How I fixed my bathroom door.

Since I moved in the latch on the bathroom door hasn't worked. There isn't a latch plate on the frame, so I went out and bought one of those for 99 cents. Its an old house, and the lock on the door is operated via skeleton key, and since the damn thing wouldn't retreat into the door, I bought a set of two skeleton keys for 2.99. It turned out I didn't really need any of it, but it was four bucks, which doesn't even buy a gallon of gas, so.. Moving on!

Step 1 The beast itself.

I took the thing out of the door before I thought to document this, so we are starting from me opening up the case to the worky-bits. This is an old door latch. Just the sort of thing I love to tinker with. Shown below is the innards of the lock, as well as what I thought was going wrong.

Comments

[LinuxH4x0r]

Do you live in europe or asia? I've only seen this type of lock in Iran

[Jrfall]

I live in the U.S. The city I live in has a lot of history here, it was founded in 1668 and is both the oldest city in the state, and in the whole midwest. Many of the houses are well over 100 years old. This lock (guessing by the name stamped into the case) was produced by a company called Corbin, who have been around since the early 1800s, so it is likely the locks aren't too common here.

[LinuxH4x0r]

Oh, that explains it. I suppose these are old and uncommon.

[dll932]

In older cities and suburbs I have seen/fixed HUNDREDS of them. Properly maintained, useful life in excess of 100 years is quite feasible.

[Hoopajoo]

Actually, these were used in many homes up until the 1960's. You can still buy them today from just about any locksmith shop, Lowes, Home Depot, Tru Value or Scotty's. I live in an area deemed a "Historic Neighborhood" where we are told by the local Historic Society what color to paint our house, what kind of plants to plant and what improvements we can make to our houses. I once mounted my mailbox on my house instead of having it on a pole by the street. I did this because someone was driving by at night and smashing them with a bat. The Historic Society found out, filed a complaint with City Council and I was issued a $500 fine and told to remount it by the street. I'm now on mailbox number 11. So much for property rights.

[The Dreadlord]

How to stop you mail box smashing.

I did this and it hasn’t happened since. Make a replica of your mail box out of 1/4 th inch steel. This isn't as hard as it sounds it just takes some time and effort. If you know some one with a welder preferably a MIG welder all the better. You can make a box that looks exactly like your original out of 1/4 inch steel. Once completed you will need to sink a square steel tube with 1/4th thick walls that is 2 and 1/2 to 3 inches wide about 4 feet down fill all but the last inch with concrete. Once the concrete is hard weld your mail box to the top of it. Paint to match your original. The next time your mail box smashers come around you won’t hear the thud of a smashed mail box but the scream of some joker’s wrists breaking from the rebound of your box.

It sounds like alot of time and effort but it is worth it not having to replace boxes constantly. Materials shouldnt run you more than the cose of 3 or four mailboxes.

[LinuxH4x0r]

Wow, thats harsh! Here they won't even let us build our house

[dll932]

When you reinstall the lock, slowly close the door and watch/measure where the latch hits. You can then make/modify a strike plate to match (it should have a tongue for the latch to slide over as the door shuts). You will have to make it oversize to bridge the opening and get to fresh wood. Such strikes are available at lock shops.