to the site I posted the link to, scroll down until you see Strike plates alignments and adjustments.

Happy Holidays

Yanita

StillKavey · Wed Dec 19, 2007 10:55 pm

You actually have several people to help you... and you were one of those fortunate enough to find them. They are right here! Just ask and ye shall receive. Yanita has posted a link with directions to fix your problem.

PS these problems arent just MH problems.. they happen in stickbuilt too. Be glad you didnt pay 200k for a home to find out it was nothing but problems

Bottom line is if you own you will fix problems.. if you cant deal with that you can rent and have other problems (neighbors stomping around at 2am with their 30 friends who came over for the kegger etc etc)