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We bought our house new and since the house has settled a bit, the doors to our bathroom have become misaligned. Unfortunately, we're beyond our builder walk throughs so we need to fix it ourselves
I've tried tightening up all of the hinges but nothing changed. I thought about moving the strike plate up, but then the bottom screw hole would be over the latch cut out.
What else can I do to re-align these doors?
Add a shim to the bottom hinge on the left side, and to the top hinge on the right side. If not sufficient, add a smaller shim to the middle hinge on each side and a larger shim bottom left and top right.
If that shimming makes the doors not close due to too much contact in the center, deepen the mortise on the top left and bottom right. Shimming is obviously easier so you try that first.
You are seeking to very slightly rotate the doors so that they align.
If the fit to the frame looks dubious for rotating the doors as above, remove the strike, drill out the screw holes, glue in dowels to fill the screw holes and strike hole, wait for the glue to dry, relocate the strike and drill new holes.
Since the strike is not mortised (let in) into the edge of the door, lowering it is the best solution. Moving it down about a 1/4" is about the least you can move it without filling the original screw holes with wood so the newly located screws don't try to go back into the same spot. Drill 1/8" pilot holes in the screw mounting holes after the strike is set in place holding it firmly in place with one hand while starting the pilot holes.I would probably fill the old holes with wooden toothpicks or a pared down stick, cut flush with the door edge just for the ya yas of it anyways....
