# What are my options for locking these French doors?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-my-options-for-locking-these-french-doors/854765>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 31, 2020, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-my-options-for-locking-these-french-doors/854765 "2020-05-31T01:48:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-my-options-for-locking-these-french-doors/854765/21 "2020-05-31T16:05:18Z")

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Strong flat magnets at the tops of the doors where they hit the jamb.

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**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-my-options-for-locking-these-french-doors/854765/22 "2020-05-31T17:47:26Z")

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> [@Dag\_Otto](#):
>
> Those are good looking doors. And if your cats are anything like my cat, they won’t abide with a locked door and will scratch the living hell out of them trying to get in.
> 
> Your best bet is to keep a large predator in the study, say a coyote, bobcat, or maybe even a wolf. After a few encounters, the cats will reduce their forays into the study.

Or, once you have resolved the door opening problem, you could mount some nice brass kickplates vertically on the doors next to the opening, which is the place the cats are presumably accustomed to manipulating to get inside. They won’t be able to damage them, and the frustration of wearing out their claws there should soon discourage the activity.

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**Author:** ![Driver8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Driver8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Driver8)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-my-options-for-locking-these-french-doors/854765/23 "2020-06-01T06:12:23Z")

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> [@Nars\_Glinley](#):
>
> I never noticed the uneven handles until I took the picture. I think the problem is that the doors aren’t level. They rub (slightly) on top.

Makes sense. Actually our bedroom doors had that problem too when we first bought the house. You had to push the door up/straight so that the top bolt would latch, otherwise it sagged too much. The problem was simple: someone had screwed the door hinges into the frame with inappropriately small screws for what are relatively heavy solid doors. Appropriate hardware fixed the problem.

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**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\
**Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-my-options-for-locking-these-french-doors/854765/24 "2020-06-02T10:08:14Z")

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> [@needscoffee](#):
>
> Strong flat magnets at the tops of the doors where they hit the jamb.

I think this might be the best option. I believe it would work to stop the cat, and would not deface the door or risk someone getting locked inside.

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