With the price of fuel to heat a house, cottage, chalet or condo one must do everything they can to seal the place "solidly and fully". Every bit of heat that escapes a home or office building is cash leaking out of your real estate. The price of home heating fuel or natural gas may not be at historic highs but that is no excuse to let heat or money fly out of the windows and doors.

One common source of heat loss in homes and businesses that often gets overlooked is doors that sag or will not latch properly. Perhaps the door jam settled in the ground at one time or heaved. Sometimes it's assumed it's just some loose snow or frost in the door jambs so the whole problem is overlooked as temporary. The problem is that the improperly sealed door will continue to ooze out heat and money to you. What to do with doors that will not latch or doors that sag?

Over time it can be said that a door's own weight will have a tendency to make a door want to sag away from the frame at the top hinge. This can result in a door that rubs against the frame at the very top corner or that will not latch properly. As a result the door will not be sealed properly. Air will get in and valuable, expensive heat will escape - heating up the outside air to no avail - all at your cost and peril.

To correct the sag, remove one or two screws that hold the upper hinge to the frame and replace them with two to three inch long screws that will go all the way through the door frame and into the framing wall behind. Drill a pilot hole first to make it easier to install the screw. As the screw is tightened, you should see the entire door frame pull up tight against the wall framing, eliminating the sag and sagging.

Removing the sag in usually enough to correct any problems with the door latching, since it pulls the latch on the door back into alignment with the metal strike plate on the door frame.

However if the door will still not latch, the next step in line is to make an adjustment in that "strike plate". Look for what might be called the "face of the latch". This is the part of the latch that protrudes outwards from the door area. Coat this face of the latch with crayon or in a pinch women's standard lipstick will do the trick. Next slowly close the door. Slow and slowly are the watchwords. When you next open the door again you will see where the crayon or lipstick has transferred markings onto the face plate of the latch. This should give you more than a good idea of how much you will need to move the plate in order to have the latch fully engage it again.

The procedure of this repair is to unscrew the strike plate and use a sharp chisel to mortise the door frame enough to strike plate to move. Next carefully drill each of the old screw holes. Insert a piece of hardwood "dowel". The hardwood "dowel "should be coated with glue. A most important point that many people - including professionals make is not to place a sealing or priming layer of white glue onto the wood dowel surface and let it be for 10 minutes or so. If this is not done, the wood surface of the dowel will quickly absorb most of the white glue allowing for little grip.

Simply allow a thin layer of the white glue to seep in and dry. Then apply the full layer of white glue which will bond and seal the old holes. The screws that you carefully turn into the holes will be in tight - and will not waver or wander with time. Now that this is done, place the strike plate in the adjusted position, drill two new screw holes, reinstall the screws and voila.

Your door or doors should now seal tight. Less air will seep in and heat will be retained in your abode or office. A dollar saved in heating, due to heat loss is more than a dollar earned.