Doors That Stick and Hinges That Drop

Both approaches to adjusting a sticking door work. What differs is what they cost you, and the cost is what this sets out.

Diagnosing from the rub mark

Close the door slowly and watch where it makes contact, since the location of the rub identifies the cause almost completely. Rubbing at the top of the latch side usually means the top hinge has pulled away from the frame and the door has dropped. Rubbing at the bottom of the latch side often means the bottom hinge is loose or the frame has moved.

Rubbing along the hinge side means the hinges are recessed too deeply or the door has swollen with moisture. A door that suddenly sticks after wet weather is usually swelling, and it often frees itself again as the humidity drops.

Tightening hinges properly

Open the door, support its weight with a wedge underneath, and try tightening every hinge screw before doing anything else. This alone fixes a large proportion of sticking doors, because a door is heavy and hinge screws work loose over years.

If a screw spins without gripping, the hole in the timber has worn and simply tightening it will not help. The traditional fix is to fill the hole with glued wooden matchsticks or a dowel, let it set, and drive the screw into fresh timber. A longer screw that reaches into the structural frame behind the lining is the other standard solution and often the better one.

Adjusting the fit

Packing a thin card shim behind one leaf of a hinge moves the door slightly in the opposite direction, which is enough for a few millimetres. Deepening a hinge recess by a small amount does the reverse, and should be done in small increments with a sharp chisel. Latch problems are usually the striking plate rather than the door, and the plate can often be moved or filed slightly.

Work in small steps and test after each one, since removing material is irreversible and shims can be taken back out. Only plane a door when the geometry is genuinely wrong, and remember that a planed door cannot be unplaned when the humidity changes.

Squeaks, slams and rattles

A squeak is metal on metal in the hinge knuckle, and a small amount of appropriate lubricant applied to the pin resolves it. Avoid over-oiling, since excess runs down the door face and collects dust, which is worse than the squeak. A door that slams is usually catching a draught, and a self-closing device or a simple door stop prevents damage to the frame.

By the second month, a rattling door has too much clearance at the latch, which is adjusted by moving the striking plate or adding a small strip of foam.

Draught around a door is a comfort and heating cost issue, and adhesive seals fitted to the frame are cheap and removable.

Internal versus external doors

External doors are heavier, weather-exposed and often part of the security of the property, which changes what is sensible to adjust. A dropped external door affects the seal and the lock alignment, and forcing a misaligned lock damages the mechanism. Fire doors have specific requirements about gaps, seals and closers, and altering them can compromise their rating and breach regulations.

In a flat, the entrance door is frequently a fire door and is often the landlord's or the building's responsibility rather than yours. Report problems with external and fire doors rather than adjusting them, since the compliance question sits above the practical one.

A routine you resent is a routine you will have abandoned by the third week.

When it is the frame or the building

If several doors in a property stick at once, the cause is usually movement in the structure rather than the doors themselves. New cracks in plaster above door frames, doors that suddenly bind and windows that stop closing are signs worth reporting.

Most such movement is seasonal and harmless, and progressive movement is not, which is why it needs professional assessment. Never assume and never start cutting doors down to fit, since that hides a symptom that somebody needs to see. Photograph and date any crack you are unsure about, and photograph it again in a few months, which shows whether it is moving.

Side by side

The takeaway

Watch where it rubs, tighten every hinge screw, and only reach for a plane when nothing else has worked.

Do the ten-minute version tonight rather than the proper version never.