I have an interior door that will not close, how do I fix it? Simple home repairs 1.

I have an interior door that will not close, how do I fix it?

 Here is a problem that happens a lot to people especially in older homes.

Interior doors are usually hollow inside and have a skin on the outside around a light frame. This allows the door to function and still be light enough to open and close. The problem with these doors is that they have a tendency to become out of align easily because they are built so light.

Here is how to fix a door that will not close properly because it is rubbing on the top of the door jamb;
If the door is rubbing on the top against the frame then you have to remove some of the material off the top of the door. Depending on how bad it is will depend on how you do this.

• First things first, remove the door by pulling the pins on the hinges; this will allow you to easily reinstall the door after you have worked on it.

• Put the door on a set of sawhorses, if they are painted doors you should wrap the saw horses with an old blanket to protect the paint from rubbing off on the wooden horses.

• If there is a lot to remove to get the door to close properly then you should cut the door with a skill saw or use an electric planer. You should wrap the end of the door where you will be cutting in painters tape first, this will help protect against chipping and or cracking in the finish.

• Use a straight edge to draw a line so that you can take an even amount of material off the door.

• Cut or plane the door from the ends in, stop cutting before you get to the other side, you must cut or plane in from both ends or you could damage the finish on the edge of the door.

• If the door doesn’t require a lot of material to be removed then the best thing for you to use is a belt sander. This will remove enough material safely without damaging the finish of the door.

• When you have trimmed the door to what you want make sure to clean the door before taking it back inside. There will be a lot of sawdust that you wouldn’t want to track back into your home.

• Re-hang the door by putting the pins back in and make sure it now closes properly.
You might need to adjust where the striker plate and the plunger come together to properly close, this is normal when doors have moved up or down. You should be able to adjust the striker by removing it and chiseling out the wood so that the striker sits flush in its new location.

Rob Abbott
Operations Manager
Village Builders Inc