I am working on a rehab with an exterior fiberglass french door unit the previous owners installed. The doors are in good shape however it doesn’t close as smoothly and tightly as it should. I discovered the cause is the strike plate and latch faceplate are proud of the edge of the doors the thickness of the plates and they rub against each other.
Normally on a wood door I would work the needed depth carefully with a chisel for each plate. However, this is a fiberglass door unit and the material where the plates mount is a plastic insert that sits in a plastic channel that runs the full height of the doors (one on the active door and one on the passive door). This plastic insert is flush with the edge of the doors and has no “factory pre-mortising†although it does have an outline of the strike plate and latch faceplate molded into the plastic.
This is my first experience with fiberglass doors and was wondering if the molded outlines in the plastic insert are made to come out easily or be worked with a chisel the same as wood. I looked around online for installation instructions but haven’t found anything yet that answers my question.
Replies
I'm definitely interested to hear an answer to this. Are the doors Thermatru by any chance?
I'm installing a patio door that meets your descriptions exactly & the the strike platest that came with the hardware don't fit in the plastic inserts. Door hardware is Schlage, so i don't expect that the strike & latch plates are wacky sizes or anything...
Why is it that the door mfgrs. don't make the strike mortises to match the hardware available? The job should be 1-2-3 and done without having to pick up a chisel.
Grunge on.
Cause they cant agree if beta or vhs is the format.
They are Thermatru doors. The height and width of the plates are ok on this set up, its the depth that is the problem. I thought there might be a way to remove the plastic insert and flip it over to find a factory mortise but I haven't discovered how to get it out of the plastic channel. The insert does have some movement to it while in the channel to allow for alignment, I guess. I was aso thinking it would be easier/safer for the plastic channel if I worked on the plastic insert while it was out of the door. I didn't want to slip while working the plastic instert and gouge the channel. I will be installing a new lockset this weekend while over there, I will post back anything I learn.
All the french fiberglass TTs I've installed, have had an aluminum "stile," w/ two plastic slidable inserts. One for the handset latch strike, and one that's allegedly for the deadbolt latch. Strikes are supposed to come w/ the unit, but rarely do. The aluminum stile usually has a slight mortise for the handset strike, if it doesn't you may have to make one. Easy enough with a cheap chisle.Schlage deadbolt strike or any other brand for that matter, won't fit the slideable plastic screw in thingy. I take a small chisle, and separate the insert into two pcs, top and bottom, fasten the strike, then take a Dremel and hog out some of the aluminum stile so the latch actually fits.Danged TT doors<G>
And, good luck getting the the snap in plastic stile covers... Hey, pocket doors can't come off the track if they're nailed open
ThermaTru's website has links within it to their entire product manual (most of which was written on my watch when I worked there.)
Go there and look for installation instructions for the astragal. The astragal is the name they give to the full-length screwed on piece that is between the doors on a double swinger like yours. It has flushbolt subassemblies at top and bottom ends, houses the screw retainers for strikes, and is outfitted with a snap-in side cover. You will see a full parts listing, and probably get the answer to your questions.
Snort's advice is right on about the field mods required to fit strikes. The snap-in extruded plastic cover (full length, cut as required to fit between the two strikes) is used to retain the screw clips.
Hey just torch it and smack it with a hammer! :)
Thanks for the info. I will print it out and take a copy with me when I head back over there to finish out the punch list. "Astragal"....wasn't she a character on the Jetson's??
Unfortunately I didn't learn anything new this weekend installing the new schlage lockset. Although it does fit better than the kwickset that was there (less rubbing of the plates). I didn't bother to try to chisel out the plastic insert. I did put a couple of longer screws in the hinge side of the door and that also helped. Hope you have better luck with your patio door.
Different doors are manufactured to different hardware. On some of the hardware/ lock manufactures you can cross different dimensions by special order to get non standard strikes and latches. That is the first course of action.
Call Thermatrue and ask what your options are.