Plumb an existing interior door ??

[Moparfanforever 844]

I have an old house with existing interior doors that will not stay fully open, when you open them they swing back towards the door frame to different degrees. 

 

How do I go about fixing them?? My wife can help some, but mostly a one man show.

 

Thanks !!!

 

[ol550 830]

You can use wheel weights to hold them open.

 

 

[squonk 41,079]

If they shut and latch the way you want, Call it good. If you fix the doors plumb the rest of the door frame /wall will look crooked to everything else.

[ri702bill 8,316]

Sometimes (and that is the key word..) you can add a thin cardboard shim behind one of the hinges on the casing - a little goes a long way. Two hinge interior doors are fairly easy to do this to - three hinge doors take a bit longer.

Bill

[lynnmor 7,305]

Remove a hinge pin and bend it slightly.  If that isn't enough, pinch the holes in the hinge plates till they cause friction. 

[CCW 1,295]

Had the same problem.  First I remove the door stop trim.  Unscrewed top and bottom hinges and only left in the center screw from the middle hinge.  This allowed me to set the door plumb.  Then needed to reset the top and bottom hinges which in my case required I drill and plug the screw holes with glued in dowels and do a bit of chisel work around the slightly new hinge locations.  Screw in the hinges and then put the door stop back in place.  Door is now plumb and working perfectly.

[peter lena 8,620]

@Moparfanforever , is there wall trim in that door frame ?  probably some  thin wooden shim stock will help you out . pete

[Jeff-C175 7,201]

Not easy... because whatever  you do to the hinge side is gonna screw up the latch side.

 

 

[formariz 11,987]

Solution depends on severity of problem and how door actually now fits inside frame once closed. Adding shims as suggested under top or bottom hinge is a solution but that also change door gap while closed within frame. Shim should only be 1/4" wide and be placed either at the back or the front of hinge. At the back it will move door back from pivoting point, and at the from it will move it forward of pivoting point. Again this will change door clearance within the frame. All of this requires a little experience with these things so as not to create a bigger problem.

If this is prevalent through out house but doors are OK within frame when closed, I suggest replacing one or more of hinges with a spring actuated one. There are hinges with spring within the barrel looking like a regular hinge. Tension is adjusted by tensioning spring through an Allen screw at top of hinge and moving a pin in belly of barrel. Hinge can be mounted upside down providing tension in the opposite direction. These hinges are only available in the 4-1/2"x4-1/2" size which is the standard hinge size for commercial work. You may have 3"x3" hinges so re-mortising new ones would be necessary.

There are many solutions but the actual problem of issue needs to be identified first, otherwise one may be creating other problems. If the problem is with many doors in the house I doubt that packing the hinges will fix it. A more drastic solution will be required. 

Edited April 24, 2022 by formariz

[formariz 11,987]

Another solution although not a cheap one is adding a friction device. They are used as a door stop and as a friction device. The one in photo below leads to a closet so it is surface mounted. For a door visible from both sides one would use a concealed one mortised into top of door . Only the arm would be visible with door open. Friction is adjustable . 

[stevasaurus 22,724]

The first thing to do is determine what is not right.  Use at least a 4' level and check the wall on both sides of the door, both sides of the wall, the floor, the trim and the door itself.  The problem could be the floor is sagging and causing the issue.  Fixing could just require floor jacks, but it could be foundation issues.  The thing you want to do is find and fix the problem.  If your door fits into the jam and has even spacing around the door to the frame...usually around 1/8"...then some of these other fixes may not work or look good.  

[Moparfanforever 844]

The one door is a three hinge and this part of the house sits on a concrete slab.

 

I haven't put a level on the door yet, but I did measure the gap and it is a consistent 1/4" down the latch side. 

 

When you open the door, it wants to swing back towards the door opening,just enough to be aggravating. Which hinge would I have to shim,top or bottom??

 

I like CCW idea and the spring loaded hinge ,and pinching the hinge sounds the easiest. I guess vise grips would work??

[stevasaurus 22,724]

Just to explain a little farther, doors do not usually get out of plumb by themselves.  For one thing, there will be a stud on each side with a cripple on the inside of each stud with a good header sitting on the cripple.  Walls don't usually move either, unless the house has been moved from somewhere else.  It is probably the floor that is sagging.  A level on the floor will tell you.  Sometimes you can see the floor has a low spot...roll a golf ball around and see if it always goes to the same place.  Usually doors a located near the center beam of the house.  In older houses the center beam is usually a wood beam on wood posts.  Putting a 2 x 8 long enough to support the number of joices that are sagging and then using floor jacks to raise the joices...sometimes shimming the joices on the beam is enough to square up the doors.  If this is your problem, this is what you want to fix and you will not have to mess with the doors at all.

[stevasaurus 22,724]

Sorry, you posted while I was typing.  I would still put a level on the floor.  How old is this house?  Is the slab of concrete part of the original house, or an add on??

   Friction on the hinge may be the best option then.  Is there a crawl space under the floor or is the floor concrete??

[Moparfanforever 844]

14 minutes ago, stevasaurus said:

Sorry, you posted while I was typing.  I would still put a level on the floor.  How old is this house?  Is the slab of concrete part of the original house, or an add on??

   Friction on the hinge may be the best option then.  Is there a crawl space under the floor or is the floor concrete??

This part of the house is an add on that was built in the 80's , no crawl space. 

 

The first six minutes is interesting, but beyond my payscale.

 

 

 

 

[formariz 11,987]

2 hours ago, Moparfanforever said:

I like CCW idea and the spring loaded hinge ,and pinching the hinge sounds the easiest. I guess vise grips would

Pinching hinge will require removing it and hitting barrel over a solid surface for any self respecting hinge. You may also wind up with an annoying squeak. 

[Jeff-C175 7,201]

 

I only drink on the job!

 

 

[rlrnot 39]

I had this situation and remedied it by removing 1 or more hinge pins and bending them slightly.  I would start with 1 pin and see if it fixes the problem and if not, do this on another hinge pin etc.

[953 nut 55,198]

There are two ways of addressing a problem. You can try all sorts of well intentioned remedies and probably complicate the situation OR you can determine the cause of the problem, correct it and enjoy the results.           

The door won't operate properly because something on the hinge side is no longer plumb, you already know that. You say the door latches well and the reveal is uniform around the door. This leads me to believe that the entire door frame (and perhaps the wall it is on is no longer plumb. Beg, borrow or steal (no     don't steal, perhaps rent) a laser level that has horizontal and vertical capability. Set it up at one end of the wall in question and take accurate measurements along the wall and door frame. If the door frame is out of plumb and the wall is good you can remove the door trim, use a Sawz-all to cut the nails on the top and one side at a time and bring the frame into a plumb alignment then reattach it to the wall. If the wall is out of plumb you will have to evaluate the cause and go from there.

 

[Moparfanforever 844]

Whew!! I don't know. I thought this would be an easy fix, but from what it sounds like from the experienced people on here I should hire someone or leave it alone. 

 

I have other things that need to be addressed first, I will have to think on it. 

 

Thanks for the replies !!!

[stevasaurus 22,724]

I think I would seek out a friend that either knows carpentry, or knows someone else that knows and get him to at least take a look at what you have there.  Then you can see what your options are and go from there.  Getting someone to look could be free.  

[Yossarian 208]

On 4/25/2022 at 8:09 AM, Moparfanforever said:

Whew!! I don't know. I thought this would be an easy fix, but from what it sounds like from the experienced people on here I should hire someone or leave it alone. 

 

I have other things that need to be addressed first, I will have to think on it. 

 

Thanks for the replies !!!

Don't give up on it. With enough pictures, these guys can can help you get just about anything squared away

[Lee1977 6,657]

Have you looked close at the hinges they may be worn out. I have had to replace the hinges on two doors in my house. Both were prehung doors don't know it they didn't hang them right or just used cheap hinges.

There was  excise wear in the hinge. 

Edited April 30, 2022 by Lee1977