4 Ways To Quiet A Door Latch
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A noisy door can be aggravating, so it’s no surprise if you want to silence it. Fortunately, several measures can help you reduce the noise that your door makes when you open or close it.
If your door latch is noisy, it probably does not have enough lubrication. Another reason is that the latch and plate do not align. To quiet a door latch, you can:
- Apply lubricant
- Individually lube up the doorknob’s parts
- Use a door cushion silencer
- Adjust the metal plate
Knowing how to silence your door latch is one thing. However, the best thing you should always do is prevent the problem before it even occurs.
Also read: How to Stop a Door from Squeaking
How To Quiet A Door Latch
The thing about a noisy door latch is that it can turn your quiet time to irritation in a matter of seconds. That can be annoying, especially if you are in a meeting and your roommate opened the door, which resulted in so much noise.
Moreover, a noisy door latch can be a result of different door issues. But you can experiment with various solutions to fix them.
1. Apply lubricant to the latch
If your doorknob is squeaky when you are turning it, the culprit is the dry metals clanking together. Another reason can be a rusty door latch.
The easiest way how to quiet the door latch is by applying metal lubricant. An oil-based product, such as WD-140, will allow you to fix your noisy problem.
Spray the door latch lubricant onto your doorknob as you turn the handle. The lubricant will work its way into the internal part of your doorknob. Additionally, using a spray lube will work best as it is easy to apply inside the doorknob.
Moreover, the lubricant will remove any gunk, grease, and other sticky stuff from the door latch. It also removes excess moisture and lubricates the stuck parts to prevent them from making noises.
2. Disassemble and lube up the parts individually
If lubricating the door latch from the outside did not work, you should try cleaning and lubricating the parts individually. The debris that the doorknob parts accumulated could be causing the noise.
So, it would be best if you got a piece of cloth to remove them.
After cleaning all the pieces, lubricate them one by one. Next, reassemble them and see if the latch will still make noises. Most of the time, this step solves is the answer on how to quiet door latch.
3. Use a door latch cover.
Another simple method of stopping your door latch from making noises is using a door latch cover. This material will prevent your door from banging whenever you enter and exit a room.
A door latch cover consists of 100 percent polyester and has fabric material. The thickness is enough to hold your door shut tightly, thus preventing it from banging when you accidentally closed it with force.
If you think that the cover’s sole purpose is to answer your question, “how to silence door latch,” then you should know that it has another use.
It prevents your door from getting locked up from the inside, so you can open it anytime, even when you do not have a key.
4. Realign the metal plate
If you tried lubricating the latch, but the noise persists, there is another way how to quiet the door latch.
The metal plate is the material that is attached to the door frame. As time pass, the metal plate may loosen, which causes misalignment. As a result, the door latch grinds with the metal plate, creating loud noises every time you close the door.
But if you turn the door handle in advance before it even meets the metal plate, you can somewhat avoid making a noise. The reason is that the door latch does not slam against the metal plate.
If lubrication did not solve the noise issue, you could try unscrewing the metal plate from the door frame. You can then adjust the plate properly by raising or lowering it until you get the proper position.
How To Prevent A Door Latch From Making Noises
A noisy door latch can do no good. So, before your door’s lock even starts making annoying noises, you can prevent it through proper maintenance.
1. Inspect the screws, hinges, and metal plates
Your door latch will misalign from the metal plates in the long run. As a result, the latch creates noise whenever you open and close the door. This problem occurs when the screws that hold your door latch’s metal plate in place become loose.
Opening and closing the door becomes noisy when the metal plate does not align with the door lock. Therefore, you need to prevent the strike plate from sagging by using longer screws to provide the necessary support.
2. Examine the deadbolt and deadlatch
If you want to know how to quiet the door latch, you need to test both the deadbolt and the deadlatch of your door lock.
The deadbolt should be able to move freely without you having to pull, push, or lift the door for it to lock. If the deadbolt is scratching against the hole in the door jamb, it can produce noises whenever the door touches the frame.
Meanwhile, the deadlatch, the small plunger located at the flat side of the latch, should connect with the strike plate.
If the deadlatch falls into the strike plate, that is another sign of misalignment, which, as mentioned, is a significant noise source.
3. Clean your door latch
It is not enough that you know how to quiet the door latch. Instead, you need to understand when your door latch needs good cleaning and lubrication.
It would be best if you cleaned your door latch periodically, ideally a few times a year. But if you see that there is significant dirt or dust buildup on your door latch, you need to get a damp cloth or mild detergent and get the cleaning done.
Not cleaning your door latch can cause it to corrode. If that happens, the moving parts may scratch against each other when you open or close your door.
As a result, your door latch may make noises, which can be annoying, especially when trying to sleep.
Another essential part of knowing how to quiet the door latch is how much lubrication you should apply. The lubrication must be enough to reach the inside of your door latch and prevent it from becoming noisy.
Sources
- Bill Varoskovic, How To Make Doorknobs Silent, Hunker, https://www.hunker.com/12002424/how-to-make-doorknobs-silent/
- How To Lubricate A Door Lock, Dummies, A Wiley Brand, https://www.dummies.com/home-garden/home-improvement/doors/how-to-lubricate-a-door-lock/
- Robert Ferguson and Bob Vila, How To: Soundproof A Door, Bob Villa, https://www.bobvila.com/articles/how-to-soundproof-a-door/
- How To Fix A Door Latch, Family Handyman, https://www.familyhandyman.com/project/how-to-fix-a-door-latch/
- Terri Beth Miller, 5 Door Lock Maintenance Tasks You Probably Aren’t Doing, Angi.Com, https://www.angi.com/articles/6-keys-proper-door-lock-maintenance.htm/
