Door latch or lock for HFGH 10x12 sliding doors?

12 years ago

IÂve read comments about latches people installed on their Harbor Freight 10x12 sliding doors. (I think I remember Gardenerwantabe mentioning a gate latch of some type?)

My HF doors slide great, but no matter what I do to adjust them, they close with a small gap. Small at the top, but nearly Â¼" at the bottom.

{{gwi:307694}}

I read about people closing this gap with weatherstripping or door gasket, so we bought some Â¼" door gasket and screwed it to both doors. Well, my doors slide so easily that it just moved the doors the same Â¼" apart. I have the same gap, now nicely lined with $7 of white door gasket. Back to the drawing board.

My current solution is a clamp. Actually it works great, it compresses the gasket we installed so we have a complete seal from top to bottom now. And, itÂs strong so I know it won't blow open.

{{gwi:307695}}

IÂd like to replace this with something that could be locked if we travel, and something that will pull the doors together tightly to close the gap. What have you folks installed? Any photos? Thanks in advance,

Sheri

Comments (38)

Sort by:Newest

solar_gh
12 years ago
Glad to help out my GH friends.

Ron
mudhouse_gw
12 years ago
Barb, I had the same thought! I like the simple style too...they fit right in. Thanks for the pictures, solar gh.
Sheri
Related Discussions
Am I CRAZY?: Convert 2nd Level Sliding Glass Door to Picture Windows?
Q
Comments (17)
We have same scenario as well. In the end we decided to replace the slider with a new slider -- same size. I loved the idea of window with awning style windows on the bottom... but I decided with our narrow cat walk that it was a hazard to have them open on the outside as someone would walk into them accidentally and they would be low enough to easily overlook that they are open. I also considered removing this section of cat walk, but decided that it was the strong horizontal that lends character and period style to the house and so we kept the catwalk. One other consideration that we worked into the thought process, was if we had removed this section of cat walk it would allow more light into the downstairs rooms. Light is precious in our house, as the property is heavily treed. But in the end, for our house we choose to go with a replacement sliding door, and the steel cable system for railings so we can better see the view from inside and to keep the catwalk. Also renewed with new decking.
...See More
Sliding door or French door?
Q
Comments (9)
Hey there! Always know that there is never a RIGHT answer…but one can be more beneficial to your circumstance. Some things to consider: With French Doors you have to always concern yourself with the actual swing of the door, and how much they’re falling into the room. With that, you run the risk of doors like that flying into the room, for those who may be in a rush, etc—possibly hitting something in its path. And like someone said above, splitting this into two doors (at 48"W ea) is quite wide for one door, depending on height. But, personally, I love the look, especially if your home could use the wood details that generally act as the frames to the glass. These are generally best for traditional homes. With sliders, you get a more modern/updated feel, especially at the width you're working with. I like the fact that they don’t interrupt the interior/exterior spaces, and they’re generally great for noise control…along with being quite silent when trying to get in and out. Also, with these, you can get some great window treatments, if preferred, that can cover the entire doors, without concerning yourself with the swing getting in the way—but this is mainly a concern for the interior aesthetic. I hope that helps.
...See More
Totally anal pocket door question
Q
Comments (23)
Check out Johnson Hardware for real quality pocket door hardware. There is a big difference between a cheap (they sell those too at HD so be careful) set up and a son close soft open kit. Pocket doors bang open and close and always seam to be left open because of this. The soft open and soft close eliminate this as it works like a kitchen drawer with soft close. The door will almost always be closed against the jamb. You will se light without the channel but the channel also allows for the misalignment of the door to jamb to be covered. Doors warp and walls are NEVER 100% dead on so without it one portion of the door always hist the jamb first. With the soft stop it stops the door before hitting the jamb but variances between the two will always show and be compounded when the light is on. Of course your contractor could scribe the door to the jamb but not many are that caring about their work. LOL!!! I have a kit sitting in shop in SOCAL if you need one from an unused project. They work great!! We went barn door and regret it every single day I hear that stupid thing bang and see into my bathroom.
...See More
Dutch door: security
Q
Comments (7)
Locks keep honest people out. The truly determined dishonest person will get in despite your efforts. have you considered adding a deadbolt to the door in a low position on the door? It becomes much more difficult to turn a knee level latch on a door when reaching through a waist high window. Additionally, that door becomes much more difficult to force when there are two latching points far apart. I have seen various versions of slide bolts on my travels. Some of them are separate items either individually or placed one at the top and the bottom of the door. I have also seen one that was a three pronged lock where the user turned a knob which slid rods into spaces in the jab at the top, bottom and side of the door. My french doors have heavy brass levers top and bottom which must be completely unlatched for the door to open. If the level is just pushed partway, it is heavy enough to fall back into closed position. A similar mechanism is a self closing gate latch. Both of those systems are only for doors which are used for exits since there isn't an exterior key.
...See More
rosepedal
12 years ago
Awesome handles. Sherry we can put a chain with a lock. Too easy to do. No holes to drill. Solar thank you for the idea......... Barb
C Schaffner
12 years ago
solar gh, Love the handles. Hmmmm, I'm going to Lowes this morning. I might have to look around.
solar_gh
12 years ago
Here are my handles acquired from some previous project

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:307704}}
gardenerwantabe
12 years ago
I don't have weatherstripping on the door panels but since aluminum is such a good conductor I covered my doors with the good bubble Insulation from Charlie's.

Their is not room on the inside door needs to open so I put it on the outside.

I live in Northern Indiana and it gets cold here so I have mine well insulated.
C Schaffner
12 years ago
I couldn't figure out how to put weatherstripping aroung the door panels, since the panels are in tracks. If you figure it out let me know.
gardenerwantabe
12 years ago
Out of all the things that I had to modify the doors were about the only thing that lined up.

Mine has no gap top or bottom they fit good.
mudhouse_gw
12 years ago
My threshold has been tripped over, banged with ladders, and kicked so many times I doubt that's the secret, but just in case I'll go kick it a few more times. ;-)
jba3fan
12 years ago
I think maybe my luck of the doors closing has been because of all the triping over the threshold to get it "Just Right"
mudhouse_gw
12 years ago
Rosepedal, regarding my original lock question...I'm going to keep thinking about that, but as of today no decision. I think drilling two holes in the door flanges and inserting a padlock is the simplest way to add a lock, but I want to be sure (it's hard to undrill holes.) Rest assured I'll post back to this thread down the road if DH and I come up with a lockable latch. :-)
Sheri
solar_gh
12 years ago
I just recently put horizontal handles on the doors but it is raining here (YEAAA) so I might melt if i go outside to take a pic! :-) Will get a pic up later.
mudhouse_gw
12 years ago
jba3fan, I'm really jealous your doors lined up so perfectly parallel. We finagled ours around for HOURS and decided there was no way to get rid of that &*(*%@! gap at the bottom! Wonder what I did (or did not do) in the assembly to cause that gap. Next time I will hire you to do the door frame.

I ALSO missed putting the panel clips on the doors for a while. One day I was looking at the last page in the manual for something else, and I thought, "hey, what are all those little X's on the doors for??" Scrambled out there and popped them in! You're right, there's always something.

Rosepedal, I'd do what the others did and use self-stick weatherstripping on your doors, instead of the door gasket you need to attach with screws like in my photos above. We were concerned the self-adhesive stuff would not stick well for a long time, but now I think it's a better way to go. Looks better too. Just be sure to check your outer door edges as well, where the black rubber gasket meets the door frame, to see if you also need weatherstripping there like I did. No point in fixing the one center gap if it only opens up two gaps on the sides, LOL. I am happy with mine now, it's all snug.

BTW if you are waiting for me to figure out how to get rid of the gap at the bottom...my solution is buy a clamp! If you figure it out, let me know! Or, you, Pelicanhead, and I all need to go inspect jba3fan's greenhouse to find his secret... :-)
Sheri
rosepedal
12 years ago
LOL I am blind as a bat..... It made me think about putting handles on the doors. Jba3fan your lucky with your doors fitting. Good idea about insulation too..... Sherry where are you when I need you........ How do I do it....
jba3fan
12 years ago
Wow pelicanhead I didn't even think of putting clips on the doors.....now I am going to have to stick some insulation behind the panals too.. Man its a never ending thing with these things!
C Schaffner
12 years ago
Rosepedal, If you mean my pic, Those are the clips that hold in the panels. I saw that picture and I was thinking "Where did those handles come from"? Then I realized it was the clips.
I get all my stuff from HD. We have one a block from our house.
The gasket is a rubber tube thing and it's self stick. My husband is a perfectionist and he put them on. I would have had them all crooked.
jba3fan
12 years ago
I didn't have ya'lls problem with my doors getting sealed tight. With a little fenagling they aligned up nice and even.

{{gwi:307713}}

I used the 3/16th by 3/8th inch weather striping on both doors. One strip to the ouside and on the other door to the inside. The doors didn't become spaced any wider apart then what the screw heads would have already caused.

{{gwi:307714}}
{{gwi:307715}}
rosepedal
12 years ago
Nice handles. Bet you been told that before LOL Actually I do like them. Where did you buy your stuff at? I still havent fixed the doors waiting for sherry to figure out for me. hehe
gardenerwantabe
12 years ago
Been so long since I bought my weatherstripping that I'm not sure where I got it but I think it was Lowe's.
Mine is 1/2" thick with adhesive on one side.
It was installed in Jan. 06 and still holding good.
mudhouse_gw
12 years ago
Pelicanhead, that gasket looks nice. Is it the type that adheres with self-adhesive? I might keep it in mind for the future, if I can find it at my HD. Thanks for posting your photos.
C Schaffner
12 years ago
Here's a pic of my gasket. But you are right Rosepedal. There is still a gap at the bottom.

{{gwi:156429}}
{{gwi:307712}}
jba3fan
12 years ago
The lock is also a good idea to keep the 20 somthing year old kids who are still living at home out of it and their ideas of growing their own... ummm I will just leave it at that.
gardenerwantabe
12 years ago
I agree...if anyone wants to get in, a screwdriver would do it. The best hope for the sight of a lock would be to deter kids from mischief, or to convince a lazy thief to choose another target with an open door
BINGO
mudhouse_gw
12 years ago
I agree...if anyone wants to get in, a screwdriver would do it. The best hope for the sight of a lock would be to deter kids from mischief, or to convince a lazy thief to choose another target with an open door.
solar_gh
12 years ago
Locking my gh would be like locking a convertible, seem to me. I could be into it in one knife swipe so it will keep the honest people honest
mudhouse_gw
12 years ago
Thanks Gardenerwantabe, I will check for that type of latch.

The leaks are fixed. ItÂs a balancing act. As you said, Gwantabe, too much weatherstripping to close the center door gap will increase the gaps between the black rubber gasket and frame on the outside edges of the doors.

After installing and uninstalling weatherstripping on both doors to try different things, what worked best for me is:
Â¼" white rubber door gasket on ONE door, attached with small screws, as shown here:
{{gwi:307697}}

And, Â¼" thick closed cell stick-on weatherstripping on the aluminum frame, behind the black rubber gasket, on both outer door edges. (The closed cell weatherstripping supposedly wonÂt absorb rainwater like the open cell foam stuff. But in an ice storm, all bets are off.) On my doors, I found I had to do this on both sides to totally close the air gaps behind the black rubber gaskets.

I didnÂt have to remove the doors to apply this. I was able to pull the black rubber gasket back with one hand, and stick the weatherstripping to the frame behind it with the other hand. As you can see, I went right over the panel clips.
{{gwi:307698}}

For niggly fine tuning, I added a very small 1/8" thick closed cell foam weather stripping to the center gap on the other door, shown here. This closed down the last hairline air gap I had when the doors were clamped shut, but it didnÂt mess up my good seals on the black gaskets on the outer door edges.
{{gwi:307700}}

When the doors are clamped shut, I can wiggle the center door frame, and nothing moves. No play whatsoever, no more air leaks.

When the doors are unclamped, I still have a bigger gap at the bottom than I do at the top (like you, Barb.) I guess the overhead door frame sags just enough to make this happen? But if I place my clamp below center on the door frames, I get a good seal from top to bottom.
{{gwi:307702}}

My question about a lockable latch still isnÂt solved, but for now the clamp works since itÂs simple and strong. Now that my two center door frame flanges are closer together, it would be even easier to just drill two holes through the door flanges and insert a padlock, as Laserfan suggested, if I can't figure out a lockable latch.

This thread has been worth it to me anyway, just to discover and fix the darned gap problem! Thanks!
Sheri
gardenerwantabe
12 years ago
SHERI You could check some place like a tractor supply maybe they would have a latch like that.
They are on those large tool boxes like you see in pickup trucks.
Any cam over latch would work if it did not have a hook on the end just heat it and bend it.
This type of latch allows you to lock the GH.
GOOD LUCK
mudhouse_gw
12 years ago
About the latch:
busy1, you and I are on the same wavelength, I have also looked at springs. I thought about bungy cords too, but could only find the long ones, I thought short would be better...still kicking that around too. I thought my doors fit well until Gardenerwantabe's post prompted me to go out there and check the sides! Ack!

Gardenerwantabe, I see how your latch works, and I think I see how you modified it. The adjustable bolt part is great. I have not seen that type of latch anywhere, even to ask my husband to tweak. (I showed him the photos but I notice he is not leaping into action yet.) I'm going to keep looking for something that seems right, and I'll think about what you did there. This thread is helping me consider a lot of ideas.

About the weatherstripping:
I do understand exactly what you're saying in your first paragraph about where to apply the weatherstripping, and how it affects the gap in various places. I will go fiddle with that today. Thanks again for your observations.

Here's a secret. In reality we wives know you guys are often right, but the sad truth is we need to pretend you're never right, since most of you good men have the attitude that you're always right. Reeling you in a bit is just our way of taking good care of you. Grin. ;-)

Off to fiddle with doors. I will post back what I figure out!
Sheri
gardenerwantabe
12 years ago
SHERI Can I show my wife your last post ???
she thinks I'm never right..
Here is the modified tool box latch you can see that the piece that hooks on the door is on a bolt just screw it in or out to set the right tension on the door.
The hook will fit in the grove on the door.
Take a look at your door and you will see what I'm talking about.. Had 80 mph wind but it did not open the door.

Here is a link that might be useful: Photos of Latch
gardenerwantabe
12 years ago
Sheri
I only put weather stripping on one side of the frame.
If you put weatherstripping on both sides that will spread the doors apart too much.
I put weatherstripping on one door at the middle pull that door over until it seals in the back now install a piece on the back side of the other door frame so when that door is pulled tight against the other one it is sealed at the back.
This will result in the doors being 1/4" off center when closed but it is not noticeable.
You could use a piece on both side behind the door but then you would need a lot to fill the gap in the center.

This is hard to explain. If you are not following me let me know and I Will try to explain it again.
Their are several ways to latch the door but the way I did mine is adjustable it is strong looks much better than clamps or springs and it remains on the door while open so you don't need to look for your latch when you need it.
I bought mine at a surplus store for 50 cents.
I had to modify it some but it was easy.
oldbusy1
12 years ago
how about a stainless spring with a hook and eye of some sort.less technical would be a bungy cord.

I have the same problem with mine but i have a gap on the edges without weatherstrip installed in the middle. I can get one side to seal but the other will have a gap. my doors just dont fit anyway you try.
mudhouse_gw
12 years ago
Gardenerwantabe, I just went outside in the dark and felt both of the outer edges of my doors, where the black rubber gasket is. You are RIGHT. Adding the two pieces of white 1/4" gasket where the doors meet did close that center gap, but now I have a good 1/4" gap between the black rubber door gasket and the door frame, on both sides. Uh oh.

But, before I applied my white door gasket pieces, the doors did not meet in the center... even when they were pulled tight so the black rubber gasket did touch the door frame on both sides. So, tomorrow I will unscrew my white door gasket from one door, as you said. Hopefully the remaining gasket on the other door will still fill that darned central gap between the doors.

Then, if necessary, I'll take off the doors (one or both) and apply gasket or weatherstripping to the frame, as needed, so the black rubber gasket will come in contact with something when the doors are closed.

Thank you for pointing this out, I did totally miss it.

I would LOVE to see a photo of your latch, when you have time. I cannot figure out how to make a latch that is adjustable, which would be great, so I can pull the doors tightly together with the right amount of pressure to compress my remaining door gasket in the center.

Here is a photo of a latch I bought. It does have a place for a padlock, but after I took it out of the package (of course) I realized that it would not apply any pressure to pull the two doors together. (You can see what I mean if you click on it.) Back to the drawing board.

{{gwi:307696}}

I really appreciate your help.
Sheri
gardenerwantabe
12 years ago
This photo don't really show the latch very well but if you look closly you can see the little padlock.
I will try to get a close up and post in a couple days.

Their are a few things you people are overlooking.

The end of the doors have a rubber flat when the door is closed the flaps seal on the frame.

Adding a seal in the middle will cause air gap at the ends of the doors.

Do not use the cheap soft porous foam buy good weather stripping place one on the end of one door to seal the middle.

I removed the door and put a strip on the framing this allows the flap to seal air tight on the ends as well as the center.

The latch that I built is adjustable so as to put just the right amount of pressure on the weather stripping and it uses a small padlock for security when I'm not home.
I will get some photos and more detailed explanation if anyone wants it.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:296840}}
mudhouse_gw
12 years ago
Yeah Barb, no way am I going to live with that big a gap between the doors! In addition to the heat loss, I don't like the idea of a strong wind being able to possibly push the doors apart in a storm.

Laserfan, I remember your adventures with the doors freezing shut, but I didn't think about the role the gasket played. I will keep that in mind.

If I can get brave enough about drilling the holes in the right place to install a screen door hook (like John) so the tension is just right, I could couple that with two drilled holes for a padlock, as you said.
laserfan
12 years ago
>My current solution is a clamp. Actually it works great, it compresses the gasket we installed so we have a complete seal from top to bottom now.

mudhouse our solution is down&dirtier yet--a simple Paper clamp! Two thoughts:

1. Our gasketing resulted in a mess when we had an ice storm. Maybe the doors would have frozen together anyway, but the foam material I'd used sorta grabbed the water and the doors were frozen shut. Only a problem cuz we needed to get in their to re-light the gas heater!!! :(

2. For a lock, how about just drilling holes thru the flange and hooking a padlock thru them.
jbest123
12 years ago
The door didn'y fit eather on HF I had. I used a screen door hook and that pulled the door against the weather stripping.

John
rosepedal
12 years ago
Sherry we have identical doors. Engineering flaw on HF part. Small gap at top and 1/4 " at the bottom. LOL Maybe when we get lock ideas it will help. I hate to think of all that heat leaving the gh esp in this zone. Hurts the pocketbook. Ouch! Although my renter (chippie) can get out of the gh now. He is living under my potting bench. He is actually quite cute and is getting used to me. It is like having a new pet to take care of. Barb
C Schaffner
12 years ago
We put this grey rubber strip that you put on both doors and it closed the gap. We got it at home depot by the weather stripping. I'll post pics tomorrow.

Door latch or lock for HFGH 10x12 sliding doors?

Comments (38)

Related Discussions