We have a laundry closet with two doors. They used to latch with a spring-loaded mechanism at the top of each door. There are doorknobs, but they’re basically just handles. They don’t turn and don’t control the latch. The mechanisms never worked very well to begin with; you had to use a *lot *of force to get the doors to open and close. But now, they’ve broken entirely. The doors just swing freely, and are always slightly ajar. This has graduated from an annoyance to a problem, now that our toddler has nearly pinched his fingers between them several times.
So I’m trying to figure out what to do about them. Is there a way I can get them to close securely, or should I replace them with something else? Accordion-style doors seem even more prone to finger-pinching, while sliding doors would be a pain when trying to access both the washer and dryer at the same time. I’ve considered just putting up a curtain and calling it a day, although I’m nervous about leaving it totally open and giving the kid access to detergent, a front-loading dryer, and other fun toys.
the closing mechanism (maybe a ball that has a spring pushing it up and a mating recessed hole)
can be replaced if needed. these types of things can maybe be adjusted as well.
the doors may be sagging (loose on hinges) so that the locking ends aren’t as tight to ceiling as they should be to latch.
Yeah, that’s exactly what it was. I kind of hesitate to just replace it with the same thing, because as I said, they didn’t work very well to begin with. The doors had no problem latching; the problem was that they were difficult to open and close. But it wasn’t that they we’re hung too tightly, either. The mechanism was just sticky, and it was very difficult to compress the spring, even when you pressed it down with your finger. I tried oiling them, which didn’t help at all.
And of course, when they broke, the metal ball and the spring popped out and onto the floor, and I just know those would immediately wind up in my kid’s mouth.
But it’s a good thought - maybe I can find a similar mechanism that’s better designed. I’ll look into that, thanks.
there is a style with a roughly U or V spring that mates with a plate with a hump; this was used on kitchen cabinets decades ago (with a right angle mount to accommodate that use). these are easily adjusted to the right tension. find ones that will fit the top of your doors.
those ball ones tend to work well for a short time then something easily throws them out of whack.
I also have this situation with double doors to my laundry room.
The “ball that has a spring pushing it up” mounted in the top of the door is height-adjustable: the cylinder holding the ball has threads on the outside so you can infinitely adjust the height of the ball. I have to adjust mine now and then when they are too high (door won’t close or open easily) or too low (door does not latch).
Check to see if you can turn yours to raise or lower them.
I’d consider embedding a couple of neodymium magnets in the edges of the doors, so that when the doors are closed, the magnets hold them together.
But they’re probably dozens of different types of door catches – just stroll down the appropriate aisle of Home Depot or your local hardware store and you’ll find something.
Good solution, but better is putting the magnets in each door pointing up, and then placing an iron or steel plate in the door frame, right above them. That way each door will operate separately, so you can close one while leaving the other open. Depending on the layout, that may be useful.