Doors and Windows - Need Help! Doors Won't Latch

I'm a newbie when it comes to home improvement, and I need some help. I have a few doors in my home that refuse to latch. If I take off the the strike plate, the doors seem to latch fine, but when I put the strike plate back on, they don't latch. Do I need to shave off more in the mortise to get the doors to latch? Thanks in advance!

Stavs

It would probably be worth your while to check a few simple things before getting out the chisel. Get down on your knees and see if the latch is lined up with the center of your strike plate. If the latch is below center, your door may be sagging. If it is, you should notice that when the door is closed, there is a bigger gap on top of the door on the latch side, and a narrower gap on top of the door on the hinge side. To correct this, take out one of the screws that is in the top hinge (jamb side) and replace it with a long 3" screw. If you tighten it down as tight as you can get it, it will usually raise the door just a tad. It could also be that your house is settling, and one jamb is settling lower than the other. This isn't easy to correct without removing the casing and levelling up the door.

If the latch is lined up with the center of the strike plate, then your latch just isn't going in far enough to click shut. All you need to do is move the door stop a little. Sometimes this can be done by holding a scrap of wood against the door stop and whacking it with a hammer. If needed, you can remove the door stop, shut the door, then reinstall the doorstop. Then the door will close properly before it contacts the stop.

Thanks for the tips. I will give those a shot. I think it probably is the house settling though. My strike plate seems a bit higher than the latch on the one door. I guess it makes for a fun project and a good learning experience :)

Thanks,

Stavs