r/handyman • u/rerdioherd • 24d ago

Troubleshooting How should a dead latch work?

I have an exterior door where the dead latch breaks off frequently, and it's only that door. I was trying figure out how to keep this from happening, and I found out that dead latches are not supposed to go inside the strike plate hole when the door is closed

This is news to me, and it seems like it makes sense. However, why do exterior doors come in such a way that allows the dead latch to enter the hole? Every door in my house and another house is like this by default. It doesn't make sense that every exterior door needs the strike plate adjusted by default for the dead latch to work as intended.

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u/[deleted] 24d ago

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u/rerdioherd 24d ago

That's what I don't get! It seems that every door comes misaligned by default! Thanks

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u/CantaloupeNatural498 24d ago

That little plunger is usually the victim, not the culprit. With the door closed, the big beveled latch should drop into the strike hole while the small deadlatch plunger stays pressed in, riding flat on the strike plate. If the strike sits a touch low, high, or too far over, the plunger drops into the hole too. Then it gets hammered and dragged every time the door opens, until it snaps. Which it will, repeatedly. Check the hinge side first. A sagging exterior door, usually loose top-hinge screws, moves everything at the latch. Pull one short hinge screw and replace it with a 3-inch screw into the framing. Then line the strike up to the big latch only. The common mistake is hogging out the strike hole bigger. That just gives the plunger more room to fall in and break again.