Sticking wooden doors can be easily fixed by following these tips and tricks. To diagnose the problem, close the door and carefully watch it to locate the binding point. If there is a gap between the door and the frame opposite, follow these steps for how to fix a sagging or sticking door without removing the door.
To fix a sticking door, wipe down the door with a dry cloth to remove any dirt or debris that may be causing the problem. The primary tool needed is a screwdriver, which may also need spare screws, oil, paint, or sandpaper depending on the problem.
Tighten all hinge screws and if some of the screws spin, remove them or glue them in something. Rub the problem area with bar soap to reduce friction and allow the door to close more smoothly. Use a dry, moisturizer-free soap that leaves a sticky residue.
If the door is shimmed, pull down the trim and dee. If the hinges don’t fix it, use a hammer to remove it. Apply soap to the specific areas that are sticking and use a dry, moisturizer-free soap that leaves a sticky residue.
Tightening the strike plate and hinges are reliable ways to fix a sticking door. First, identify the problem, lightly oil the hinges, edges, and latch, tighten up the hinges, tighten up the strike plate, and add some soap to the affected areas.
📹 How To Fix A Sticky Exterior Door | 3 Easy Fixes
I will walk you through 3 possible fixes to make your exterior door easy to open and close. If you are a beginner, no problem, as I …
📹 How To Fix A Sagging And Rubbing Door That Won’t Close! 5 Tips & Tricks That Works! DIY Tutorial!
On This episode I’ll be showing you How To Fix A Sagging And Rubbing Door That Won’t Close! 5 Tips & Tricks That Works!
Thank for the article. Bent hinges to move door to hinge jam, but door, still decks in the middle are if jam. On the hinge side it is right to jam. So no more knuckle adjustment. Think I have two choices 1) belt sand the jam on lock side 2) take molding off on Lock jam side and remove some shiim What do you think?? If I get longer screws for the bolt and latch strike plates might that pull the jam away from the door.
I can fix or build most things…however, doors give me hives…when I hear ” Hey Dear, the garage door utility room is sticking again.” There goes my day. It never is something easy dealing with a door. Most help never address my situation because it will always be unique in some way. This time, mine was bending the hinge. This wasn’t suggested mainly because they want you buying new hinges and repairing the door frame from stripped screws – an all day joy, Thank you for keeping it simple. And, if I can get cooperation in relocating the dirty laundry pile farther from the doorway it will eliminate closing towels in it. This will help greatly…let’s see how this fix goes over.
I adjusted my door byremoving screws from lower hinge, jamb side, and putting 2 screws into the jam flush with the jamb, backing them out a few thousantth of an inch, then reinstalling the lower hinge screws. (which now, hinge half does not fit square) it will sqare the door in the frame.if that made the door not square .. you repeat the action adjusting thr screws under the lower jamb hinge. Thanks Henry Loos
For the hinge, would prefer to deepen the top hinge slot on the frame. This will give you the same result, but, you are free to replace with any hinge in the future without having to bend them again. For the top, try driving long wood screws right through the frame to pull it up. Usually that will give you that space you needed. You may need to apply some caulking to hide the crack from that extra space.
Our external condo door to backyard (just like the one in your article example) has the same symptoms where we really have to pull it to open it and “hip check” it to close it fully. It just seemed to start “acting up” over the last couple weeks. It has been humid outside. We have central A/C. I tried tightening the screws on both the door and the jam sides of the hinge, but no improvement. The door appears to be getting “stuck” at the Bottom of the door though, rather than the sides. Without force the door stays open with about a 1/4″ to 1/2″ gap. Beyond that it has to be forcibly closed. I am trying to avoid taking it off the hinges (only as a last resort) as there is no screen/storm door.
Hi, thanks for the amazing article. My issue is the opposite, the locks close well, but I have to push the door in a bit to close it, because it doesn’t close smoothly. I have plenty space at the top of the door, but when I close the door it rub a tiny bit at the bottom. I screwed 3″ screws on the top and middle hinges, but it still not closing smoothly 😭it’s a brand new exterior door. I noticed the door a little tight between the middle hinge and bottom bottom hinge, butfrom the middle to the top hinge space looks good. Any suggestions?
My metal outside door has no space at the top on the door handle side. The deadbolt doesn’t line up without pushing down really hard on the door knob and the door latch doesn’t catch properly. The hing screws are tight. I ordered the fastcap door knuckle to adjust the hinges. Do I bend the two hinge knuckles toward the door?
Hey, just found your website, watched the anti-siphon bib article first. I like how you explain stuff, very easy for me to follow what you are doing and understand it completely. My exterior front door has exact same problem. I knew about checking the screws, but never knew I could tweak the hinge knuckles, brilliant!
Was doing a some drywall repairs for a client yesterday and was making a lot of trips out the door leading into their garage. It was badly sagging and very annoying so I tightened the screws on the top hinge and had to put a bit of shim in one screw hole. Took me all of 30 seconds. Didn’t mention it to the customer because I mostly did it for my own convenience so wouldn’t charge her for it. Later in the day she came and gave me a big hug saying “omg! You fixed that door! It’s been like that for years and I hated it!” It’s amazing to me that a problem with such a simple solution could just be accepted and lived with for years like that lol One of my favorite parts of my job (handyman) is that reaction some clients have when a simple fix can make a small but significant difference in someone’s life. Also sometimes I feel like a magician when people are so amazed by something that seems so simple and straight forward to me. Anyway, after the lady was so happy and thankful for me fixing her door to her garage, she wanted me to fix a bunch of other doors in her house. I told I her I generally charge $10-$20 per door. Without hesitation she said she would pay $20 per door no matter how simple the fix was. So I fixed nine other doors in her house. $200 for an hour of work isn’t too shabby at all. Just goes to show that sometimes going a little out of your way to do a small thing for someone can sometimes pay off big. I had no intention of charging her for that first door but she was so happy that it was fixed that she insisted on paying me.
I owe a poorly hung door a debt of gratitude for saving my life. My partner and I were sound asleep on a cold winter night when a slight tapping sound became nonstop banging. I got up to investigate. To my horror I discovered flames racing up the stairwell to our bedroom. With the only egress a 2nd story window, we threw our mattress out and jumped to safety. 40 good years and counting…
Thank you for your very useful article. The door to our garage hadn’t been closing properly since we had our garage concrete floor replaced. I was going to do the “re-align the hinge teeth” method when I noticed two of the door hinges had come loose. Using toothpicks to make the screws hold tighter, the door re-aligned itself and can now close properly. Again thanks for your tips.
Very good article, with excellent sugestions. I would however point out that some door issues, especially in older home can be indicative of a sag in the foundation or other supports. One should inspect the floor and determine if a sag exist. If so the door issue will be resolved when the floor is jacked up and leveled. This would probably be a job for a professional, unless you are experience with this.
Before bending hinges, first check the screw tightness of the hinges. Second, use the longer screws to snug the jamb/hinge to the stud. If there is still a problem closing the door, do the hinge bending trick. As far as sanding, never try to sand the jamb since you cannot get a belt sander into that space especially all the way to the corner. If sanding is the method, sand the door “only”. Another more invasive method is to take off the door casing (trim) at the hinge side of the door frame. That way you can take out any existing shim that might be keeping the jamb from moving enough to pull the door in to open the gap needed to get the door to close.
These are quite good tips. i live in Germany where they use ‘overlay’ doors, so there is no visible gap. also most houses are cement / building blocks etc so there is no movement in the structure that the door is attached to . however wood being wood the doors will expand and contract and the solution for this is the hinges are adjustable .
I was just finally able to fix my baby’s loud, awkward, scraping door that would wake him up when we try to sneak out after putting him down to sleep! I’ve tried toothpicks and tightening, even super long screws, but it needed the hinge realigned. I feel so triumphant to have finally gotten it! THANK YOU!
Thank you for putting this out. I’ve been dealing with an outside entrance door that was out of wack for at least 15 years. I opened the door today and saw it was the top hinge out of wack. I opened the door and took an auto floor hydraulic jack and put it under the outside edge while open(the ground was sloping at that point thus needing the jack) till it was level and tried to tighten the screws but they were not tightening. Did your trick with the tooth picks in all three screws one at a time and like magic everything tightened right up and the door now opens and closes like butter. VICTORY 😅 I wish I saw this years ago. I owe you a cold brew 🍻 thank you!!!
I’ve used trick #5 a few times because the top of the door was hitting the jamb. It worked for a while but now I have the same problem again. Lowering the hinges would fix it. Sometimes the the hinges are worn out and there is excessive play which could cause binding and misalignment. Replacing the hinges is easy and fairly cheap. Just get the same size and screw pattern to avoid unnecessary chiseling or drilling. If the door is not square with jam, get some thin veneer wood, cut it to size. Remove the hinges and slip the veneer between the hinge plate and the jamb, then screw in the hinges. Worked good on a very old door that was pretty far out-of-square. Anyway, thanks for the tips!
Before you go re-mortising your hinges to repair the screw holes just take some golf tees or better yet dowel rods and apply wood glue to the hole and tee/dowel rod and then tap them into the holes and cut flush. This will give you better than new performance as the golf tees are made of stronger wood than the soft scrap they use on modern interior door jambs. If you are a tradesman or just want to do it in a hurry C/A glue and accelerator will speed the process. You can use a hinge hole jig to ensure perfect alignment so the door screws heads are flush. PS if your door is rubbing because some idiot used a hinge mounted door stop (which spreads the hinge) then bending the hinge “tangs” one at a time as shown in the article will usually work although you may find you need to repair the holes in the jamb as they may fail from the pressure needed to bend the hinge tangs……however if the hinge was not spread and the door is rubbing do to shifting of the jamb or swelling of the door itself, then bending the hinge tangs will usually cause the hinge to no longer be able to close completely as the gap between the hinge halves will have been reduced by bending the “tangs” on the hinge.
I loosen all the hinge plates on the door jam and on the opposite side of where the door is rubbing (usually the top because the door has begun to sag) I slide a piece or two of thin cardboard (from a cereal box or macncheese box) behind the hinge with biggest gap and then tighen all the hinge plates again. This pushes the bottom of the door closer to the door jamb amd opens up the top where it was rubbing. So if the door is rubbing at the top I slide thin piece(s) of card board behind the bottom hinge plate.
Using toothpicks is a great idea that works for fixing stripped-out screws. But never try to bend a hinge. Next time, loosen the screws on the top hinge going into the jamb. Placing a shim behind the hinge on one side or the other will move that door right or left. A shim behind the hinge beside the door stop will move the door towards the hinges. A shim behind the hinge on the other side will move the door towards the strike side. A piece of cardboard will usually do the trick. If you need more, fold the cardboard making two thicknesses. If you use tho thicknesses on top, put one thickness behind the middle hinge. I hope this will help.
Very interesting article, and I would agree with tips 1-3. I would personally suggest that method 2 should always be your first go to, sometimes it really is as easy as tightening the screws on the top hinge, they may not even be stripped! Method 1 is also very viable and they actually make tools such as the “Hinge Doctor” to perform this function but you are correct, even a simple crescent wrench will get the job done. Method 3 is something I haven’t really tried, I can only assume by attaching to the stud you are pulling the frame itself closer to the stud which is in turn pulling the top hinge in. I only assume this because I more often than not work on commercial doors which are similar in practice but come with their own complexities and restrictions not found in residential. Methods 4-5 are generally frowned upon and honestly 5 would be my go to over 4 as dropping the door can create other issues such as a gap at the top or rubbing on the bottom especially if you are opening on or onto a carpeted area. Commercially these are unviable solutions due to codes and regulations that have to be met in a commercial environment. But lets say we are sticking to only residential doors, this method “may” work to resolve the issue and lets pretend dropping the door doesn’t rub at the bottom, using this method your are still potentially reducing the effectiveness of the door being able to prevent fire from spreading from or into the room where the repair is being made. While interior or even residential doors aren’t subject to the same fire ratings as commercial doors they do still provide some amount of protection in preventing fire from spreading quickly and allowing people valuable time to escape should they need to.
Jeff G is right you should never bend hinges or sand /plane the door or the jamb. The door is made to fit in that jamb. Every door that’s rubbing can be fixed at the hinge (interior door) And Jeff G is correct you should shim the hinge with a cardboard shim ( like Cheerios box cardboard) usually shim the jamb side of the hinge. It’s called throwing the door. A good carpenter can throw a door with a pocket knife a screwdriver and a piece of cardboard. Local #106
Thank you for your article, Regarding 5:02 the screw hole is too wide, rather than inserting in a couple of toothpicks, a substitute would be to insert the narrow tip of a disposable wooden chopstick. You can even apply a small amount of glue for adhesion. Then simply snipped off the excess portion of the chopstick.
Wow…I came across this right while I was having this problem with the door in my bathroom. Thank you so much for your article, and the calm step by step you presented these fixes!!! God bless you and your efforts to help others especially those of us on a fixed income, who are not able to afford to call and pay a handyman.
Thanks! All I will say is DON’T BE AFRAID TO MOVE YOUR HINGES! Some issues are so severe that this is the only method that will work, especially for older homes (mines built 1976.) And I suspect the doors were misaligned at installation. Anyways, I spent an entire day adjusting 7 doors, most which was taken up by 3 doors that would not close. I had need dissuaded from moving hinges by the comments I was reading. I decided to just pick up a chisel anyway as I was determined not to go through another day. Got home, took a look at the doors which were seriously misaligned. I decided right then to move the hinges. 1/2 hour later book doors are closing, no shims, no nothing… MOVE THOSE HINGES!
The easiest fix is to loosen screws of the hinge opposite where the door is rubbing, then put thin washers behind the hinge, more washers, more adjustment, then tighten the screws…. that changes the door position. I fixed all the doors in my daughters flip house in under an hour. Easy Peasy! She couldn’t believe it when I showed her how I did it. Second tip, if the screws stripped the wood, stick round toothpicks into the screw hole, break them off, I usually use 2. The added wood allows the screws to reseat into the new wood. Round toothpicks are made of a harder wood than the flat toothpicks. As noted below, wood chopsticks work well as they are usually made of bamboo and are pretty tough! Third tip…how do you stop a door from ghosting (closing or opening by itself)? Simple, take out the top hinge pin, hammer a slight bend into it, reinsert. If it still ghosts, do the same to the middle hinge. Also suggest a slight bit of white grease on the pin, that keeps it from clicking when the door is opened/closed.
I’ve been a house painter for decades and have had to fix hundreds if not thousands of doors. This article is right on but I’ll add two more tricks to it…first, if using toothpicks or golf tees to “refill” the hole, put a glob of glue in the hole first, break off the wood and give it at least a half hour before rescrewing it. Also, if you have to sand the jamb, use an angle grinder with a 4″ 80 grid sanding disc. It’ll create a lot of dust but is much more manageable than a belt sander.
Good until you get to the moving of the hinges. If the purpose of making a hinge move is to get into better wood for a more secure screw, then you need to drop down or up at least 3/8 to half of a inch, to make sure your not just going to go right back into the same holes you had originally opted to move the hinge for in the first place. You might get away with just a 1/4 of an inch, but the lines you were showing were more like a 1/8 and that will be a disaster for a home owner. You have yo get enough clearance to male sure you got enough new wood to easily screw in a new hole, without making the one you already have just bigger. I’d also suggest you have them use a small level to see if it’s not just the foundation settling. A stuck door can be stuck from the top rail coming down at a slight angle which is typical for houses that are new and just beginning to settle. Same is true when it comes to the change of weather such as the rainy season and you have a high moisture period or when winter or summer time comes around depending on the quality of the door, it can simply be swollen. Great tips just not in depth enough to make it clear. Better to use a unhinged door and go over everything from the worse, to the easy fix. Then they can decide just exactly how much time and effort they want to put into it, before they call a local handy man, especially if it turns out to be a foundation settling matter. Your thought of having an inexperienced home owner to use a belt sander on a door or frame is just a little dangerous and really ineffective.
Wanted to also add to #5: sometimes if the door is scraping the head jamb (the top part of the jamb) you can take a couple 3½ or 4″ screws and drive them into the head jamb if it has sagged. It isn’t always the solution but it’s faster and easier than lowering the hinge mortise and has the added benefit of not leaving the unsightly top part of the hinge mortise exposed while the door is open. If I do have to move the hinges I will typicality use Bondo to make the mortise tight around the hinge plate. But again, that is a lot of extra work for something that could be fixed with two screws and a little caulk for interior doors or you can hide the screws under the weather stripping for exterior doors.
This is a good DIY article, but keep in mind that some of those simple fixes might be due to underlying issues that need to be addressed. Such as the stripped out screws may be due to excessive pressure on that hinge, or the sagging/sticking door may be due to the house foundation shifting. Quick fixes are OK, but don’t just do it and think your troubles are over. Look at the big picture.
This week I found that a door could not stay closed and I realized that the opposite had happened defying all logic. The door was lifted slightly and the latch was not entering in the door faceplate as it was too high. I used my body weight to pull down the door and it fixed it, but how the heck can it defy gravity and do the opposite of sagging by itself? I can not see any way other than the entire house has warped the door frame a tiny bit.
I was actually looking for something else and found this article solution which I will use! The door rubbing may also be a sign that your foundation is the problem… our neighbourhood has some sinking foundations causing the upstairs doors to have this problem… garages are also cracking in the walls from the house… not a good thing!!! Find the root of the problem!
To są wszystko prowizorki! Przede wszystkim, to na początku należy ustalić, co jest przyczyną obcierania się drzwi i to z jednoczesnym odrywaniem się laminatu na ich górnej krawędzie. Ale należy zaznaczyć, ze już od początku drzwi zostały źle spasowane z futryną! Przede wszystkim, gdy drzwi są za wysokie w futrynie, to należy je zdemontować i przyciąć od dołu lub od góry, na profesjonalnej stolarni lub samodzielnie, ale profesjonalnymi narzędziami. Natomiast, nigdy nie przesuwać zawiasów w górę lub w dół, bo ich nowe osadzenie jeszcze bardziej rozkalibruje otwory na śruby mocujące. I tak, jeżeli przyczyną jest zdeformowanie się zawiasów, to należy wymienić je na nowe lub po zdemontowaniu wyprostować, czy też dogiąć ale w imadle, a nigdy, gdy są przekręcone do drzwi lub ościeżnicy, po rozerwiemy materiał drewniany w tym miejscu! I będzie szkoda, zamiast pożytek. I teraz, jeżeli odgięte zawiasy uwolnią drzwi po bokach, ale będą nadal obcierać się o poziomą górną część ościeżnicy, to tą górną część należy albo przyciąć, albo przeszlifować grubym, a następnie drobnym papierem ściernym. Ewentualnie, ostrożnie strugiem do drewna. I to samo dotyczy części dolnej drzwi. A szlifując, ruchy wykonujemy po szerokości skrzydła drzwi, by nie oderwać na nich naklejonego forniru (okleiny). I można tą górną przeszlifowaną część drzwi polakierować, zabezpieczając taśmą malarską boki drzwi! Co do zawiasów i rozkalibrowanych otworów na śruby, to są dwie opcje. Pierwsza, przewiduje użycie wkrętów do drewna grubszych od obecnych.
Used the hinge pin trick with a door that kept swinging open by itself but didn’t realise it could be used to pull doors back into position. Going to use that in future. Also, have been using dowling for enlarged screw holes, like a schmuck! Going to use toothpicks instead. Much quicker and cheaper. Thanks for the tips.
Dude, seriously, check the hinge screws first before attempting to bend hinges. If you need to install toothpicks/skewers, dip them in some wood glue before busting them off in the hole. Don’t chisel out new pockets for hinges, take the door off and trim a little from the top or bottom of the door as needed. Don’t try to remove material from the jamb, do it to the door.
Use a hand plane not a sander.If it’s the closing edge,wedge the door at the floor,remove lock and plate and plane the edge.For the last 3 inches at the bottom you can use sand paper.If it’s the top or bottom,remove door place on pieces of wood to raise off floor with door on its side and plane towards the floor.
While you’re at it….when removing/tightening the hinge screws…..discard those ridiculous 1/2 ” – 3/4″ long screws and get something much longer……even fore these interior hollow doors. Where they REALLY improve things is when you use 2 -1/2″ to 3″ long screws for you main exterior door. These are otherwise too easily kicked in and make it too easy for criminals to enter.
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Excellent, sometimes just a longer screw or two on jamb side of the hinge that goes into the 2x trimmer works too. In my 42 yrs as a carpenter I’ve hung thousands of doors. and most don’t know your trick, you can leave pin in hinge, keep door shut and bent the whole hinge towards the door, that direction sounds backwards but it’s not. ( I remember setting casing with 4ds and 6d finish nails and a nail set.) I’m old!.
Great article. Ran into this problem today, and while making sure the hinge screws were tight (they all were), I noticed some dust/dirt around the hinges. So just took a damp paper towel with a little soap to clean all the hinges and all around the door. In my case, that’s all it was to fix it. Crazy. Thanks for the article.
I am a Certified Professional Locksmith and Safe Technician with 40 years experience. Your trick #2 should be the first thing you do. I have fixed a lot of issues just by tightening the screws. There are a lot of people that use toothpicks or other types of wood splinters, but you run the risk of splitting the wood. There are a variety of brands of wood fillers that can work, just make sure that on the package it says that it can be drilled. I would not use wood wedges to adjust the door. Anything hard can scrape the paint and gouge the wood. I use a clean towel. Fold it to your preferred thickness. Far less likely to damage the finish
I dont know if you are a carpenter but I have to complain. Never start with adjusting the hinges, they should always align together, if you start to adjust the hinges that will never end. Why? The house is always moving, twisting and turning, not much but still. You always start by adjusting the doorframe . Most likely the studs in the wall is moving making the frame going out of a perfect square. The way you have shown is a quick fix that is not going to last and the next time you have to adjust the hinges even more. Being a carpenter is easy but you have to fix things properly, not with shortcuts. Its like painting a wall, the groundwork is the most important thing. Doing things fast makes you do it again and again. Hinges is the last solution and often in very old houses.
Wow thanks for this article. I just bought a house that needs some cosmetic work and repairs. I’m able to do a lot of it after perusal a article just like this one. I learned a lot of stuff with my beloved husband RIP 🙏🏻 Do you have a article on how to paint bedrooms/bathroom doors? The doors in my new home are custom, ugly and old. They’re taller than the average door, therefore more expensive to replace, so I was thinking that a nice paint job might do the job. Thanks for sharing these nice article.
I hired a gardener once the very first day he showed up he asked me to give good recommendations to people I know. The man hadn’t even picked up a tool yet. Needless to say shortly after that I found a new gardener. Why am I writing this? Because I feel the same way when a YouTube creator starts a article by asking me to like and subscribe when I haven’t even seen it yet. Here’s a tip for you pal, you have to wait till the end and if your content is worthy they will Like and Subscribe, Hell. maybe even ring the bell!
Sometimes you can fix a sagging door by putting longer screws in the top hinges. The door frame is being pulled over by the weight of the door. Use 2 1/2″ or 3″ length x # 8 or #10 wood screws. The long screws will go into the 2×4 stud and pull the door frame back into correct position. I have had to do this on different doors.
Many of these”hacks” or :quick fixes” on here require tools and things not every person has. Come on, a freakin air bag? Quick and easy fix with household items anyone has??? Remove one side of the offending hinge, cut several playing cards to the shape of the hinge pocket, place them in there and screw the hinge back on and voila, done, simple and fast.
You’ll notice he did not open and close the door. This will almost always cause the door to bind because the hinges are no longer aligned, especially on solid core doors. This may work for a minimal amount of scraping. Or if you’re flipping a house and don’t care or know how to properly repair the door.
Great options and they work. I’d use the door lowering or raising as a last resort, as this can result in patching and repainting. Also, I have found that it’s not as accurate, and allows for more error due to three separate cuts. However, these are great tips and the toothpick hack is over-the-top simple and functional. Thank you. Excellent article.
Using skewers to tighten the loose screws temporarily fixed 3 of my doors. I used the air pump lid lift on a few of the doors, took the pin out, bent the hinges, but as soon as I deflated the air pump the door shifted to being out of alignment again. I’ve seen other ways to bend the hinges/reinsert pin and will go those a try.
My door latch was too low and missing the receiving hole so I just took a free paint stirring stick from Home Depot and loosened bottom hinge from door jamb then broke off about a 1/2″ of paint stirring stick then slid it behind the door jamb hinge then tightened it down and now latch and receiver lines up perfectly! Takes about 2 minutes and it’s the perfect thickness! Try it!
Removing pins Bending hinges may be ok in the USA however first check the screws are tight first and in Europe don’t try to remove pins many types of hinges do not have removable pins and you will destroy them I advise look at your door and use your common sense to see mechanically why the door is sticking. It’s not rocket science
I have a bathroom door that will not stay open. It keeps closing by itself. A rental unit, the brat Russian children ruined a bed by using the mattress as a trampoline and breaking the springs, which protruded through the covering. I had to replace the whole bed. The bathroom door, perhaps the brat Russian children put their weight on the handle and used to swing their wright on the door? I replaced all three hinges. The door still closes by itself. The top of the door appears warped. The top touches the door jam frame before the lower parts of the door. What do I do? Replace a warped door? The unit has not been rented since Covid-19. The manager of the unit wants the rental price dropped so they get more commission. But, the repairs cost more than the units rent for, with all the damage the tenants do and steal. I never abuse things I rent. Why are people so crummy about things they rent? Even the ladies around here complain when the Arabs rent them, they want to enter their backside!
I tried adjusting the knuckles on the top hinge and noticed all hinge screws on the door side were popping out. This is a new house. Cheap parts I guess. No wonder my bedroom doors are all sticking. So I applied toothpicks and glue for starters, guess the next step will be the crescent wrench if the hinge doesn’t try to pop off again this time.
I would just say tip #2 should probably always be checked even if the first tip worked. Maybe even switch tip # 1 and # 2 in the order. The reason being if you have loose fasteners they will only get worst in the way of the others being coming loose over time, because they are taking all of the load. So one by one over time more and more of the hardware ( fasteners ) will become loose. You might only have one loose one when you check but the more that door is used the other ones will start to loosen up and you will have sag again.
I have 8ft. steel French front doors and when I try to get the top hinge pin out, I can’t get it out. I’ve done everything I can think of but nothing works. I’ve done all your suggestions but the pin will not move. It has metal coming out at the bottom of the pin but doesn’t look like a bottom cap. My interior doors look more like the door you worked on and probably are easy to get the pin out. Is it possible the steel front doors have permanent pins?
An easier way to fix a misaligned door. .(using door in article as example). Remove the hinge from the frame . Leave it attached to the door. The. Take some cardboard, and cut one or two pieces and put it between the hinge and the frame . Screw the hinge back on to the frame and the door will level itself out and pulls the top away from the area it is rubbing .
how about a storm door? My storm door going into the garage keeps hitting the tip at the top on the side and definitely not the same hinges to try these methods. Plus has a metal frame. and thanks so much for these tips because I have a closet door that needs to be tackled !! perusal your other articles is motivating me but first thing I’m doing is fixing the gaps on my kitchen floor!
Take two sticks of dynamite and secure them into the door and then take a match strike it and set the wicks on fire step back 10 feet and and take cover behind a chair and wait till the dynamite blows up the door.remove all debree away from the door casing then hop in your truck and take a ride to home Depot and get another door to replace it.bring it home set it in place and secure it. This is how I would fix a door that don’t close TADA
Any advice on why our newly fitted door is stiff to close when you close it it is causing the paint to split on the wall by the door frame on the hinge side? We had to set the hinges fairly deep In to the door to make it fit the space (old house, nothing straight!). Is the door just too close to the frame now and requires more clearance from the hinges?
lots of doors with that top rub the top hinge is loose because the screws are only in the jamb. on the regular hinges, the center of 3 screws is over part of the stud, so run a 3″ flat head screw in there. best is a full thread sheet metal screw. #10. you do not want a wood screw that has a smooth part because that will not thread in the jamb at all. but the main thing is, you want to hit that stud. (actually a cripple but you don’t care).
Should never have to chissle any part of door or grind door down, adjustment of the hinges will fix problem or shimming the hinges outwards which should be done first then there is no need to adjust hinges with cresent wrench.hinge shims can be bought at a Ace hardware store they are thin but if one diesnt do the trick then two can be used.
Method when you install the door the beginning Houston silicone on the door and the hinges in the middle of the hinges 2 inch boots instead of that one and a quarter same thing under store on the frame silicone and the hinges silicone on the frame middle just use a 3in screw if you have a gun just change the gears in the screw gun it doesn’t need to be a screwdriver that’s what the gears deal for did I use an impact gun on a door