I have several doors in our new home that are not closing correctly.I hung them myself, and messed with them for a long time and they never got any better. The problem is that they are not hitting the stop on the strike side evenly. Some bounce at the top, some at the bottom. I checked the walls and the jambs for plumb, and got them as close as possible. Some walls were not quite plumb, so I know that will cause a problem if you match the jamb to the wall. Since the jambs were made for the wall thickness, I don’t think modifying them is an option.
The doors, jambs, and trim are all stained, so caulking and painting is not an option. The stops are removable.
What techniques or fixes work for situations like this?
One door is warped, so I will replace it, but the rest are pretty close to flat (around 1/8″ out from corner to corner)
Thanks
Edited 11/16/2005 11:25 am ET by ewest
Edited 11/16/2005 11:27 am ET by ewest
Replies
The simple answer without seeing it for myself is to simply move the door stop. This is necessary with almost all door installs to one extent or another.
You'll find the factory nailing will allow an easy 1/16" movement by tapping it over with a hammer and block of wood without problem. If you find the stop bouncing back as you try to tap it over, simply add a few more brads and you'll be able to move it a bit more. Just don't add a lot of brads until the stop is adjusted or the additional pounding required might crack it. If a stop is installed way out of whack I'll remove it, snip off the brads and reinstall it correctly rather than risk cracks or fight bounce back.
The above assumes that the door face is aligned with the jamb face. A 2x4 door jamb can easily be bent one way or another 1/32" per foot or so, so the latch might be out of plane with the door almost an eighth while the lower and upper edge is fine. Ideally the jamb is adjusted to match the door even if it means "bending" the jamb a bit, with the door stop moved to take up any slack. Differences in "plane" between the jamb and wall is accounted for in the trim.
Did that make any sense or help at all?
Cheers,
Don
I usually shim the casing to meet the door, then I caulk the gap for easy painting.
My problem is after I get the doors to fit good, the painters come in and for some reason the doors never fit after that. They number them to put them back with there respective casing, but they must expand or something. I have to plane them. Bought a Ryobi hand planer, love it.
I always always remove the stops. They are the very last thing that I install on a door, even after the knob and lockset. A lot of guys don't do it that way but I never have a problem with a door hitting the stop and binding unevenly. When you remove the stops and reset them, you always can always follow the fall of the door and give the painter the little gap they need for their paint, and leave even more of a gap on the hinge side so it doesn't bind. Remember, there are only two sides that stop the door, the header and the strike.
I have a closet door and some access panel doors where I need to install some stop bead. I think I'm going to use the type with a rubber gasket pre-installed (this is an attic space).Anyway, how do you determine just where to place the stop? My first attempt on the closet door was not very good.
Install the stop just before the hinges bind. Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
HOW ABOUT THAT REZ GUY? UH HUH? ...He ain't Silesien I bet....wimp
I'll bet these doors don't have removable stops. If the gap is only an 1/8" you might try some clear plastic cabinet door bumpers. stick one at the top and bottom of the stop...
if that doesn't help, try bending the tang on the strike plate, or moving the strike towards the stop.
Tang? Tang?
Is that really what thats called?-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
WWPD
What kind of doors are they?
The reason why the door does not hit the latch stop from top to bottom is the frame is in a wind. Just move the stop to the door . Leave 1/16" space between the door and the stop. Next time place a straightedge on the floor against the walls. You may have one wall that is stepped in slightly or just not straight. Then you have to fudge a little to find where the jambs will sit in reference to the walls. When you plumb the jambs you may have out of plumb walls too. In new homes I sledge hammer the bottom plate to line the walls up. Not always feasible in older homes for various reasons.
mike
when purchasing any prehung, assume the stops are incorrectly applied and will need to be removed and reset.
1. level head.
2. plumb, align and nail hinge side of door.
3. close the door and align the edge of the latch side jamb with the face of the door.
4. shim and nail the latch side jamb in alignment with the door even if it means the jamb is not flush with the drywall uniformly along its length. no matter, casing can be applied.
5. install a lockset.
6. latch the lockset and then reinstall / adjust your stops.
7. leave a small gap between the hinge side stop and the door face for paint clearance.
this is just the basics.
carpenter in transition
Usually the stops are part of one side aren't they? All moulded from one piece?
Exterior jambs are usually one piece rabbeted. Interiors have a stop that is nailed or stapled on.
Interior pre-hung split jambs usually have the jamb and stop milled out of one piece dont they?????Live by the sword, die by the sword....but choose your sword wisely.
I doublechecked my door jambs and we must have a different manufacturer because our interior door jambs/stop are all moulded from one piece. The stop can't be removed here.
The ones in our 1976 home are two-piece, but they're an odd profile. I've certainly seen both one-piece and two-piece.
If ignorance is bliss why aren't more people
happy?
Yeah, either the door itself or the frame isn't flat -- it's warped like a potato chip.
Use a piece of twine diagonally across the door from both corners and on both sides. If the door isn't flat you'll see the twine stand away from the middle of the door on one of the checks.
Likewise you can check the frames by using two pieces of twine at once, attached to opposite corners on the door side of the stop. They should just "kiss" if the frame is unwarped.
If you have multiple identical doors and they all seem a hair warped in different ways you can play musical doors to get the best fit. After that you need to move the stops (or the entire jamb, if the stop is integral).
You could probably rig a deal with weights and sawhorses to straighten out some warped doors. Tricky to get it right and keep it from bouncing back, though.
happy?
simple solution,if top of door hits stop first move the hinge out away from stop.move bottom hinge if bottom hits first.