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When people say to me my door doesn’t close right, the first thing I check is the hinges. 99% of the time this is the problem why most doors don’t close right after a few years. This is easy to spot by looking at the door itself. If the door isn’t centered in the opening the hinges are most likely to blame.
Why Do Hinges Fail
Hinges themselves do not fail. The hinges fail to hold the door in place properly when the installer uses short screws. These screws overtime work themselves out of the mounts causing the door to hang wrong and start rubbing. It is gradual and at first, it may seem like nothing. But as time goes on the door eventually sticks or won’t close at all.
In almost all cases this problem can be fixed by installing a longer screw in the top hinge. Replace all three screws with longer ones and the door should be sucked back into position.
My Door Doesn’t Close Unless I slam It
A lot of times a door won’t close right and needs to be slammed shut if the door latches are out of alignment. The reason this might happen is faulty installation or if you have just recently weatherproofed the door.
The weatherproofing will make the door not close because it is to far from the strike plate after installation. The easy fix is to take your strike plate off of the door frame. Then stuff the old screw holes with toothpicks and cut them flush with the door frame.
Then just move the strike plate forward just a little and insert the screws. This should take care of the problem.
Door Doesn’t Close Because The Strike Plate Is Misaligned
If the strike plate is misaligned the door will not close unless you slam or lift it into place or won’t close at all. You need to look at how the latches are aligned with the strike plate. The strike plate may be higher or lower than the latch or in front or in back.
Once you know how the latch aligns up with the strike plate it is a matter of taking out the strike plate screws, filling the holes with toothpicks as pictured above, and screwing the strike plate back in the correct spot.
Note: If the strike plate is too far off you may need to make the hole bigger behind the strike plate so the latch can do its job.
Door Doesn’t Close Because The Door Is warped
Doors can get warped from excessive moisture or naturally. Either way, if you see that the door doesn’t close and it looks like the top or bottom is sticking out from the frame your door can be warped.
If the problem isn’t too bad you might be able to move the stops so the door closes right. If it is too saver you will need to replace the door.
The door Doesn’t close because the frame is warped
This is another case that rarely happens but it doe from time to time. The only solution here is to just replace the door.
Most of the time a door that doesn’t close right is just a simple fix. But when it isn’t know when to call a professional. If you are having trouble with doors in Milford CT and need help don’t hesitate to call Connecticut Handyman Services at (860) 544-5105 or (240) 882-7183
CT Handyman Serves the greater Milford CT area including Orange, and West Haven Connecticut. I pride myself on being on time everytime and I will return your phone calls.