New front door hard to open.

[Clarence Martin]

Spent $548.00 for a new steel door from the Orange box store. Problem is , the door is hard to open. Had the Contractor out to see if he could fix it and he tightened down the threshold, but it still pulls hard to open. I lightly sanded down the brown rubber threshold. ( That was brand new !) and it closes better , but to open it, I really have to pull on the knob. I checked on all sides, and the door and frame are square. Only thing I can think of is that the rubber piece on the bottom of the door might be rubbing on the threshold. The Contractor said that ALL DOORS ARE LIKE THIS NOW!!


What else might it be ? I don't want to sand too much of the rubber threshold down, don't want air leaks.

[Marty Tippin]

Just installed a new door recently and it's the same thing - the sweep binds on the threshold. I find that if I give the door a good jerk when opening, it's not as tough as trying to open it with a gentle push.

You could try spraying some silicone on the sweep (or the threshold) but be really careful, as that stuff is super slick and you could end up creating a hazard for anyone coming in or out. I sprayed some on mine and it helped quite a bit, at least for a while.

[John TenEyck]

If your new door has magnetic side seals they could be contributing to the high pull force required to open the door.

John

[Mort Stevens]

Do you have a storm door? Could be suction created between the two doors.

[Clarence Martin]

No magnets. Have a storm door, but that is on the back porch . the door is off the Kitchen and the other side of the door is the back porch which is the laundry room. I did open up the storm door to see if there was an air suction problem, that did nothing to fix it.

[Mark Bolton]

It sounds like something is definitely dragging. I will say, even though 500 bucks is a lot of money, with doors you get what you pay for and sadly not much good comes from the home centers. Also, with many of the consumer doors today there is really a give and take. You can either set the doors to be very tight which will mean they may take a good push to latch (compress the weather strip) or you make them easy to close and there is the risk of peeks of daylight at the corners and air leakage. Doors are so light today that that solid car door feeling is really not there any more.

All that aside, your talking about opening which is usually never an issue. If the contractor did in fact lower the threshold as far as it will go I am guessing there is something going on at the sill level. Either the sill is not level, has a hump, or something, because you should be able to lower that threshold and the door should just open effortlessly.

The last thing in the world I would be doing would be sanding or modifying a brand new door. Thats an approach thats going to back fire on you.

I would really check the sill/threshold. Lay down on the floor and slowly swing the door. See if its dragging across the entire threshold or at a certain point, put a two foot level on there and make sure there is no hump.

Just my 0.02

[Clarence Martin]

It sounds like the sweep on the bottom of the door is rubbing against the threshold

[John Olier]

Remove the screw in the top hinge that is closest to the weatherstrip.
Using a 3" screw put it in the same hole that you removed the screw from/Drive the screw in until it is snug
Try the door and see if that helps.
Don't drive the screw so hard that you move the casing, Just snug
good luck

[Clarence Martin]

Remove the screw in the top hinge that is closest to the weatherstrip.
Using a 3" screw put it in the same hole that you removed the screw from/Drive the screw in until it is snug
Try the door and see if that helps.
Don't drive the screw so hard that you move the casing, Just snug
good luck



Did exactly that with all 3 hinges. It appears that the original screws did not get a good enough bite into the wood. The longer screws did pull the hinges in a little tighter. That part is good. Door closes easy now. Just stiff to open. Not as bad as before I sanded the rubber threshold down some. But still not like the other exterior door.

[John Olier]

One solution I use on new doors is dishwashing soap rubbed in the threshold it eases the friction on the bottom

[Mark Bolton]

If running a 3" screw (or tightening the one that should have been installed because unless this is a sidelited door they all come with one) were going to make much of a difference youd have been able to see the door gap at the head jam getting wider towards the latch side ( the door is drooping away from the hinges). Installing three long screws would have negligible effect just drawing the entire door toward the hinge.

The fact that the screws did anything says to me the door wasnt properly installed in the first place. No offense to any form of bandaid but soap or sanding isnt a good idea to me. One is permanently altering a brand new door that requires no alteration and the other is a temporary coverup of the real problem.

Make them take it out and put it back right. Correcting a sill issue on a production door install is something anyone working for speed is going to avoid at all costs.

[Myk Rian]

Our Peachtree door we had installed in 2005 is still a bit hard to open.
For $800 it's a nice door.

[Andy Swartz]

I've ran into that in new construction,
I've shaved the threshold from the
bottom that way when u tighten adjustment screws it will pull threshold
down farther( remove 4/5 screws a little
& threshold will come out ) a little tight is good , once the rubber on bottom of door wears a little all will b good.

[Tom M King]

Put a shim under the bottom hinge. I hate prehung doors, but on the rare occasion that I do hang one. I hang it by the way it opens and shuts, rather than worry about square so much. Plumb the hinge side, try it, and change from there before everything is fastened off.

[Ole Anderson]

I've ran into that in new construction,
I've shaved the threshold from the
bottom that way when u tighten adjustment screws it will pull threshold
down farther( remove 4/5 screws a little
& threshold will come out ) a little tight is good , once the rubber on bottom of door wears a little all will b good.

Presuming you have an adjustable threshold, and all of the adjustment is taken up, do as Andy suggests and take some off the bottom of the threshold and try again.

[Sam Murdoch]

If running a 3" screw (or tightening the one that should have been installed because unless this is a sidelited door they all come with one) were going to make much of a difference youd have been able to see the door gap at the head jam getting wider towards the latch side ( the door is drooping away from the hinges). Installing three long screws would have negligible effect just drawing the entire door toward the hinge.

The fact that the screws did anything says to me the door wasnt properly installed in the first place. No offense to any form of bandaid but soap or sanding isnt a good idea to me. One is permanently altering a brand new door that requires no alteration and the other is a temporary coverup of the real problem.

Make them take it out and put it back right. Correcting a sill issue on a production door install is something anyone working for speed is going to avoid at all costs.


With respect Mark - here I offer my rant to support the experience of the OP and others.

I spent a very long day yesterday installing a pre hung/precased $800.00 fiberglass door. The opening was perfect, and the install of the frame was done properly and professionally - everything, flush, plumb, square and all in the same plane. As you know the hinge positions are established at the factory as was the bore hole for the dead bolt.

The "adjustments" that I needed to do after the fact "altering a brand new door" with this pre hung door were:

1) Head casing removed and refitted. The header didn't rest on the sides - an 1/16" gap on the right and an 1/8" gap on the left. Door is level in the opening but the casings were just not fitted and no joinery to keep the jamb legs attached to the header. This was obvious as soon as the unit was taken off the delivery truck.

2) The dead bolt position in the jamb needed to be adjusted. No way to turn the bolt. No amount of pushing against the weather stripping or lifting on the door was effective. I moved the catch.

3) As described by the OP the door could not fully close at the bottom. Super drag of the flimsy rubber weather strip along the full width of the threshold which was set as low as it could go. I agree with Mark that trying to pull the hinge jamb at the top (otherwise known as misshaping the opening) is normally a sign that the install is not correct. I could see that the hinge side door to jamb margin was even but that the door to jamb latch side gap was twice as big (and that is aggravating) but at least even. Obvious that pulling the door at the hinge top wasn't going to improve the situation because the drag at the bottom was all across. Solution was to lower the hinges on the door by 3/16". This much without loosing clearance at the top :confused:. This picked the door up to allow for an easy close while maintaing adjustment of the threshold up or down as the weatherstrip wears away. Most importantly this eliminated the need for the homeowner to kick his new door closed at the bottom. :mad:

The door still closes too hard against the hinge side weather strip but I can't adjust the hinges to ease the door a bit from that edge because of the metal tabs on the hinges that are intended to "properly" locate the hinge.

So yes my solution was "permanently altering a brand new door". You had to be there. I am not a DIY. I am a professional who demands a high degree of satisfactory results. A new door should open and close properly without qualifying to the homeowner that it will "work better as the weather strips get broken in". I had a pissy day yesterday working trying to make work an expensive enough manufactured product. Sadly this is too often the way it it these days. I'd absolutely rather build and install my own product. That is not always an option though.

[Mark Bolton]

With respect Mark - here I offer my rant to support the experience of the OP and others.

I feel your pain Sam. I didnt mean to insinuate that a door couldnt be fouled from the factory but perhaps that is becoming the norm. My point was to make sure everything is covered before you go to the extent of permanently altering a brand new item. I dont doubt for a moment that given your experience, having exhausted all the known options, you had no other choice but to do what had to be done.

I echo your position that telling a customer that they have to live with something they shouldnt have to is becoming all too normal nowadays. I use to be able to blame it on the home center products however these products have now pretty much permeated the majority of my day to day suppliers.

Sounds like a very aggravating day without a doubt.

[Paul Girouard]

Put a shim under the bottom hinge. I hate prehung doors, but on the rare occasion that I do hang one. I hang it by the way it opens and shuts, rather than worry about square so much. Plumb the hinge side, try it, and change from there before everything is fastened off.


So how do you hang 40 doors in a house? Set the jamb , then fit each door like it's a flush inset furniture grade door?

Pre-hung doors are a reality, most doors I set are pre-hung in jambs at the door manufacturer. Most are poorly hung, french door are the worst , the hinges can be misaligned but up to 3/8" from one side to another, exterior doors , generally, have VERY poor grade hinges on them where hinge pin slop can mean 1/8 to 3/16 movement of the door on the handle side, almost un-hang-able , in fact we've had to replace most of the hinges in one house due to this , "Made in China" cheap hinge issue.


I'd say open your door and pick up on the handle , look at what the hinge's do , if you see movement , figure out what's causing it, is the hinge it self loose, is the movement due to the hinge pin having slop, other reason?

Once you figure out where the issue is you can work at a resolution to the issue.

[ray hampton]

buying or installing a door that will not open EASY is a FIRE hazard, try calling the fire department and see how QUICK the company that install the door will take care of this problem

[Ole Anderson]

So how do you hang 40 doors in a house? Set the jamb , then fit each door like it's a flush inset furniture grade door?

Pre-hung doors are a reality, most doors I set are pre-hung in jambs at the door manufacturer. Most are poorly hung, french door are the worst , the hinges can be misaligned but up to 3/8" from one side to another, exterior doors , generally, have VERY poor grade hinges on them where hinge pin slop can mean 1/8 to 3/16 movement of the door on the handle side, almost un-hang-able , in fact we've had to replace most of the hinges in one house due to this , "Made in China" cheap hinge issue.


I'd say open your door and pick up on the handle , look at what the hinge's do , if you see movement , figure out what's causing it, is the hinge it self loose, is the movement due to the hinge pin having slop, other reason?

Once you figure out where the issue is you can work at a resolution to the issue.

I can't imagine any door hinge/pin allowing that much slop. Oh, wait, yes I can.

[Tom M King]

So how do you hang 40 doors in a house? Set the jamb , then fit each door like it's a flush inset furniture grade door?

Pre-hung doors are a reality, most doors I set are pre-hung in jambs at the door manufacturer. Most are poorly hung, french door are the worst , the hinges can be misaligned but up to 3/8" from one side to another, exterior doors , generally, have VERY poor grade hinges on them where hinge pin slop can mean 1/8 to 3/16 movement of the door on the handle side, almost un-hang-able , in fact we've had to replace most of the hinges in one house due to this , "Made in China" cheap hinge issue.


I'd say open your door and pick up on the handle , look at what the hinge's do , if you see movement , figure out what's causing it, is the hinge it self loose, is the movement due to the hinge pin having slop, other reason?

Once you figure out where the issue is you can work at a resolution to the issue.

Sort of. I make all the jambs, and no fitting of doors is required, except for exterior doors that have the bottoms fitted to the threshold. Stops are set after the doors are hung on hinges, and locks set. I built new houses for 33 years, and never used a prehung door. With an efficient system, it goes fairly quickly. I built my last new house in 2007-didn't want to be in the crash that anyone with their head out of their butt could have seen coming. Since then, I have been restoring old houses www.HistoricHousePreservation.com (http://www.HistoricHousePreservation.com)

Doors are the main moving parts in a house. If anyone pays hundreds of thousands of dollars for one, it helps to sell one if all the moving parts work well.

[Paul Girouard]

Sort of. I make all the jambs, and no fitting of doors is required, except for exterior doors that have the bottoms fitted to the threshold. Stops are set after the doors are hung on hinges, and locks set. I built new houses for 33 years, and never used a prehung door. With an efficient system, it goes fairly quickly. I built my last new house in 2007-didn't want to be in the crash that anyone with their head out of their butt could have seen coming. Since then, I have been restoring old houses www.HistoricHousePreservation.com (http://www.HistoricHousePreservation.com)

Doors are the main moving parts in a house. If anyone pays hundreds of thousands of dollars for one, it helps to sell one if all the moving parts work well.


I make a few jambs a year , the ones the door company screws up , or we now think they will screw up . I assemble the jambs in my shop and I pre-hang the door in the shop as well.


Here's little short door they didn't want to see the hinges so I used the Soss hidden hinges,



http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b299/PEG688/010.jpg (http://s21.photobucket.com/user/PEG688/media/010.jpg.html)



http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b299/PEG688/011-1.jpg (http://s21.photobucket.com/user/PEG688/media/011-1.jpg.html)




http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b299/PEG688/012-2.jpg (http://s21.photobucket.com/user/PEG688/media/012-2.jpg.html)



http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b299/PEG688/001-11.jpg (http://s21.photobucket.com/user/PEG688/media/001-11.jpg.html)

[Paul Girouard]

Presuming you have an adjustable threshold, and all of the adjustment is taken up, do as Andy suggests and take some off the bottom of the threshold and try again.


The right fix is take the door off the hinges , remove the rubber door bottom , cut off 1/4" to 3/8" off the bottom of the door, reinstall the rubber door bottom, rehang the door into the jamb. Then re-adjust the adjustable door sill to the short door.

Grinding down the door sill , or attempting to cut some of the rubber off the door bottom are not the right solution to this issue.

[Paul Girouard]

Here's a interesting door jamb / relight I did last fall, a Teak sill , no brick mold or trim on the exterior , nor the interior, the GWB was brought right up to the projecting door frame , on the exterior the AYC siding was considered the trim. Odd design , this Architect comes up with some , er "interesting" ideas.

The parts , sill / head / sides the sill was Teak the rest 2 1/2 thick VG Fir,

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b299/PEG688/imagejpg1_zpsee5cfe66.jpg (http://s21.photobucket.com/user/PEG688/media/imagejpg1_zpsee5cfe66.jpg.html)


Partially assembled , the hinge routing jig in place to let in the gains for the hinges.



http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b299/PEG688/imagejpg4_zpsdd6ee7ce.jpg (http://s21.photobucket.com/user/PEG688/media/imagejpg4_zpsdd6ee7ce.jpg.html)




The temporary fiberglass door hanging, the door was VG Fir with the grain running horizontally special order 6 or 8 weeks lead time to get the door.


http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b299/PEG688/imagejpg5_zpsb37de51f.jpg (http://s21.photobucket.com/user/PEG688/media/imagejpg5_zpsb37de51f.jpg.html)

[Paul Girouard]

Door and jamb set on site ,


http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b299/PEG688/imagejpg1_zpsc593486e.jpg (http://s21.photobucket.com/user/PEG688/media/imagejpg1_zpsc593486e.jpg.html)


Siding and soffits installed all gapped 1/4" , the black building paper is made for "revealed siding" up to 2 " gaps , so the paper or building wrap is the weather proofing, very ODD for this ole carpenter.



http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b299/PEG688/imagejpg4_zps49d335a0.jpg (http://s21.photobucket.com/user/PEG688/media/imagejpg4_zps49d335a0.jpg.html)



Interior shot , not a great one with so much light coming thru the relights. That full mortice lockset cost $1,400.00 , from Rocky Mountain Hardware.


http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b299/PEG688/imagejpg5_zps18920603.jpg (http://s21.photobucket.com/user/PEG688/media/imagejpg5_zps18920603.jpg.html)




http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b299/PEG688/imagejpg2_zps93daa419.jpg (http://s21.photobucket.com/user/PEG688/media/imagejpg2_zps93daa419.jpg.html)



And the door bell wire ran down from above behind the relight stops and I bored thru the 2 1/2" wide door jamb to install the button , which of course had no escutcheon , just a friction fit door bell button.




http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b299/PEG688/imagejpg3_zpseaec4328.jpg (http://s21.photobucket.com/user/PEG688/media/imagejpg3_zpseaec4328.jpg.html)

[Paul Girouard]

General view of the house with steel siding ,

Before:



http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b299/PEG688/imagejpg2_zps909d95ed.jpg (http://s21.photobucket.com/user/PEG688/media/imagejpg2_zps909d95ed.jpg.html)




Mid way:



http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b299/PEG688/imagejpg1_zps2f69ef16.jpg (http://s21.photobucket.com/user/PEG688/media/imagejpg1_zps2f69ef16.jpg.html)


After:



http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b299/PEG688/imagejpg3_zpse25dbbc9.jpg (http://s21.photobucket.com/user/PEG688/media/imagejpg3_zpse25dbbc9.jpg.html)




And the color they selected for the exterior side of the VG Fir door:




http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b299/PEG688/imagejpg4_zpsb94106c6.jpg (http://s21.photobucket.com/user/PEG688/media/imagejpg4_zpsb94106c6.jpg.html)

[Tom M King]

Good stuff Paul.

[Paul Girouard]

Good stuff Paul.


Thanks Tom. You have some nice work going no to! Are you doing those restorations for private clients , or do you fix them up then re-sell them, maybe some other situation is funding the work, a institute , local historic community / association?

Looks like a nice niche you've developed! Sort of jealous here:-))

[Ellen Benkin]

I agree with Paul about taking the door sweep off and shaving a little off the bottom of the door. If you keep fighting the door you will break the rubber on the sweep and lose its effectiveness.

[Tom M King]

Thanks Tom. You have some nice work going no to! Are you doing those restorations for private clients , or do you fix them up then re-sell them, maybe some other situation is funding the work, a institute , local historic community / association?

Looks like a nice niche you've developed! Sort of jealous here:-))

Mostly private clients, but an occasional Foundation. No estimates or deadlines.

I built one new spec house a year from 1973 through 2007, but it looked like to me that everyone else in the homebuilding business had gotten smarter than me, so I started working on the old ones. I did everything myself on the new ones after 1974 with just two helpers. They were all waterfront homes. I'd start and close one in during the Fall, finish the inside over the Winter, dress up the outside in the Spring, sell it, and play on the lake through the Summer. I never used a prehung door, or bought a cabinet. I didn't put a price on one until I was ready to sell it, and never kept one for longer than two weeks once I put a price on it.