How to Grind a Door's Strike Plate

When a door lock won’t catch or a deadbolt gets hung up on its strike plate, rather than trying to adjust and move the catch or plate itself, you can quickly fix the problem by doing a bit of grinding using a high speed rotary tool. Simply adjusting the plate rarely solves this problem as quite often, repositioning the screws results in multiple holes in the wood and a plate that is poorly secured.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Rotary Tool
• Aluminum Oxide Grinding Stone
• Marker or chalk
• Safety glasses

1. Look closely when you attempt to close and lock the door to identify which part of the mechanism is sticking. You want to be sure of where you need to grind so you don't end up grinding more than you should.

2. Apply chalk or black marker to the strike plate where the bolt is hitting to guide your grinding – this way you will know when you have ground enough material off.

3. With the rotary tool unplugged, attach the Aluminum Oxide Grinding Stone bit.

4. Put on your safety glasses, plug in the rotary tool and position yourself so the grinding sparks will fly away from you.

5. Run the tool at a mid to high speed to slowly grind away the obstruction. Be careful to always move in a clockwise direction. Make sure to let the speed of the tool do the work for you and follow the guideline you marked earlier.

6. After grinding away the marked area of the strike plate, close the door so you can check to see if the deadbolt closes and holds properly. If more grinding is required, mark the area that needs shaved and continue until the door locks easily.

Tips & Warnings

• For tips, tricks, and safety info consult your tool's manual.
• Always wear eye protection when grinding metal.

Resources

• Dremel Rotary Tools