How to get double front doors to close tight

Advising Elf

I have double front doors on my house, made by Jeld-Wen. The door with the knob and latch does not close tight enough to seal against the weatherstripping in the middle (where the two doors meet). The construction of the door does not allow for changing the horizontal position of the strike plate; there is no way to plug the holes and re-drill in a new place, like you would do for a single door with a wooden frame.

My thought is to add some material to the tab in the strike plate, so the door has to be pushed close farther for the latch to close. However, I don't have a welder, so before I go off and waste a bunch of time with some half-baked methods, I figured I would ask someone else if there is a different tack to take on it.

BTW, adding weather stripping to the moving door is the last resort. The door set has factory-installed weather stripping which is actually quite nice. It slides into slots in the frame and the stationary door. I just want the moving door to seal against it.

Thanks for your help.

DangerMouse

Photos would be a big help here. how old is the door? new install?

DM

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Advising Elf

Pretty straightforward: how to make the door close tighter into the jamb. Installed about 3 years ago. Always had the problem, just lower on the priority list than other things.

Willie T

Are you using an astragal on the 'fixed' door?

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Willie T

SPS-1

I don't understand. Do you mean you have leakage because there is too much gap between the two doors? In the center, my double doors seal on a face-seal, not with weatherstripping between the doors.
--Edit... I did a Google search on Willie's post --- seems what I called a vertical bar is known as an astragal

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Advising Elf

Actually, my problem is with both spacings: the space between the moving door and the "astragal" (who names these things, anyway?) and the spacing between the doors.

The, uh, gentleman who installed all of my doors and trim did less than superior work. Although these double doors were pre-hung, I suspect they were installed improperly and the spacing between the doors was increased somehow.

Over the weekend, I moved the strike plate up top, and the hole in the bottom for the "stationary" door (anyone know the "official" name for that?) so that it closes tighter, but that did almost nothing for the other door. It *did* make the door have better contact with the weather stripping along the top of the jamb, but it may have made the gap with the weather stripping between the doors worse. The only way to change that is to move the strike plate in the "stationary" door, which is not possible.

BTW, SPS-1, your diagram is essentially correct, but you have the inside of the house on the wrong side of the doors. The root of the problem is that the seal is not in the position that you have drawn, but in the corner made by the "astragal-vertical bar-thingy" and the "stationary" door. If the door spacing was closer, it would seal; if the "moving" door closed farther in, it would seal, but not as well.

It looks like the last resort is my only choice. I'll have to stick weather stripping on to the existing weather stripping to bridge the gap. I hate this because I've had bad luck with "stick-on" weather stripping, even the stuff that didn't appear to be cheapo. I may just have to bite the bullet and put something on the "moving" door. I just have to choose what looks the least bad. I'm used to that, though. I vote in every election.

Ron6519

I would do whatever temporary measures you need to do to make the door more weathertight. I would not chisel or cut the door to compensate for an inproper install. When the weather warms up, I would install the door properly and all these issues will go away.
Ron

jlhaslip

can you shim the hinges to get the doors closer together? remove a hinge and place cardboard into the cut-out hinge gains. do 1 at a time. shim both sides of the hinge if required.
how much space is there before the weatherstrip seals?

firehawkmph

I wouldn't recommend this on a newer door like this. Jeldwen builds a decent door and it sounds like a lousy installation. Get somebody over that knows what they are doing and pull the inside molding and reshim the door. Whenever a double door is put in, if it is off by the least bit, it throws the alignment of both doors off. Depending on how the original installer fastened the door jambs, shimming may take care of the problem. If not, then whatever fasteners he used may need to be pulled and start over.
Mike Hawkins

mzova

It doesn't look like anyone has posted in this thread for awhile, but I too am having similar problems. We have a new build (Sept 2012). Front doors are from ODL. We like that the second door is not stationary and we can unlatch it from top and bottom to use. However, I've been hearing wind come from the top of the middle section where the doors meet. Builder sent one of his handy-men whose solution was to put a rubber cut-out on the side door. I've enclosed pictures. It hasn't worked. I still hear and feel the wind coming from the top part of the doors. I've circled it in red. Should I get the builder to come back out and fix this problem? My husband is hesitant as the builder is very slow in responding to our concerns. Is this something we can fix ourselves?

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rossfingal

On your 1st picture -
you've also, got a gap on the door on the right (the handle side) -
I can see light - at the bottom.

"RF"

oh'mike

First thing----put a straight edge on the door and see if the door is warped. (curling in at the top)

Many double doors use adjustable hinges that allow the top to bottom hinge side to move in and out in the door jamb.

Take a picture of your hinges---if you are lucky--that door has them and the solution is simple,

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Canarywood1

On your 1st picture -
you've also, got a gap on the door on the right (the handle side) -
I can see light - at the bottom.

I think that "gap" your seeing is a reflection from the flash of the camera.

mzova

It's the metal sweep on the bottom of the doors.

mzova

Thank you for your reply. Here is the picture of one of the hinges. I do hope the solution is simple.

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