Q. We have a Victorian built circa 1884. Some of the inside doors won’t stay closed. Most of the doors, when closed, you cannot push them open. These are old doors with skeleton-key locks. Is there anything we can do to fix them?

GAYLE H. EDSON, Wakefield

A. A carpentry question — love this! Don’t you just love old houses? My house is circa 1863, but I have new doors; I couldn’t take it anymore!

The problem usually is with the position of the strike plate on the doorjamb. My guess is that the door just barely catches the latch because the gap between the door and frame is too big. Assuming it was properly installed, the door can become out of alignment because of movements of the wood, settling, loose hinges, and overzealous door trimming or planing.

Assuming I’m correct and the door-latch gap is too big, there are some DIY things you can tackle. Try these options:

(1) Tighten the screws in the door hinges with a screwdriver. Loose hinges are a common cause of latch misalignment.

(2) With the door closed, check the reveals on all sides of the door. The reveal is the gap between the door and the door frame. If the gap is uneven or large in one area and tight in another, your house may have settled and you may need to trim the door or shim the hinges. You should have a 3/16-to-1/8-inch gap on all sides, especially the latch side.

Unscrew the “leaf,’’ or side, of the hinge that is fastened to the jamb. Try inserting a 1/16-inch-thick cardboard strip (I use the back of legal pads) between that hinge and the jamb. Screw the leaf back into place. This will widen the gap along the hinge side and narrow the one along the latch side. The goal is to move the door toward the latch, enough to make the latch catch and hold.

(3) Check the strike plate and examine the wear marks here and on the door frame. This can tell you whether the striker is misaligned. For a slight misalignment, make the strike-plate hole bigger with a file or Dremel tool. For a larger one, you’ll need to reposition the strike plate. If everything lines up and there’s still a gap between the door and the frame, then reposition the strike plate closer to the latch by inserting a wooden shim behind the strike plate.

TIP: This is something I learned a long time ago, probably from the Globe’s late Handyman on Call, Peter Hotton. To determine the position of the latch relative to the strike plate, cover the strike plate with masking tape, apply lipstick to the latch’s barrel, and close the door. When you open the door, you’ll see the mark the latch barrel made on the tape. Use this mark to determine which way to move the strike plate, widen the strike plate hole, or shim the hinges.

If you need to relocate the strike plate: Chisel out the hole in the direction in which you need to move it using a sharp chisel and a hammer. Set the strike plate back into position and mark the positions of the screw holes with a pencil. Drill a 1/8-inch pilot hole on each mark, then screw the strike plate to the jamb.

(4) With a level, check the door frame for settling and to see whether it is plumb. Put a level on each side of the jamb and note which way it’s leaning. If you can correct it by shimming out the bottom, pry the bottom out with a pry bar, insert cedar shims behind the jamb to plumb it, and nail the jamb back to the framing.

This can become a more involved process that sometimes requires completely removing the door trim and door and resetting the door frame. This is best left for a carpenter or a skilled DIYer.

Rob Robillard is a general contractor, carpenter, editor of AConcordCarpenter.com, and principal of a carpentry and renovation business. Send your questions to homerepair@globe.com or tweet them to @robertrobillard.