If you have a door problem the troubleshooting should be pretty clear. In this case, the door was hitting the strike plate when it closed. Â This is an easy fix assuming that only the very leading edge is a little too snug. In many cases when the strike plate is installed, it is just surface-mounted to the door jamb. It should be mortised into the jamb so that the entire surface of the strike plate is flush with the surface of the jamb.
If the door otherwise latches properly, the positioning of the strike plate is fine. Draw a fine line around the plate with a sharp pencil and then unscrew the strike plate. Use a sharp chisel and a hammer to remove enough wood so the strike plate sits into the mortise. Lay the chisel back at between 30-45 degrees and start tapping. It’s probably best to tap some vertical lines around the perimeter and then remove wood up to that point. Dry fit the strike plate often to make sure you have removed enough wood so that it sits flush. Be consistent with the angle of the chisel and the force of the hammer blows to get a consistent depth of the cut. Then just screw the strike plate back in.
