Long hinge screws to fix sagging door

[Tom Henderson2]

An suggestions for where to source 2-1/2" long hinge screws?

The door between the garage and utility room in my GF's place is sagging badly. It is a 1-3/8 solid-core wooden door.

I'll be drilling out the stripped screw holes in the door and glueing 3/8 dowel plugs so the new screws have something to hold onto.

The existing screws are 2" long; I'd like to replace them with 2-1/2" screws. I presume these are just ordinary #9 flat-head wood screws. Please let me know if they are somehow special!

Any thoughts about where to source them? My experience with borg screws isn't the best.

McFeely's?

Thanks in advance!

-Tom in SoCal

[Darcy Warner]

Just use grks or spax.

[Neil Gaskin]

Any #8 wood construction screw should work. Put a few toothpick s in the original hole if it's bored out.

[Sam Murdoch]

I agree with using GRKs or the like. You will likely need to conterbore the screw hole in the leaf to receive the GRKs with the nibs but this has always worked well for me. Just last week I hung a 113" x 36" wide door that likely weighed 300 lbs. There was no question that a a few long screws in each jamb leaf would be needed. I did just as I described. The color match was more than close enough considering the gain in integrity.

GRKs are pretty much sold everywhere where construction materials are sold.

[John C Cox]

I just used some decent 3 1/2" deck screws for a similar situation and they worked like a charm.

For huge long screws - I recommend a power drive friendly bit shape - square or torx... Definately not flat head for this duty and standard phillips may give you fits...

[Lee Schierer]

Make sure there are shims behind the hinges to fill any gaps between the door jamb and the framing so you don't pull the door out of plumb when you tighten the longer screws.

[Tom Henderson2]

Thanks everybody. I'll look for GRK's or Spax.

the door jamb screws seem to be tight; it is the screws in the door itself that are stripped. I didn't make that clear in my initial post.

-Tom in SoCal

[Sam Murdoch]

Thanks everybody. I'll look for GRK's or Spax.

the door jamb screws seem to be tight; it is the screws in the door itself that are stripped. I didn't make that clear in my initial post.

-Tom in SoCal

Yes - with a more careful reading of your post you do write that you are drilling out the "stripped screw holes in the door".

Sorry - I was thinking of the age old problem of door sag coming from the jamb screws. In your case after filling the holes - I think, simply redrilling and using conventional hinge screws (up to 1-1/2" long) would be adequate. You are solving the problem by starting new with solid wood.