- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time
- 20 minutes to 2 hours
- Parts
- $0 – $25
- To hire out
- $150 – $350
A door that sticks, rubs or refuses to latch is usually telling you a hinge has loosened or the frame has moved slightly. The instinct is to reach for a plane and take material off the edge - and that is almost always the wrong first move, because it cannot be undone and often does not address the cause.
Work through the cheap, reversible fixes first. In most houses the problem is a single loose hinge screw, and the whole repair is one longer screw and five minutes.
How to tell this is your problem
- The door catches on the frame at one particular corner
- It will not latch without lifting or pushing
- A visible uneven gap between door and frame
- It swings open or closed on its own
- It has only started since a season changed
Should you do this yourself?
Yes. The diagnosis matters more than the repair. Once you know where it rubs and why, the fix is usually screws or hinge shimming, both fully reversible.
Stop and call someone if
- Doors and windows across the house have all started sticking at once. That is the building moving, not the door.
- There are diagonal cracks above the door frame, which points at structural movement.
- The frame itself is visibly out of square or has rotted at the base.
What you need
Tools
- Screwdrivers
A hand screwdriver rather than a drill for hinge screws - it is far easier to feel when a screw bites versus strips.
- Pencil
For marking exactly where it rubs. Close the door slowly and watch, rather than guessing.
- Block plane
Only if everything else has failed. This is the irreversible option and belongs last.
- Chisel
For deepening a hinge mortise, if the fix turns out to be a hinge sitting proud.
Materials
- 75mm screws
The classic fix. One long screw through the top hinge into the framing timber behind pulls a dropped door back square.
- Cardboard or thin card
For shimming behind a hinge leaf. Free, and completely reversible.
Step by step
- 1
Find exactly where it rubs
Close the door slowly and watch the gap all the way round. Mark the contact point with a pencil. Top of the latch side is the commonest, and points at the top hinge; a rub along the bottom suggests something different.
- 2
Check the hinge screws first
Open the door and try every screw. Loose ones - especially in the top hinge - let the door sag toward the latch side. Tightening them fixes a large share of sticking doors outright.
- 3
If the screws spin, go longer
A screw that turns without biting has stripped its hole. Replace one screw in the top hinge with a 75mm screw that reaches past the frame into the structural timber behind. This pulls the whole frame side back and often lifts the door clear.
- 4
Shim a hinge to change the swing
Rubbing on the latch side near the top? A thin card shim behind the bottom hinge leaf tilts the door slightly away. Rubbing at the bottom? Shim the top hinge. Cut the card to the hinge leaf shape and fit it behind, then re-screw.
- 5
Deepen a proud hinge mortise
If a hinge leaf sits above the surface of the frame, the door cannot close square. Pare the mortise slightly deeper with a chisel until the leaf sits flush.
- 6
Plane only as a last resort
If it still rubs, mark the contact area, take the door off, and remove a whisker at a time - checking the fit repeatedly. Plane the hinge edge rather than the latch edge where you can, and seal any bare wood afterwards or it will swell again with humidity.
Mistakes that cost money
- Planing first. It cannot be undone, and a door planed to fit in humid August is loose and draughty by January.
- Driving hinge screws with a power drill on high torque, which strips the holes and creates the very sag you are fixing.
- Ignoring seasonal timing. A door that only sticks in summer is swelling with humidity and may need nothing but patience.
- Missing the pattern. If several doors stick at once, the house is moving and the doors are the symptom.
When to call a professional
Call a carpenter if several doors or windows have started sticking together, if there are diagonal cracks above door frames, if the frame is out of square or rotten at the base, or if the door is a fire door - those must not be planed, as it voids their rating.
Hiring a carpenter
What Ontario requires, how to verify it, and what the work should cost.