A door inside my condo has been sticking very badly, which I’ve only discovered recently. Here are the relevant facts, as I understand them from searches:
When I first moved in during the winter, I opened and closed the door multiple times a week to keep the heat in. I don’t remember it sticking, at least not to this extent.
The only other door in the condo that sticks even a tiny bit is the other door in the same wall, but even then not even close to as bad.
I have trouble telling exactly where the sticking is occurring, but there are scratches up and down the edge of the door that hits the frame first, starting right under the latch and going up.
When I feel the frame, it feels like the part above the strike plate is slanted (down towards the wall) in a way the part below is not. Can’t be entirely certain, though.
I tried removing the strike plate entirely; the door still stuck.
The latch cylinder is just a bit smaller than the hole in the side of the door, so it seems possible that it can move a bit.
The hinges seem screwed in okay, except one is missing and another protrudes a bit; this screw, of course, has a weird star shaped head that my screwdriver doesn’t do anything to.
The humidity in the master bedroom next door registers on my cheap measuring device as having been 73-78% over the last 24 hours or so.
I’m really not sure I could remove the door and carry it out by myself. I’m not very handy.
Given this info, what are my best next steps? I use this room as a home office, so in the winter, I like to keep the door closed so I can save on heating.
It’s sticking because it’s swelling from the humidity. Get a dehumidifier for that room, it should help. You will probably find that it stops sticking when winter comes around again, because the humidity is much lower. If you want to permanently fix the problem, you will have to plane some of the wood off the edge of the door. Hardware stores sell a tool that does exactly this.
Slide something between the door and the frame–a piece of paper, a postcard… all the way around the door. In what places does it stick? On the opposite side of the door from where it is sticking is there a significant gap?
Which hinge is missing? If the top one protrudes that may be the underlying problem, probably made worse by humidity as suggested above. You’ll need another hinge to replace the missing one no matter what you do, and you may need 3 new and stronger hinges to replace them. If you’re not very handy I suggest you find someone who is to fix it because you can easily make the problem worse.
Sometimes you can pull the door jamb in with a finishing nail. There’s a small air gap between the jamb and wall stud. Carpenters use shims to square up the jamb.
Driving a nail will pull the jamb in towards the wall stud.
Usually the rubbed off paint will identify where the door sticks.
You can also (for a varied value of “you”) put one 3" screw in each hinge (if it’s sticking uniformly) and try to suck the jamb over a bit. Put it in one of the holes closest to the stop so it doesn’t just hit drywall. Good time to buy a cheap impact driver and some torx bits!
I don’t believe that anyone has mentioned hinge spacers yet. If you determine, for example, that the door is sticking above the strike plate, you may be able to place a spacer (or even just a piece of cardboard you cut out with scissors) under the lower hinge. This will cause the door to rotate a bit and might improve the spacing above the plate. Obviously, the top of the door on the strike side will go up, so you have to have space available at that point or you’ll just have it sticking in a different place.
Spacers are available on Amazon, as are the screwdrivers you need to remove the screws you have.
I’m very reluctant to plane, shave, or cut a door to relieve sticking. Once you start down this path, there’s no going back if you misjudge things. I think the suggestions previously offered (e.g., a nail to pull the jamb in a bit) are much better options. Also, you can reverse installing a spacer very easily. I have had doors where I needed to install and then remove a spacer as the seasons changed.
You have to be careful of a poorly made door frame and weak hinges that are commonly found on low priced pre-hung doors now. Or the same in any door installation no matter how old. Often the problem is a lack of a sturdy frame within 2 inches or less of the hinges. A 3 inch screw needs at least an inch to hold in the frame, so reinforcement of the frame is needed in those cases. Longer screws than 3 inches may not help at all because the extra length just makes them prone to bending under the weight load. You noted some screws weren’t all the way in, I’ve seen that happen when they hit nails in the frame, and one time found useless short screws just holding the hinge to a lightweight jamb because the owner said they couldn’t get the longer ones all the way in.
So if you want to do this, start by removing the molding over the door jamb to assess condition of the jamb and the framing. Also keep in mind if the jamb is not square, true, and level doors don’t hang right and over time can bend hinges and warp jambs.
I have an exterior door that sticks after mid-summer until winter. Right now, it is so stuck as to be unopenable. I’ve removed the trim, thinking that I could re-shim it somehow. Imagine my disgust that the jamb is tight to the framing, with no room for repositioning anything. And of course it’s a steel door, so I’m stuck ha!. At least it’s only a rarely used back door, but it’d be nice if it could open.
