Replies

1. 
   Guest_ | Aug 25, 1999 01:35am | #1

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   Before I'd go through all the trouble of fixing your doors, I'd try to find out why your walls are out of plumb. Is the house on a slab and is it settling? Or is the house racking? It would be a shame to go through all the work only to have to do it all over again.

1. 
   Guest_ | Aug 25, 1999 04:30am | #2

   *I take it that the doors used to be plumb? 1/2" in 10 years is pretty bad. I was irritated that the front door on our house was 3/4" out after 60 years! In my case, I removed everything from the rough opening and rehung the door ... interesting to see the original carpenter's pencil marks... He only put one nail through the jamb, otherwise it was just the casing holding our front door in!I don't have removable stops, so short of routing and chiseling the stops I had no simpler choice. With removeable stops it's pretty easy if you've done this kind of work -- you can just reset the hinges and adjust the strike.But j's right, if you have an ongoing problem fix it first.

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   Guest_ | Aug 26, 1999 06:33am | #3

   *Bruce,I agree. Unless you do this for a living, it's not going to be easy. For that matter, it's not easy for those of us who have been doing this for longer than we want to admit.I use rubber door stops under the doors in my house. You think I'm gonna try to fix them? I don't think so. It's a lot of work to try to tweak a door plumb in an out-of-plumb jamb. But if your determined.........Good luck,Ed. Williams

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   Guest_ | Aug 26, 1999 06:42am | #4

   *From experience, the first question to answer is: "Were the doors and walls ever in plumb?" Could be that is the way they were built and nothing is different.(You don't say if you are new to the house, or have been there the 10 years).Once the house is fixed, if that is the problem, you don't need to rehang. But, if the original guy goofed you will probably have to improvise because if he hung them wrong there is probably something wrong with the framing underneath.Could be this is a good excuse for starting an antique and unique doorstop collection.

2. 
   Rmodeler_ | Aug 26, 1999 07:22am | #5

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   Bruce

   I just purchased a house for rental and ran into the same problem, this house is 22 yrs. old. In doing some checking, I come to the conclusion that it was built that way. The exterior walls are all plumb, but for some reason the bedroom interior walls are not, and the doors are hung with the walls so that you wouldn't notice the difference in the margins against the inside corners next to the doors. I know the builder who built it, so I'm going to ask him if he was having a bad day!!

   Good luck,

   Verl Kauffman(Rmodeler)

3. 
   Guest_ | Aug 26, 1999 07:58am | #6

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   Bruce,sounds like a problem that may have existed from day one.While resetting your doors might be an answer,there might be another quick fix. Try popping out one or two of the hinge pins.Lay it on a concrete surface tap it with your hammer near the middle of the pin.This slight bend could create just enough friction to tighten up that swinging door.

4. 
   Bruce_J._Kelley | Aug 26, 1999 11:24pm | #7

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   After reading your suggestions I did some more checking and it looks like it is just one wall that is bad so it was probably built that way. We have lived in this house for about 6 years and it's always been that way, but I had assumed the builder would have put it in plumb. I guess not. It seems worse lately, but I guess that's because I went through the house and oiled all the hinges a month ago.

   Anyway, thank you for all your suggestions, I'll try to increase the hinge friction a bit and if that doesn't help, we'll just keep using doorstops.

5. 
   Bruce_J._Kelley | Aug 26, 1999 11:24pm | #8

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   There are several doors in my 10 year old house which won't stay open without a door stop. I guess the house has settled. The worst wall is 1/2 inch out of plumb. How can I level the doors so that they will stay level?
   Thanks, Bruce Kelley