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How to do simple door repairs

How to do simple door repairs
Repair doors that stick and/or rub. Doors that rub against the door frame often cause the door to stick. This is caused from humidity swelling the doors and frames. This is different from a door that is completely out of square due to a structural problem. Most rubbing and sticking problems come from one of two causes:

One - The hinges are loose and need to be tightened to pull the door back into the proper position.

Two - The door and frame swell in the summer and close perfectly in the winter.
A simple door sticking situation is repaired as follows:

(1) Check the hinges to make sure they are tight and supporting the door properly. If the hinges are loose most likely the hinges are the reason why the door is rubbing and sticking. If this is the case, tighten the screws. If the screws won’t tighten, try an old time carpenter’s trick to tighten loose screws. First, support the door and take off the loose hinge screws. Next insert toothpicks into the screw hole or holes with a dab of glue. Allow 20 minutes for the glue to dry and then reinsert the screws. You’ll be amazed at how tight the toothpicks have made the screws.

(2) If the hinges are tight but the door is rubbing, the door needs to be trimmed. An inexpensive tool can be bought to do the job. The tool is called a block planer hand rasp. The cost is probably under $10 and can be purchased in Lowe’s, or Home Depot, It looks like a small hand held flat cheese grater. This quick repair is done with the door in place. There is no need to remove the door. Mark the door with a pencil where the door is rubbing the frame. Now that the spot is marked, you can proceed to plane the area on the side of the door that is sticking until the door closes properly. This type of repair usually only takes a few minutes and very little material has to be removed from the area that sticks. If you have to remove a lot of material to make the door close, it would probably be better to have a professional to evaluate the door problem.

About the Submitter:
Dwayne is a member of the Olympia Master Builders and a former past President of the Washington Association of Property Inspectors.Dwayne is also a committee member for the Washington State Pest Management Association (WSPMA) and has been serving the Thurston County home inspection market of Olympia, Lacey and Tumwater for many years. Boggs Inspection Services. He can be reached at 360-480-9602.

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