Daily Home Renovation Tips

In Part 8 we outlined the how we needed a solution that would keep the French Door open and secure when we wanted to use our new retractable screens to provide greater air ventilation in our home. Right now there was nothing to prevent a gentle breeze from moving the open door up against the porch light and brick of the outside wall, or back into the door frame.

The solution was a 6 inch Stanley Hook & Eye latch (for indoor or outdoor use) plus clear silicone caulking. The ‘hook’ is the 6 inch long steel/zinc plated metal in the package below.

We decided that would would install the ‘eye’ of the Hook & Eye latch into the lower right corner of the outside part of the door. This way, when ever the door would open and close the ‘hook’ part would not be dragging on the deck floor.

The package calls for a 11/64 inch drill bit. Well, we tried this on the door but found the hook would not enter the guide / pilot hole. So I tried again with a 13/64 inch drill bit which worked much better.

Yes in the picture below you see two holes. Again, I’m not a professional. I forgot to measure twice and cut once. So, the first hole I drilled was too high for the hook to have the proper angle when being placed into the ‘eye’.

Now, you don’t want to drill the guide / pilot hole too large as you want the eye part to remain fixed. So, even using the 13/64 inch drill bit still resulted in a very tight fit. In order to turn the eye piece I had to use some leverage. What you see in the picture below is a long metal screw bit for the drill being used to turn the eye piece in the door.

Then I positioned the door to find the precise location where best the install the ‘hook’ so it would fit securely into the eye of the latch. I found just the spot where the deck plank was supported by a vertical support 2 X 6 beam.

Once this was done I then opened the door to see if it worked.

Excellent! If you look closely at the eye in the door you will see that it is angled slightly towards the left, i.e. in the direction of the hook. This allows the hook to fit securely into the eye so the door will not move by a breeze in either direction.

 Where did I use the clear silicone? Well, I used it to plug up the first guide / pilot hole I drilled into the door as well as around the metal eye that was inserted into the door where it met the door.

We are very please with this approach to keeping the door open while we enjoy much improved air ventilation in our home. I also recommend this if you use retractable screen doors at your home or cottage.

To continue to the next article in this series on retractable screen doors, simply select this link to Part 10.