Door hinges squeak!?

[Wade Lippman]

My wife has been complaining of the door to the laundry room squeaking for a while now, and I finally got around to dealing with it. Pulled the pins, cleaned them, put white lithium grease on them, and reinserted. Made no difference at all. They still squeak. Opened and shut the door 20 times; made no difference.

Any advice?

[Barry McFadden]

Whenever I have a squeaking door I just give the hinges a shot of WD-40 and it's gone...

[Bill Dufour]

Are you sure it is the hinges not wood rubbing or the latch?

[Frank Pratt]

Whenever I have a squeaking door I just give the hinges a shot of WD-40 and it's gone...

This.

Or a couple of drops of light oil such as 3in1. It last a little longer than WD40

[Al Launier]

I've tried silicone, WD-40, Teflon zipper spray, candle wax, 30W oil, white lithium grease, and the squeak has always returned. The longest lasting of these is the white lithium grease. The white lithium grease was in paste form, not the spray.

I've also tried graphite without long term success, plus it does get dirty around the hinge pin and leaves some residue on the floor.

Since the squeak is due to some wear between the hinge knuckles & hinge pin due to differences in side forces on the hinges, one thing I've tried that has worked for stubborn hinges is to swap the hinges around including swapping the parts from one hinge to another. That might help you.

[Wade Lippman]

Since the squeak is due to some wear between the hinge knuckles & hinge pin due to differences in side forces on the hinges, one thing I've tried that has worked for stubborn hinges is to swap the hinges around including swapping the parts from one hinge to another. That might help you.

I tried moving the hinge pins around, as that was easy; but it actually made it worse.
So I took the door down, moved the halves on the frame around, and the squeak went away! Amazing.

The guy who built this house cut every possible corner, but he sure got heavy doors.

[Al Launier]

Glad that worked for you.

[Frank Pratt]

I've tried silicone, WD-40, Teflon zipper spray, candle wax, 30W oil, white lithium grease, and the squeak has always returned. The longest lasting of these is the white lithium grease. The white lithium grease was in paste form, not the spray.

I've also tried graphite without long term success, plus it does get dirty around the hinge pin and leaves some residue on the floor.

Since the squeak is due to some wear between the hinge knuckles & hinge pin due to differences in side forces on the hinges, one thing I've tried that has worked for stubborn hinges is to swap the hinges around including swapping the parts from one hinge to another. That might help you.

It seems like no lube is forever when it comes to door hinges. I think they were designed to squeek :) I would not use anything with silicone in it anywhere near a surface the will need to be painted one day. The smallest trace will ruin the paint job & it is tenaciously difficult to clean off.

[Peter Rawlings]

Ball bearing hinges. Keeps the casing clean of black carbon too. Used to be expensive and hard to find. Now I install 'em all the time. Door supplier upcharges me $5 per door on 3 1/2" interior doors, but before that, I was using these:

https://www.build.com/deltana-s35r5bb/s686523?uid=1478394

They also have 4" hinges for exterior doors.

[Wade Lippman]

Ball bearing hinges. Keeps the casing clean of black carbon too. Used to be expensive and hard to find. Now I install 'em all the time. Door supplier upcharges me $5 per door on 3 1/2" interior doors, but before that, I was using these:

https://www.build.com/deltana-s35r5bb/s686523?uid=1478394

They also have 4" hinges for exterior doors.

Assuming I match hinge length and corner radius, are these going to be direct replacements for my current hinge?

[Peter Rawlings]

Assuming I match hinge length and corner radius, are these going to be direct replacements for my current hinge?

There's a good possibility...hole patterns being the wildcard. I would say 75% of what I've replaced matched up. Another 15% were different enough I could avoid old holes and 10% were PIA. Might even check local Big Box for availability, but Build has always been good about returns should you order and they don't work.

[Lee Schierer]

Pulled the pins, cleaned them, put white lithium grease on them, and reinserted. Made no difference at all. They still squeak. Opened and shut the door 20 times; made no difference.

Any advice?

In my experience squeaks in hinges are rarely due to the pins. It is usually the weight bearing surfaces of the hinge barrels. A heavy drop or two of 3 in one oil in the corner where the curved barrel meets the hinge plate usually solves the problem for several years. No disassembly or mixing of parts is required.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Before you change hinges, check that the casing isn't rubbing the back of a hinge barrel when the door swings. That'll make a surprisingly loud squeak.

[Von Bickley]

Whenever I have a squeaking door I just give the hinges a shot of WD-40 and it's gone...

That's what I do.

[Jim Koepke]

For my recent desqueaking of a door my trusty little squeeze bottle of mineral oil was used. It is the same stuff as used on wooden kitchen utensils, cutting boards and my oilstones in the shop, good stuff.

jtk