Sticking Front Door

[Jerry Solomon]

I have a leaded-glass mahogany front door (with sidelights) that sticks terribly in the summer months. In the fall and winter it works great. I've tried lubricants (soap, silicones) but nothing helps. I'm thinking the best permanent fix would be to remove the door and trim about 1/16" off of the hinge side then deepen the hinge mortises the same amount. I have all of the normal power tools (table saw, routers, etc.). Is there a better way to fix the problem? What tool(s) would be your choice?

[Kent A Bathurst]

http://www.lie-nielsen.com/images/4_lg.jpg

[Greg Sznajdruk]

i wonder if all six sides of the door are sealed? If the door works great in the fall and winter then it's taking on moisture in the summer. Maybe all that is required is to seal the door when it is dry.

Greg

[Callan Campbell]

Bottom,? or top corner at lock side? 1/16" sounds like way more than you might need. I'd start with 1/64 to 1/32, reseal the door edge that you've planed, and try a season with that. Make sure your framing that the door is attached to isn't moving from humidity/swelling, and making you think the door is at fault. You would still have to work the door to allow for any framing movement as it's way easier to take the door off its hinges and plane it down a bit than to worry about stopping the framing from moving.:D

[David Cefai]

Is the door sticking all along its length or only a part of it?

Normal practice in Malta is to carefully plane the closing edge of the door. It can be surprising how little you need to remove. You need to allow for the thickness of the varnish or paint when you refinish the planed section.

[David Prince]

Take a 2 x 4 block and place it on the door jamb and smack it a couple of times to try and force the jamb over. This might be all that is needed to give you enough room for the door when it sticks.

If that doesn't work, possibly a few nails in the jamb to pull it over enough unless it is locked up tight behind the jamb with shims. (You won't know that because your casing is installed and you cannot see it) But, a few nails might pull it over.

If it is a newer style door, it could possibly have screws tucked under the weatherstrip that the installer put in. Just tweak those in a bit to tighten up the jamb.

Another option would be to remove the screws in the hinges on the jamb and see if any are long enough to go through the jamb and into the framing. (Replace the short ones with longer ones if necessary) If that is the case just tighten up each of those and see if it pulls the hinge side of the jamb over without pulling the door out of alignment. You would probably want to make sure you pull each screw in the same amount to keep the door from racking in the jamb. Normally only one longer screw per hinge on the jamb side would be needed.

[Lee Schierer]

You first need to determine where it is sticking when it sticks, top, latch side or bottom. Each place will have a different answer on what to do. You don't want to start trimming and cutting until you determine what part of the door is sticking. Wood is easy to remove hard to put back.

[David Helm]

Check the reveal all the way around. It should be an even 1/8 inch on all sides. If it is wider at any place (or narrower) it could indicate that the door is not plumb in its frame. If this is the case, check the hinge mortises. If too shallow or too deep this can throw off the spacing. Hinges should be flush with mortises.

[John Neel]

If it is very close, you might try the sliver of wood [toothpick or matchstick sometimes will do it] under the hinge trick. With a little thought, you can tell which way to move the hinge a small amount. This trick won't always do it, but when it works, it's like magic. A few minutes of thought, a little screw loosening, place wood sliver, tighten screws, and, if it works, you are a magician. And, it's a lot easier than removing the door and planing.

I would first try the wood sliver trick, then tapping the door jamb, then tightening the door jamb by tightening or adding a screw or two, and finally planing.

[Forrest Bonner]

I have 14 French doors installed many years ago. Over the years I have had to resolve sticky doors over the seasons (not that we have that much in Southern California - mostly just wet or very dry). I still have to 'tune' at least one door a year.
My suggestions:
1) take David Helm's advice and check for plumb. 2) Use screws - not nails - in the door frames to be sure that they have not moved. Too many installers use nails when installing a door and over time they will loosen more than screws will. 3) If your door still sticks, plane off a very little bit of the door on the lock side where ever it touches the frame. Don't forget to leave the slight angle that allows a door to close but still have very little reveal. 4) Check the top and bottom for paint. Those two sides are quite often without any sealing paint and can sure cause movement over the year.
Happy hunting!
Forrest

[Jerry Solomon]

Thanks to all for the advice. The seasonal (hot weather) sticking seems to indicate to me that the problem is swelling of the door and/or frame. We live in south Louisiana so the heat and humidity in the summer are brutal. The door has glass sidelights so I don't know if trying to move the door jambs (2x4 and maul persuader) will help without possibly breaking one of the sidelights. The lock-side jamb appears to be not perfectly straight as there is 1/16" gap at the top and almost zero at the bottom. My first thought was to run the door thru the tablesaw and rip about 1/16" off the lock-side but I was concerned about screwing up the backset on the lock. That's why I then started thinking about ripping a little off the hinge side and then chiseling the hinge mortises deeper as required. I guess I could do the same thing with a hand plane.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Thanks to all for the advice. The seasonal (hot weather) sticking seems to indicate to me that the problem is swelling of the door and/or frame. We live in south Louisiana so the heat and humidity in the summer are brutal. The door has glass sidelights so I don't know if trying to move the door jambs (2x4 and maul persuader) will help without possibly breaking one of the sidelights. The lock-side jamb appears to be not perfectly straight as there is 1/16" gap at the top and almost zero at the bottom. My first thought was to run the door thru the tablesaw and rip about 1/16" off the lock-side but I was concerned about screwing up the backset on the lock. That's why I then started thinking about ripping a little off the hinge side and then chiseling the hinge mortises deeper as required. I guess I could do the same thing with a hand plane.

If the problem is on the lock side, go after the lock side [not the hinge side - you will only complicate things, as my experience taught me. "Attack the simplest solution" : Occam's Razor, slightly mangled to fit]. If you go after the hinge side, you could all of a sudden find that the top or bottom don't fit well. DAMHIKT. If everything about your house is perfectly square except this one detail - then you are the only person in the known universe. As David H notes - get an even reveal. But I would take the hand plane and go after the offending portion of the lock side, to get an "approximately" even reveal. Depending on how the problem is situated, a block plane may even do the trick with the door in place - but that may be too much good luck to count on.

At the risk of getting in trouble here - handplane the offending portion till it works. Not the entire length [height?] of the door - just the part that ain't working. No one - other than you, and the odd few thousand fellow Creekers - will know, nor notice, if the reveal is not dead-nuts even for the full length of the vertical edge. But, they will notice that the door works.

BTW - is the offending portion the same distance from the jamb when you look from both the outside and the inside? I ask because there needs to be a bevel [3* ??] on the edge for the door to clear the jamb as it rotates about the hinge.

[Jerry Solomon]

BTW - is the offending portion the same distance from the jamb when you look from both the outside and the inside? I ask because there needs to be a bevel [3* ??] on the edge for the door to clear the jamb as it rotates about the hinge.

Maybe I don't understand the question...but I can't see the reveal from the outside as the door is butting up to a door stop plus I have sections of metal/vinyl weatherstripping all around. There is a slight bevel on the lock-side but I didn't try to gauge the exact angle. The door was professionally hung about 10-12 years ago. It survived hurricane Katrina (2005) and the house experienced about 12 inches of water for a couple of hours only. I don't recall having this problem before the storm so that was probably the event that led to the current problem.
________________

[Rich Engelhardt]

Shim the top hinge w/a piece of cardboard (back of a notepad works great).
No need for major surgery.....

[Kent A Bathurst]

......There is a slight bevel on the lock-side but I didn't try to gauge the exact angle............

That's what I was asking about - just trolling for alternate root causes - and this ain't one.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Shim the top hinge w/a piece of cardboard (back of a notepad works great).
No need for major surgery.....

There you go, RIch - I like this answer best - easy to try, and easy to "un-try" if it doesn't do the task.

FWIW - I spent many years travelling 45+ weeks per year. I collected those credit-card type room keys. Got a couple hundred still on-hand. They are made out of .030" plastic - consistent thickness across entire surface. Easy to cut with scissors. The perfect shim, or guage. I use 3 stacked for setting the reveal on inset bookcase doors, or inset drawers, for example - don't leave marks like my previous "dime" spacers did. Would work great in this door application - weather-proof, crush-proof.