The top of my wood bedroom door hits the top of the door frame making it hard to close. What is the best way to fix this? Should I sand the top of the door? File the top of the door? Or something else?
2007-07-10 13:00:05 · 13 answers · asked by DiNoto 1 in Home & Garden ➔ Maintenance & Repairs
Sanding the top of the door with rough sandpaper will do the trick!
2007-07-10 13:02:15 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
First lets cover the basics. Are the screws in the hinges tight and are the hinge pins straight?those are important in the pivoting of the door, Does the door stick year round? if not, then the cause is probably caused from humidity. Wood swells under high moisture conditions. Is there a large gap under the door? if yes then the door was hung or installed improperly. These are common reasons for mis-alignment. Depending on your level of mechanical ability there are a couple of options. The easiest is to plane or sand removing the material from the door in small amounts. Be careful though about how much you remove. Your door may not be solid wood and if its hollow then the piece of pine used for the frame is only 3/4 to 1 1/2 inches thick you should not ever need to remove this much. another method is to re-pocket the hinges that means to re-router the space where the hinges go so you can move the height of the door to the desired spot of free open and closing. If the sticking is caused by the frame dropping you can take out the screws and re-shim the frame to raise it up make sure you take the door completely of the frame first. If swelling is your problem you can just use graphite powder on top of the door its a dry lubricant that can be purchased at most local hardware stores. Best of luck !
2007-07-10 13:36:34 · answer #2 · answered by stinkyfeetiguana 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That depends on why it's sticking. If the door was hung correctly and the frame has shifted, you may have a bigger problem than a sticking door. In that case your house is either "settling" or its shifting due to problem with a structural support, like a main beam or part of the foundation. "Settling" is normal for a new house.
However if the house is more than 5 or 10 years old, it should be totally settled. If that's your case, you have a shifting occurring. Shifting is more common in houses that are over 60 or 80 years old and which has experienced problems due to ravages of the environment. Adjusting the door will therefore only delay the inevitable. You'll need to have an engineer look at it and recommend a course of action.
If the door isn't hung right, sanding or planing the door, or adjusting the hinges may be the best approach.
2007-07-10 13:19:26 · answer #3 · answered by livemoreamply 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sanding - filing - shaving - cutting - all these are just steps to treat the SYMPTOM - not the PROBLEM.
The Problem is that your door is out of square. If your foundation, or even the home itself has shifted, then it pulls the door out of square. This is particularly common in manufactured homes, usually because they do not have enough concrete under them.
The Solution to the problem isnt cutting the door - its adjusting it so that it is square once more. If your door is hitting the top of the frame, on the knob side of the door (opposite of the hinges), there is a VERY EASY fix. You need to move the bottom hinge side of the door jamb back towards the stud behind it. There is normally a space behind the jamb.... not everyone even bothers to shim them! Try tightening that center screw before you do anything else. If that doesnt pull the hinge back into the wall a bit, then remove the trim from one side, loosen the screws a bit, so you can pull the shim(s) out just a bit, and then re-tighten the screw(s). USUALLY in a pre-hung door... ONLY the center screw of each hinge actually goes thru the jamb into the stud behind it. Once you have the door set so that it will no longer strike the top of the frame, drive the shims in tight again, but not so tight that it will undo what you just tightened up. Now you can nail that piece of trim back in place (I use a brad nailer, but if you don't own one, you can just buy a small package of panel nails colored to match your trim).
I strongly recommend ADJUSTING a door over CUTTING it. Once you remove a portion of the door... you can't put it back, heheheh... and should your jamb ever move the other direction for some reason, then you will end up with a large gap.
Once you learn this little trick of adjusting a door, you'll never have to put up with a sticky door again... and you can't very well file a steel entry door... but you CAN adjust one with this method. :D
Have Fun
2007-07-10 13:16:47 · answer #4 · answered by thewrangler_sw 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Loosen both door jam hinges. Place a doubled manila folder on top of the door and re-tighten the hinges.
If this is not enough completely remove both hinges and with a fine rat tail file elongate the door jam hinge holes toward the top of each hinge 3-4 strokes per hinge hole will do it. This will allow the door to set lower without having to bother drilling new holes in the door jam.
Good luck!
This way you will not have to re-sand anything.
2007-07-10 13:10:59 · answer #5 · answered by Country Boy 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Depends on how badly it is sticking. Filing and sanding the top of the door while it is in place might do the trick. You may have to take the door off of it's hinges though and plane the top.
DIY website on how to plane a sticking door.
http://www.hometips.com/content/hinged_ef.html
2007-07-10 13:07:59 · answer #6 · answered by pensacola_sand 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
you didn't say how much room there is at the bottom of the door? but if you do this it will work! loosen the screws on the top hing and the middle one if so equipped. take a peace of card board and cut it to fit behind the hing place this between the hing and the jam re-tighten the hing and try closing. you might have to do this a time or two but it will work.
2007-07-10 13:08:27 · answer #7 · answered by sapper345 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Wood sticks because of moisture in the air that causes the door to expand. If you have an air conditioner near the door, don't run it as often. Also, try spraying the tops and bottoms of the door with WD-40. It cures everything.
2007-07-10 13:02:50 · answer #8 · answered by Lovely 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
If it's just sticking a little, you can sand down the part that is making it stick, then re-paint it so it looks nice again. If it is sticking majorly, the door might not be properly hung, or worse, it could be a sign that the house is settling.
2007-07-10 13:03:05 · answer #9 · answered by Elle 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You can sand it. (Hubby did this) But, the hinges may need to be taken off and the door put back on the frame straight.
2007-07-10 13:03:30 · answer #10 · answered by CAT 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋