How does one adjust a fence gate when its gravity latch scrapes the house?
I bought a house which has a side fence gate with a latch scratching the side of the house. The damage was already there. It's not that bad, but I'd like to adjust the latch to prevent the damage from getting worse since the latch still scratches the house wall and thus continues to dig in.
I think that the only way is to unscrew the latch and screw it back on "at the correct location". I think that's doable because it is currently too low anyway. However, I think that the screw on the right, for the latch to be at the correct location, would need to be in between the door pull and that small trapezoid addition. Here is another picture with a slightly different view:.
I know that trying to use a location just a few millimeters away from an existing hole is not going to work. The only thing I can think of is that I'd have to replace the trapezoid part or at least move it to be able to do new holes.
At the same time, I'm thinking that the door is sagging toward the house. Here is a picture of the whole door, and there are two support (diagonal) bars, but in the wrong direction. So I'm thinking that the scratching will start again soon even if I spend time fixing the latch. Actually, seeing how the latch is currently screwed on, it feels like someone already spent some time on it.
What would you do in this situation?
Question from user Alexis Wilke at stackexchange
Answer:
Move the latch further away from the wall, of course….
Your 2nd picture shows you've a good ½" to play with, if not more. Fill the old holes with dowel & glue, to avoid proximity to the new holes being an issue.
The issue isn't that it's sagging - & whether it is or not is actually unimportant to the latch clearance itself. It probably is actually sagging, which is what's making it worse over time [leading to someone re-jigging the latch at an angle, badly], but it's not the central issue.
The actual issue is that the gate is not at 90° to the wall it meets, so as it opens & actually reaches 90° [ie, the centre of the scratched area], that's the near-point you need to measure to, to avoid it hitting the wall.
Alternatively, move the right-hand post along the wall to make the gate sit correctly at 90° when closed, then you don't have to account for the 'lengthening' effect as it passes that point.
At least that way if it does sag further, it will start to hit the gatepost long before scratching the wall, so you'll get advance warning of further remediation required.
Answer from user Tetsujin at stackexchange
I bought a house which has a side fence gate with a latch scratching the side of the house. The damage was already there. It's not that bad, but I'd like to adjust the latch to prevent the damage from getting worse since the latch still scratches the house wall and thus continues to dig in.
I think that the only way is to unscrew the latch and screw it back on "at the correct location". I think that's doable because it is currently too low anyway. However, I think that the screw on the right, for the latch to be at the correct location, would need to be in between the door pull and that small trapezoid addition. Here is another picture with a slightly different view:.
I know that trying to use a location just a few millimeters away from an existing hole is not going to work. The only thing I can think of is that I'd have to replace the trapezoid part or at least move it to be able to do new holes.
At the same time, I'm thinking that the door is sagging toward the house. Here is a picture of the whole door, and there are two support (diagonal) bars, but in the wrong direction. So I'm thinking that the scratching will start again soon even if I spend time fixing the latch. Actually, seeing how the latch is currently screwed on, it feels like someone already spent some time on it.
What would you do in this situation?
Question from user Alexis Wilke at stackexchange
Answer:
Move the latch further away from the wall, of course….
Your 2nd picture shows you've a good ½" to play with, if not more. Fill the old holes with dowel & glue, to avoid proximity to the new holes being an issue.
The issue isn't that it's sagging - & whether it is or not is actually unimportant to the latch clearance itself. It probably is actually sagging, which is what's making it worse over time [leading to someone re-jigging the latch at an angle, badly], but it's not the central issue.
The actual issue is that the gate is not at 90° to the wall it meets, so as it opens & actually reaches 90° [ie, the centre of the scratched area], that's the near-point you need to measure to, to avoid it hitting the wall.
Alternatively, move the right-hand post along the wall to make the gate sit correctly at 90° when closed, then you don't have to account for the 'lengthening' effect as it passes that point.
At least that way if it does sag further, it will start to hit the gatepost long before scratching the wall, so you'll get advance warning of further remediation required.
Answer from user Tetsujin at stackexchange