Are there any finish trim guys out there?

[Don Farr]

Please help me with this problem. I have an interior door that swings closed on it's own. It drives me crazy. I go into my walk in closet to get a shirt or something and as soon as I turn around the door has closed behind me and I run into it.
What can I do to adjust it?

[David DeCristoforo]

That's because the door is not plumb. Or the wall the door is in is not plumb. Either way you need to rehang the door plumb or install a "kicker" to keep it open.

[Steve Roxberg]

Please help me with this problem. I have an interior door that swings closed on it's own. It drives me crazy. I go into my walk in closet to get a shirt or something and as soon as I turn around the door has closed behind me and I run into it.
What can I do to adjust it?

1. Pull the center hinge pin.
2. Take it to your shop and support it over an open vise so that each end is supported and the middle is spanning a gap.
3. Smack it with a hammer to slightly bend it.
4. Replace pin and problem will be gone.

:) worked on my shop door.

[Richard Wolf]

Bending the hinge pin may or may not work. The answer you don't want to hear is David's about rehanging the door. Sometimes placing card board shims behind one of the hinges may solve the problem.

Richard

[John Callahan]

Provided your door isn't really, really out of plumb, Steve's bending the hinge pin(s) should do the trick. It was a trick we had to employ all too often given the sorry state of framing :mad: on some of the jobs we worked on. Worst case scenario - if the wall is really out of wack and you have a solid core (i.e. heavier) door, bending the pin(s) may not work ......... best bet is to do it right and rehang it plumb and add enough additional extension jamb to compensate for the lean in the wall. If it's a prestained split jamb, add a few cuss words and you have my sympathies.

[Don Farr]

Thanks, I like the hinge pin thing.:) I don,t think it is to bad off because the problem changes with the weather. I will give it a try.

John, I don't even want to get started about the framing job that my contrator did.:mad:

[Larry Edgerton]

John, I don't even want to get started about the framing job that my contrator did.:mad:

I know where you are coming from, I have to bid against those "Condokazi" types. I still frame better than most trim, but even on here you will hear builders puffing out their chests and telling how "fast" that they are. Precision framing is a dying art. Speed in framing always comes back to haunt the finish guys, thats why I like to do both. Its frusterating, because when I go up against those guys I will be 20% higher, and people act as if I am a crook.

I love it when they call me later to fix the cheap guys mistakes.......

[Don Farr]

I know where you are coming from, I have to bid against those "Condokazi" types. I still frame better than most trim, but even on here you will hear builders puffing out their chests and telling how "fast" that they are. Precision framing is a dying art. Speed in framing always comes back to haunt the finish guys, thats why I like to do both. Its frusterating, because when I go up against those guys I will be 20% higher, and people act as if I am a crook.

I love it when they call me later to fix the cheap guys mistakes.......

Here I go on the soapbox. Larry the problem that I had was I was not asking for cheap or fast. The contractor pretty much had an open check book (within reason of course) I begged him not to let the non english speaking hired help hang my very expensive Anderson doors and windows with a nail gun but guess what. They even hung some of the windows upside down.:mad: They had to be torn out and rehung.
I could go on and on but you get the point. Off Soapbox.

[Jim Kountz]

I know where you are coming from, I have to bid against those "Condokazi" types. I still frame better than most trim, but even on here you will hear builders puffing out their chests and telling how "fast" that they are. Precision framing is a dying art. Speed in framing always comes back to haunt the finish guys, thats why I like to do both. Its frusterating, because when I go up against those guys I will be 20% higher, and people act as if I am a crook.

I love it when they call me later to fix the cheap guys mistakes.......

Amen brother!! I get the same thing around here, I bid a job and they say "well so and so said it would only take them about a week, why do you need two". Can you do it in one week and knock of a couple thousand from your price"?? HATE THAT! Im like you, if I can I like to do both that way at least if something is wrong I can kick myself instead of cussing someone else!!:D:D

[Jason White]

You could re-hang the door, but a contractor friend showed me a trick:

Pull out the top hinge pin, set it on a bench, then whack the middle of it with a hammer, which will put a slight bend in it.

The friction of the bent pin in the hinge will help keep your door from swinging shut by itself.

JW


Please help me with this problem. I have an interior door that swings closed on it's own. It drives me crazy. I go into my walk in closet to get a shirt or something and as soon as I turn around the door has closed behind me and I run into it.
What can I do to adjust it?

[Dick Aubochon]

Bending the hinge pin may or may not work. The answer you don't want to hear is David's about rehanging the door. Sometimes placing card board shims behind one of the hinges may solve the problem.

Richard

I agree, that's the first thing I always try. It works 90% of the time. You will have to experiment with which hinge to shim, start with the jamb butt, not the door.

[Mark Singer]

It sounds like the opening is out of plane. You can check by stretching strings across diagonally if they just touch at the center the opening is good. It may also be that the hinge side is not plumb. The jamb will need to be removed to correct that

[John Callahan]

...........the problem changes with the weather
Your home is probably slab on grade w/ gumbo/clay for soil. Lived in a home (slab on grade) some years ago where my bedroom door would latch fine if we'd had rain and if we had a dry spell the door wouldn't latch. When I started out (30+ years ago) the owner of the company you worked for was right along side you swingin' a hammer. These days the "contractor" pushes paper and little else ....... you're lucky if he's even on site half the time. Larry is spot on about the "Condokazi" types- it's strictly lowest bid and everything else be da#ned. When you go to install a cabinet for a double oven and the wall is out over an 1" in 8' (new construction mind you) or on a reroof you find the CDX is just nailed in the four corners (just four nails!:eek:) you know someone just flat out didn't care. I apologize for my little rant .......... just ventin' a little.

[Don Farr]

Thank you guys very much. Bending the hinge pin worked. You guys are great. Thanks for the help.