carpentry (kind of ) question

[Fritz]

our house is settling - big news huh?.

The front door we put in 7 years ago looks square in it's frame, but it has drifted enough on the lock side that the bolt is now a teense under the strike plate.
It's a decent Stanley and everything else about it is tight, hinges, the original hang, blah, blah, blah.

But as it turns out, the original install was done so that the strike plate bottom was at the bottom of the bolts height, instead of in the middle. In other words, not centered.

I'm gonna move the plates down but this will, of course, result in new screw holes with the possibility of not enough "clear" wood to bite into.
It will also result in a small gap in the jamb when the strike plate is moved.

What have you found to be good wood filler that will sand, paint and finish to "reasonable" without spending a week at it, as well as hold the screws like wood.
I 'spect the move will be 1/4 to 1/2".

[rgG]

If you take the plate off, could you cut a small block to fit the size of the hole where the bolt goes, then glue that in with wood glue and sand it flush? That should give you a fairly clean slate to work with when you chisel out a new hole for the strike plate.

[StingMe]

A wooden dowel (a diameter that gives you a tight fit) will work well for the screw holes - add a little glue and hammer the dowel in if necessary. Trim and add a little wood fill if you like. For the strike plate gap...

[Fritz]

rgC, hadn't thought about that.
I was more on the jamb surface gap that would be revealed with the plates movement.
The slim bit one mortises with a chisel so the plate lies flush with the jamb surface.

StingMe - k, good ideas as well. thanks.

[OWC Jamie]

tooth picks and/or the equivalent glued into old holes can suffice sometimes in lieu of dowels for that size screw hole.

any wood filler that sticks to your fingers as well as it does the wood should work OK :-)

[lafinfil]

As I understand it the part you are looking to fill is the area mortised out to allow the
strike plate to sit in flush (aprox 1/8" or so) That would be easily filled
with any good quality wood filler / wood dough - not spackling compound.

If you have screw holes to fill you can use the same product. Just make sure that
it specifies that it is sand-able/drill-able (most are) You can also fill oversized screw holes
with toothpicks & carpenters glue (old carpenters trick)

[tenders]

> You can also fill oversized screw holes
> with toothpicks & carpenters glue (old carpenters trick)

Epoxy, even the five-minute kind, is really a better solution for this than carpenter's glue.

[lafinfil]

tenders wrote:
> You can also fill oversized screw holes
> with toothpicks & carpenters glue (old carpenters trick)

Epoxy, even the five-minute kind, is really a better solution for this than carpenter's glue.

Just curious why is epoxy a better solution for this application ?

I've read tests done on various types of wood glues used to make furniture joints.
In those tests where the joint was deliberately broken to test strength, the
wood itself would fail at the grain before the glue did.

[OWC Jamie]

I wouldn't recommend a non-pliable chemical solution in a close proximity screw hole in what is most likely a finger-jointed extremely soft pine jamb at all.
With what the OP stated desire for a quick solution , he'd probably screw into the unhardened / uncured epoxy and never ever be able to remove that screw ever again.

If it was a 200 year old door and this was the 7th strike plate in rotten old wood with very little of the original wood solid fiber construct left then epoxy might make more sense. A #6 screw hole ? I'd want something soft and pliable in there.

[MikeF]

Carpenter's glue is aliphatic resin -- very good for permanent wood working.

If you're trying to fill in the routed area where the strikeplate used to be then wood filler or exterior spackle should be fine. The door jamb inside area shouldn't be that exposed to the elements (significantly) and it should be sealed/painted over anyway.

If you're trying to fill the larger hole where the dead bolt actually went into the jamb, then rgG's suggestion of using a wood block filler is the best idea -- glued and sanded flush.

When you install the strikeplate in the new position, you can buy longer screws that will actually go through the wood jamb and secure to the jack or king stud framing around the door.