Adjusting hinges

[Ellen Benkin]

I recently saw an article in one of the woodworking magazines about adjusting hinges when hanging doors or windows by adding "shims" to the back before screwing them down. Needless to say, I probably tossed the magazine and now I need the information. I've got an old house with french windows (open in) which are being painted. We took off the hardware to clean it and now some of the windows hang "crooked" and don't close correctly. I'm sure a little piece of cardboard in the right place would fix them, but I don't want to take them down and experiment (up, down, up, down, up, down, etc). Does anyone remember the article or magazine? I think it was some time in the past year.

Thanks.

[Ralph Barhorst]

I have "adjusted" several doors using old business cards. Cut the cards to fit under the hinge and punch holes for the screws. Place as many cards as needed to square up the door. Works good.

[Ron Robinson]

Ellen,

I don't know if this is the article, but the September issue of "Wood" has a discussion on hanging cabinet doors starting on pg.68. There is a series of pictures showing which way to adjust the hinge for each "out of alignment" possibility.

Ron Robinson

[Steve Cox]

I don't have the article info but a good shim material is plastic laminate (fromica). If you take strips and then break them they usually break with jagged but tapered edges which work very well.

[Mark Carlson]

Ellen,

FWW had an article on hanging doors in the April 05 (no 176) issue. It referenced an article on installing butt hinges in Dec 02 (no 159) issue. The 02 article talks about adding shims to the hinge. I'm not sure if these are the articles you remembered reading. ~mark

[Ellen Benkin]

Thanks Mark and Ron. I found both of these articles and I will try their suggestions.