My screen door to the back yard is sticking at the top right, and will not open or close easily.?

Question

Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Try tightening the hinges, check to see if the door is level. If none of that works, plane or sand down the spot that is sticking. Wood tends to swell and contract with weather changes. If its an aluminum door, it is probably not square, and needs adjustments. Check each joint and make sure they are tight.

Answer 2

Opened

Answer 3

Either plane down the corner that is sticking with a block plane or unscrew the door side of the hinges and readjust the door so it no longer sticks and refasten it.

Answer 4

Rub a bar of Ivory soap over the sticking area.

Answer 5

Maybe a new screen door

Answer 6

IF THIS IS AN ALUMINUM DOOR IT MAY NEED ADJUSTING. PERHAPS A SCREW DRIVER CAN BE PLACED WHERE THE DOOR IS STICKING. NOW EXERT A EVEN PRESSURE DOWNWARD MAY PUT THE DOOR BACK ON TRACK. HOPE THIS HELPS.

Answer 7

Rub a brand new bar of soap across it a few times .... thats it

Answer 8

rub wax paper on the area where its sticking.

Answer 9

Ok, first a little tip on how to talk about a problem with a door... a 'glossary' of sorts, if you will.
It's normal for doors to need adjustment over time. It doesnt matter if they are interior, or exterior doors. The most common reason for a door needing adjustment, are movement by the door jamb, or frame. This can happen seasonally, or it can happen over a period of years, and it is quite common. When you look at the door (any door) from the side that you pull it towards you...note which side the hinge is on. For a screen door, you will be looking at it from outside, in most cases (tho, I've seen a few older homes with a screen door on the inside, hehehe) Ok, the hinge side, is the 'anchor' for the door, and most of the time, it is best to make any corrections from this side, but it isnt the only way. Also... MOST storm doors are hinged on the same side of the door frame as the entry door, but not always. Sometimes the storm door will be hinged on the opposite side of the entry door, because of the deck, or other entry complications. If you ever have to think of replacing either door, keep this in mind. And, try to anchor both sides of the jamb firmly. You need to keep in mind which side the hinge is on, also, if you ever need to replace door handles. Some can be installed either direction, but most are left or right hand sets. The next thing to be aware of, is 'plumb'. This refers to the door frame (hinge side, again) being straight up and down... not only from the view of the door left to right, but also looking at it as from forward to back, or inside to outside. If you were to open an interior door for instance, and it swung part way open, and stayed there... then your door is 'out of plumb' -- the hinge side of the door is actually leaning forward a bit, and the door will tend to find a 'balance' point.

The following is an answer I provided to someone else who had a question about a storm door that was sticking on the 'latch' side, at the top.

"Ok..... your door frame, jamb as some call it... IS out of adjustment. This IS common with all houses, over a period of time, even seasonally, and even more so, for mobile homes. They tend to flex a bit more than 'stick built' houses.

How to fix it:

There are two ways ... first, possibly the storm door itself can be adjusted. Secondly, the frame itself may need to be adjusted.

Since you already know the storm door is sticking... how about the interior door? with the door closed, look along the top edge, and if there is an uneven gap at the top, like on your storm door, then I would suggest adjusting the frame itself, and fix both doors at the same time.

Ok... how to fix a door by adjusting the frame.
You will need to remove the trim from the inside, so you can access the space around the door frame. If you are careful about removing the trim, you can re-use it. Look for any screws in the frame, that may be currently holding it (such as thru the top of the frame), and remove those too. Sometimes, with door hinge screws, only the center screw actually goes thru the frame into the studs. The other two are shorter screws that go into the jamb only.

Now, if looking at the door from the inside, the gap at the top goes, wide to narrow, from hinge to the other side, then you need to let the top hinge side, move away from the studs behind it. If the gap at the top of the door gets tighter on the hinge side, then you need to move the top hinge side towards the studs. IF the frame at the top of the door is against the wall studs in the direction it needs to go... then you can move the bottom of the door frame, in the opposite direction instead. (Just dont forget to remove the storm door cylinder bracket... those are usually some long screws that go all the way into the wall studs behind the jamb) Don't forget to shim the door frame in place, before replacing/tightening the screws.

On occasion... you dont have room to move the door frame left or right...and you can adjust it by moving the tight corner up , instead. You would need to shim under the threshold, for this.

Then, simply replace the door trim, once you have the door secured where you want it.

On a side note.... Some storm doors help tie the door jamb to the exterior wall too.... if that is the case, then your storm door screws will all have to be removed, before you could adjust the frame. This is pretty common if you have bought a 'pre-hung' interior and storm door combination.

Now, since I know that Larson is an 'after-market' storm door... it probably screws into some kind of 'brick' moulding, or trim, rather than the exterior wall itself.

To adjust the storm door only....you can approach this a few ways... Lower the hinge side, evening up the gap along the top of the door; raise the latch side, accomplishing the same thing; or move the whole frame from left to right, either at the top, or bottom, of the storm door. To determine which method... look at the bottom of the door...is the door scraping the frame there too? If so, then you want to adjust the door by moving the entire frame, to square it up. If it is striking ONLY the top of the door frame, then you can fix it easily, by moving one side or the other, up or down.

Just a note on storm door contstruction... the 'frame' of the storm door...usually has a screw attaching the top of the frame, to the sides, so, when raising or lowering a portion of the door... you also have to remove the screws along the top of the storm door frame.

Remove the screws along the top edge of the storm door frame, and whichever side you wish to move up or down. (Again, to fix this particular problem, the hinge side would need to go down, and/or the latch side up.) Then, simply slide the frame to where the gap along the top of the door is even all the way across (it should be about 1/8th to 3/16ths of an inch), and put the screws back in place.

If you wanted to adjust the top, or bottom, of the door from left to right, as described above for the interior door...you would do it the same way, as described for the interior door. If adjusting the top of the storm door, from left to right, you would loosen all of the screws around the storm door, EXCEPT the bottom screws on either side. Then, move the storm door til the gap is even across the top, and reset the screws. (most storm door screws are 1/4inch hex heads by the way, but some are phillips...if you have a choice... use the hex heads)

Adjusting a door isnt as complicated as it sounds really...and this goes for all doors...whether they be interior, or exterior.

Have fun :) "

As I mention there at the end... it sounds more complicated than it is really.... and once youve adjusted one door... you will know how to adjust any door, whether it is an inside door, or an outside door. Some helpful tools are a screwgun, 4 ft level, putty knife (to help pry off interior trim), pliers (to pull nails or staples), shims (to add support behind a frame, as you adjust it), expanding foam, or insulation batting (to stuff into the space between the door jamb, and wall studs), and either a hammer, or nail gun, to put the trim back on.

I have adjusted, literally, hundreds of doors...(windows too)....since I have all power tools, and lots of practice, I can adjust even the most difficult door in an hour or two, even if I have to replace the trim, for some reason. Most doors, I can adjust in an hour or less... If this is your first time to adjust a door, plan on taking a day....take your time, try not to break the trim as you remove it, because you can probably re-use the trim. Reading over this whole answer, it may seem like it is too complicated, but it's not really. And once you've done one door... you can adjust any door.


=) Have Fun!

Answer 10

Thank you all for your replies and opinions!