How To Repair Common Problems Of Doors

Repairing the doors in your home is something one time or another you must inevitably do. Solid wood doors warp from humid conditions, you may need to replace a rotted threshold, or the door is out of alignment and needs to be corrected.

Installing a new threshold. This is a problem area for a lot of doors that come in contact with concrete. Moisture seeps into the threshold, thus rotting the wood.

Begin by sawing through the threshold towards the middle with a circular saw or a handsaw. Once you cut entirely through the wood, you can remove it easily. If the wood is difficult to remove (usually near the jambs), use a hammer and chisel or prybar to help you. Save the pieces you remove; you will be using the scrap pieces as a template for getting the correct pattern along the jamb areas.

Place the old threshold piece on top of the new threshold and draw the pattern using a sharp pencil. Then, use a jigsaw to cut the wood to the correct pattern. Once you finish your cuts, carefully set the new threshold into place. Caulk the door opening first before hammering it into the door opening. Protect the threshold with a wood block and hammer it under the jambs, into it's new home. Then you just predrill your holes for nails -- two rows, about 8-12 inches apart.

Trimming the bottom of a door. Doors sometimes stick at the bottom and need a small strip removed. Make sure you don't remove too much from a hollow-core door; or else you might remove the strip at the bottom that gives the door strength and support. Mark the door while it is still hung. Then take it down and place it on sawhorses. Use a pencil and a straightedge to mark a cutting line and then clamp on a straightedge.

To prevent the door from splintering, scribe the cutting line with a sharp knife. On the latch edge of the door, bevel-cut at 5 degrees.

Straightening a warped door. Attach wires to screw hooks in the corners and to a turnbuckle; then tighten. Stretch the wire over a scrap of wood for more leverage. Increase tension daily for three or four days.

Binding doors. Slide paper between the door and jamb -- it will bind where the door is sticking. If a door sticks at the top of a latch side, tighten the top hinge screws, chisel the top hinge mortise more deeply, or shim the bottom hinge.

To correct sticking at the bottom of the latch side, tighten screws, deepen the mortise of the bottom hinge, shim one or both sides, as needed. If these methods fail, plane off part of the door and repaint.

Shimming hinges. Shim the entire hinge to move the door away from the jambs slightly. To move the door slightly toward the jamb, only put a shim beneath the side of the hinge away from the pin.

Realigning hinge knuckles. Remove pins, and shim the door to the desired position in the doorway. Bend hinge knuckles back into alignment. Finally, tap the pins back into the hinges.