These Aren't Jim Morrison's Doors

I've found another reason to be less than happy with the doors in the addition that was built for me by Peter LaRoque of LaRoque Construction in Mocksville, NC. It goes beyond their appearance, about which I've blogged before. Problems have cropped up with the alignment of their latching mechanisms. This issue manifested itself fairly quickly in the Van Gogh bathroom upstairs, and it was addressed as part of a punchlist of items when the bulk of the project was coming to its close back in the early summer. Of course, a close examination of the "fix" shows it was not a classy job; looks a bit butchered, really. The latchplate was moved down, one of the screws is crooked, and the hole looks like it was just dug out a bit more.



As of this writing, two other doors are showing similar problems, again as a result of a misalignment of the latch and the latchplate. This includes the minor issue of the door from the kitchen to the back hallway, and the more major issue of the back door to the parking lot (which occasionally lines up and occasionally does not). Unfortunately, the latter presents a security concern, because people leaving the house via the back door don't have the means to lock the deadbolt, and I've now discovered several times that the back door is unsecured and, on two occasions, even standing partially ajar.

Another door that is not functioning all that well is the swinging door into the kitchen. For the first several months after the addition was substantially completed, that door was mostly propped open, so its sturdiness and operability wasn't much tested. But, in trying to correct the issues in the design of the HVAC system, and the separation of the kitchen into a separate zone, it now becomes necessary to maintain that door in the closed position. Unfortunately, with using it regularly, the door keeps jumping off its top docking rod, so a solution for it will also have to be uncovered.