Difficult to close door causing wall to weaken

[James8869]

I had some windows and doors fitted in my porch a couple of years ago.

The door catches slightly on the strike plate, so you have to close the door with a bit of force. This seems to have caused the single skin brick wall at the side of the door to crack, and it moves a significant amount when the door is closed with any force.

I was thinking if I modify the strike plate to not have the bit of metal curling around the frame it would allow it to close more easily, not sure if there are any other ways to let the door close easier?

At any rate, it’s always going to slam from time to time and I’m concerned that the movement from this will at best crack any plastering I do, or at worst the small wall will be in danger of collapsing.

I could rebuild the wall stronger, but would be grateful if anyone could give me advice about how feasible either of the below would be, as I haven't fitted a window myself before. Options I was thinking about were:

1. Take wall down, remove the window above the wall and place a full height PVC window there.

2. Take wall down, replace where the wall was with a PVC window with solid panel instead of glazing, leaving existing window above.

Cheers

 

[johnny2007]

You need to identify the point where the door is catching and adjust the hinges accordingly.
If the door is made of wood and has expanded, you'll also need to remove the locking mechanism and shave where necessary.
Then reseal with oil based paint.
It's 2 years old, didn't they give you any warranty?

 

[crank39]

Its a composite door not wood, my guess is its slightly set too far over to the locking side with the hinges so even if you push the handle down to retract the latch when locking the brush pile fur is still rubbing too much for a smooth shutting door, that said even locking smoothly theres always going to be a degree of whip in that frame so a single skin wall will always fail, advice should have been given by the suveyor or installer.

Looks like it was an existing base so installer unlikely to repair that but they could certainly come and improve the locking under the 10 year guarantee unless adjustments are only covered for 1 year

 

[James8869]

Its a composite door not wood, my guess is its slightly set too far over to the locking side with the hinges so even if you push the handle down to retract the latch when locking the brush pile fur is still rubbing too much for a smooth shutting door, that said even locking smoothly theres always going to be a degree of whip in that frame so a single skin wall will always fail, advice should have been given by the suveyor or installer.

Looks like it was an existing base so installer unlikely to repair that but they could certainly come and improve the locking under the 10 year guarantee unless adjustments are only covered for 1 year

Thanks for your thoughts, I'll try get the window fitter to adjust the door, not too sure on warranties, I'll admit to going with a cheap quote , but everything else he did a great job of. If I can't get in touch or it's not covered it seems like a job I could tackle myself.

Like you say it would be good if they mentioned it when surveying, but to be fair I had a few quotes and nobody did, even the expensive ones.

I was thinking about either rebuilding it as a two skin brick wall to give it some strength, or maybe easier, getting a window with a solid PVC panel rather than glazing and fitting that where the wall is. Only other option would be to replace the window with a full height window, but that does seem a bit wasteful.

Would you have any thoughts on the viability of those, or would it purely come down to personal preference and cost?

Thanks