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I recently had a new front door installed and the installer also installed a new doorknob handleset (it's a Schlage F60 V CAM 619 ACC).

The new door is weather and impact resistant so it opens out and has some weather stripping to seal it firmly.

Detailed steps to reproduce my problem:

  1. Stand outside with door properly closed and the deadbolt locked
  2. Depress the thumb piece fully

At this point, the door jumps as if it's about to swing open toward you, makes a thud, and is only stopped by the deadbolt being contained within its strike plate. The latchbolt is no longer contained within its strike plate.

It seems to me that a storm/impact should not be prone to movements like this. I'm thinking that debris could hit the thumb piece during a storm and compromise the seal (you never know).

We've all probably seen and used doors like this. My question is whether this is correct or proper? Should I have the installer fix this? Should it simply be a matter of moving back the deadbolt's strike plate (towards the interior) to prevent the wiggle room after the thumb piece is depressed?

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    If you would move the deadbolt's strike plate back, you might have trouble with the deadbolt operation. To avoid the jolt when unlocking, just unlock the deadbolt first.
    – Jim Stewart
    Commented Apr 28, 2017 at 10:42
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    Over time the door seal will probably reduce in thickness and resistance to compression, and this should reduce the jump. If the jump does not decrease with time, then that would implicate the hinges. But maybe some modern weatherstripping seals well, but is soft. Is it possible to easily remove the weather sealing? If so, you could remove it temporarily and see if the springiness remains.
    – Jim Stewart
    Commented Apr 29, 2017 at 11:07
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    @cfx Did you figure it out ?
    – Ken
    Commented Apr 30, 2017 at 20:03

2 Answers 2

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There is always a little difference where the strike catches and the deadbolt hits the edge of the keeper. If there wasn't, the deadbolt would be difficult to latch. The weatherstripping needs to be compressed when the latch sets into the strike allowing the room needed to let the deadbolt engage easily. When the latch is depressed, and the door releases the little bit that it does, the weatherstripping should still be compressed enough to do its job.

FWIW, the odds of a limb hitting the thumb latch and creating a problem by doing so is very improbable, in my opinion.

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  • And if the OP is still concerned about the improbable press of the thumb piece they could determine to replace the door knob with one that requires a hand turn !!!
    – Michael Karas ♦
    Commented Apr 28, 2017 at 5:14
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While I would consider Jacks answer a pretty good answer for the most part - the part of your post that speaks to me is :

"the door jumps as if it's about to swing open toward you, makes a thud"

I am thinking the door framing is not properly done - so the hinges have force behind them like a spring - I have experienced this with one door in particular before. The Framing is probably angled ever so slightly on one end. I am guessing that originally your previous door was probably opening inward and so the installer had some trouble when they placed the new frame.

I am not sure where you are in the world that you are concerned with wind and impacts that you desire the outward opening door - maybe South Florida or Tornado Alley.

Pro's and Con's Outward opening door.

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  • Was this a prehung door? Presumably even if the framing is a little off plumb the installer would shim the jamb so that the door and jamb are plumb, square and straight?
    – Jim Stewart
    Commented Apr 29, 2017 at 0:05
  • @JimStewart - you would think square and straight would be done. I did make the assumption the door framing was replaced - because he said the new door opens out (change of direction). So I conferred from that statement it was a new frame too - might be a bad assumption on my part. Either way though - it is possible the door is not square and so he has that 'spring' action. I have had one prehung do this exact same thing .
    – Ken
    Commented Apr 29, 2017 at 6:41
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    I installed some expensive solid oak doors with 3/4" or 7/8" thick oak jambs. These jambs were so stiff that they could not develop waves and twists in them even though the 2x4 framing of the rough opening (bedroom doors) was crooked, out of plumb, and twisted. A competent carpenter might have done some surgery on that framing, but I didn't know how to do that. Later I got some less expensive oak veneer doors with soft wood jambs. Trying to install these in the same type of rough openings was a nightmare for me. I had one door that was springy; I finally got it to just barely tolerable.
    – Jim Stewart
    Commented Apr 29, 2017 at 10:50

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