by straightpick » 6 Apr 2009 23:06
Well, Engineer, I'm glad to see that half-ass builders are not confined to the US alone! (although, maybe they have moved to the UK from here) I have seen many questionable installations on new houses, expensive ones at that. One house I went to rekey had three doors right after the main entrance. If you opened the doors and let them go, all the doors would open to the hall, frames not plumb or level, different gaps all along the edges. Why? Because they did not shim the frames before screwing them in. After drilling a strike hole for a deadbolt, saw there was a 1/2" gap between the frame and the stud it was screwed into, making the deadbolt essentially useless as the strike plate was just anchored to the frame instead of the stud behind it. Is it that hard to frame the opening to the correct size?
Another choice practice, having doors that have sidelites on the strike side. Can't anchor a good strike in them because the long screws needed will hit the glass sidelite panels. My favorite is pre-hung units that are either bored for a deadbolt, but don't have the corresponding strike hole bored, or ones that HAVE the deadbolt strike installed, but no deadbolt hole! Glad I have an older house. If you took away their cordless drill, drywall screws and air nailer, most of these "builders" couldn't build a bird house.
