So one of the things I randomly bought at Home Depot is one of those “bathroom stall” style locks. The type that you just physically push over to lock a bathroom stall. Something like the image at the right.
Why not get a real lock? I have antique doorknobs. The kind with keyholes beneath the door. I like the knobs and don’t want to replace them. The only way to lock them is with the key – what a pain. Especially since they are long gone; our bathroom was built almost 70 years ago. And the knobs probably wouldn’t fit in the door anyway; nothing was standardized back then. It would turn into a job past my capability, which would cost $500 to pay someone else for. That might be justifiable if the bathroom couldn’t be locked, but the bathroom locks now — I just want it to lock easier.
Right now we have one of those eyehole latches (see pic on left). It doesn’t always line up. For it to work, the door would not be in the frame completely. I already adjusted it once with a hammer due to 10 yrs of wear and tear. So I’m going to replace it with something that operates like the picture above – like a stall in a public toilet. There’s no need to have an external-facing locking mechanism. And sliding something to the left is WAY easier than grabbing a hook and getting it into the hole (especially when you can’t physically do this while the door is totally closed).
So I decide before doing that, that it’s best that the door close easily. Right now, you have to slam or push to get the metal-thingee-that-sticks-out-when-you-turn-the-doorknob to actually go into the frame-hole-for-the-metal-thingy. I want the door to “click” by just pushing it closed.
So I’ve been filing the door frame away to allow the door to close completely. Goodbye, 1950s wood stain / white paint. I can’t imagine going through the wood staining process just to fix the color of the door frame, but maybe we’ll get bored one day.
So while I thought putting this door latch on would be a 10 minute project . . . I’ve already spent 45 minutes filing. I used metal files. I used sandpaper. I used a drill with a sanding attachment. No matter what, you just can’t get into the corners easy! Sandpaper is the only way. Even then, corners are hard. And that’s what’s holding the door back.
It’s 90% better now. I just closed it accidentally for the first time ever while testing it. I need to do another session or two of sanding. Then the door will properly close, and I can base the sliding lock in the right place.
Damn my life can be boring. (more…)
