Need to move strike plate, door frame mangled

[Mander]

My bathroom door doesn't close properly and I finally investigated why last night. The issue seems to be that the strike plate was far too low and the latch wasn't actually engaging. Easy enough to fix except that where the screws should go to hold the strike plate has been thoroughly chewed up and there's very little wood left to screw into.

My first thought was match sticks and glue but that won't really work since there isn't anything to wedge them into. So my other ideas are: chisel out a bigger hole and glue in a block of wood, or get a longer screw and pack the hole with something to stop it from wobbling around (paper and glue? A bit of wine cork?). The door frame is quite thin so there isn't much wood to work with.

Alternatively, drill holes in the corners of the strike plate and attach it that way (does anyone sell ones like that?).

Suggestions?

 

[opps]

Can you not just drill and insert/glue wooden dowels and then cut the excess of the dowels away?

 

[Mander]

Can you not just drill and insert/glue wooden dowels and then cut the excess of the dowels away?

No, because the bottom edge of the hole where the screw should go is just empty space. There isn't anything to wedge the dowel into in the normal way. Though perhaps I could drill a bigger hole and try inserting a dowel that way.

 

[opps]

No, because the bottom edge of the hole where the screw should go is just empty space. There isn't anything to wedge the dowel into in the normal way. Though perhaps I could drill a bigger hole and try inserting a dowel that way.

Ok, I see what you mean. There are a number of ways of sorting it out. You could glue a block in but as you seem to be suggesting, you would need to enlarge the hole to fit a block that would not immediately split. An alternative is to insert a dowel at the bottom and once cut flush, pack it out with 2 pack filler.

In a domestic setting, the strike plate is not under a lot of duress.

 

[Mander]

I'm thinking the block might be the best solution, then drill a pilot hole. Possibly the dowel would work but the frame is quite narrow and I'm not sure how much wood is actually left to drill into, but I could make a block that I could wedge in from the bottom.

 

[opps]

I'm thinking the block might be the best solution, then drill a pilot hole. Possibly the dowel would work but the frame is quite narrow and I'm not sure how much wood is actually left to drill into, but I could make a block that I could wedge in from the bottom.

Kool... just make sure that you do pilot drill first. A small block is likely to split other wise.