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UncleNasty -> RE: Question for practical types. (11/4/2008 8:27:52 AM)
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Proper and complete diagnosis of the problem is required before effecting any proper repairs. Kind of like surface preparation is the key to good painting.
What is the construction and material of the door itself?
Inexpensive modern doors are typically hollow core or masonite. Neither of these doors will sag, or shift, and they won't swell enough to be the likely cause of your problems. Even solid core doors are extremely stable.
Where is the door jamming?
Wooden doors, of frame and panel construction, will most commonly sag by becoming paralellograms, as opposed to rectangles, and will evidence this at the upper portion of the non-hinge side, and/or the bottom edge furthest from the hinges. If the door has come unglued (yes, really) the best fix is to take it apart, clean out all the joints of old glue, clamp and reglue. This is the best fix but is also the most involved and expensive fix. Likely you'll need to hire someone to do this for you.
Do the best can to close the door and look at the gap between door and jamb on all four sides. The eye can detect difference in paralell pretty easily. Mine can anyway, but then I do this stuff for a living. You'll be looking for small, minor differences, as small as 1/32 - 1/16 of an inch.
Your problem could also be screws in the hinges having come loose, or the wood having stripped. In either case the hinges aren't holding as they should be. This could be either in the door side or the jamb side of the hinges. If loose merely tighten and see if this fixes the problem. If stipped you can use larger srews, longer or wider, or both. Make certain the head configuration and size is the same so they will seat properly in the hinges.
Another alternative for stripped wood is to drill out the holes to 1/4 inch, and then glue in fresh wood in the form of a 1/4 inch dowell. Sand flush, put hinges in place and drill proper pilot holes, reinstall screws. Screws don't hold as well in end grain as long grain but this is still a good fix.
Still another alternative for stripped wood is to put wood expoxy putty into the holes and insert screws while the epoxy is still soft. Not recommended as further problems, when and if they occurr, will require an "undoing" of an improper repair before the proper repair can be effected. But it can be quick and easy.
There is also the possiblity of chiseling out the hinge mortices for either the door side or jamb side. Your problem is likely not on the hinge side in a way this would be the fix. If you're new to this I'd recommend this as a last option. My chisels are sharp enough to shave hair (though really, I use a razor for this, LOL) and this makes the work quite easy. I've also got countless hours of experience with a chisel in my hand. Tackle it if your determined but remember any where you cut wood away is gonna be permanent.
If your problem is hinge side it will most likely be fixed best by shimming. You can use very thin stips of wood for this, or even card board, which in essence is processed wood anyway. Back in the day, when match books were more readily available, I fixed most door ways with this problem using match book covers as shim stock. Shimming the lower hinge fixes many door problems.
If the door is painted, an old, you may simply have paint build up in either the door, or the jamb, or both. Scape, sand or plane away the build up, repaint and reinstall the door.
If the problem is in the jamb and it is severly out of square you can either alter the door to fit the jamb, or alter the jamb to fit the door. If altering the jamb you'll need to remove trim work around it, cut the nails holding it in place and reste it to square. An involved process. I see it as the better fix though.
Altering the door is easier and can be done with a good hand plane. Do not use a hand held circular saw for this if you care about the appearance at all. Cutting lines that straight by hand is very difficult to impossible. Also blades in proper tooth configuration, and sharp enough, are rare. Likely you'll tear and chip the wood, have a crooked cut, and will cuss at yourself a lot when you're done.
Hope this helps.
Uncle Nasty
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