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I have an aluminum frame double door. The gap between doors is about 5/8. I use a deadlatch as a lock, since latch isn't long enough, there was used a piece of aluminum bar 3/8 thick as a fixed latch.
Is there a better way to solve this?
Also, I plan to put an electric strike - so if the solution will allow for an electric strike - that's extra bonus.
The aluminum plate that is screwed onto the edge of one of the doors is an acceptable way to provide for the latch catch as long as it works. I do hope that one of the two mating doors has a top/bottom bolt that slides into holes in the top frame and/or the bottom threshold. Without those the center latch securement between the two opposed swinging doors is not robust at all.
The type of installation that you have just does not lend itself to use with most styles of electrical release strike plates. Those generally want to be mounted on the fixed frame part of a door frame and not on the edge of a swinging door. Wiring access is another consideration for placing the electrical release on the fixed frame.
The large gap between your doors will want to be addressed somehow. There is the consideration of heat loss or cooling loss through such a large gap. This may be can be mitigated by installation of an appropriate style of weather strip along the edge of one of the doors. The large gap also seems to indicate that there may have been an improper installation of the doors or that they were not properly adjusted. Sometimes there is room for adjustments depending upon how the hinge pivot side of the door is designed. So you may want to investigate getting the door serviced.
I would not recommend installation of the electrical release catch unless the door configuration was changed. If you really have to go that way you would have to work out a scheme to snake the electrical wires through the internal door structure over to the hinge/pivot side were a flexible wiring coupling can be installed. And if you do this you will also have to make sure that the door with the electrical release catch is equipped with the top/bottom security bolts.
