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Handyman Door Repair Of A T-Astragal

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If you look at a set of double doors, you will see a piece of molding right in the middle of them. This molding is called a T-astragal and attaches to the stationary door. It acts as a strike jamb for the swinging door to close into. On interior door sets, there is no weatherstripping, but on exterior doors, there is a groove in the T-astragal for weatherstripping to seal out the elements.

In my handyman experience, it is the interior door sets that have the T-astragal damage. Interior T-astragals are typically made of wood and someone will impact it and cause it to chip or split.

There are many types of T-astragals. Some doors need to be rabbeted to accept the T-astragal, but most modern doors do not. They can be pried off and replaced with a new one. They typically have to be ordered and once they arrive, they can be cut to length. Once the length is right, they can be glued and nailed to the edge of the door and painted.

The body of the T-astragal is fairly thick, so it can be mortised for the door latch. Since the T-astragal is mounted on the stationary door, the door knob and latch on the swinging door need somewhere to latch into. Once the astragal is mortised, a strike plate is secured to it and the doors will then close and latch together.