I have used a powersaw to remove small strips on the bottom of a door before. I know there is wood in there that makes the door adjustable without exposing the interior of the door. I believe my doors are hollow except for that bit.
However, I do not know if there is wood at the top of my door and that is where it is rubbing. I’m having a heck of a time grating it down so it won’t rub. It’s a small rubbing area and I wish I could just saw off a thin strip from the top.
Is there typically wood inside on the top of doors, or just the bottom?
In my experience, there is wood at both ends of the door. That said, I still wouldn’t use a saw. Get a power sander and make several passes at the offending area before you start sawing away at things.
One thing that worked for me once was loosening the screws on the top and middle hinges just a touch, and making sure the bottom ones were real tight. Not more than a turn or so obviously - don’t want your door to fall off!
I used some wax paper to figure out where it was rubbing, then coarse sandpaper to sand it down. It took some elbow grease, but it saved me from over-trimming or damaging the door.
Back when I was a trades assistant, using a plane to adjust the top of a door was part of the standard job of hanging a door, along with fitting the door handles and door latch. You don’t have any room to adjust the angle of the door at the hinges, because the door has to match the vertical at the latch side. Doorways are never square, (they aren’t made that way), and you have to adjust the shape of the door at the top if it rubs at the top.
You can also take a plane to one of the verticals, but I never saw that done: adjusting the hinges adjusted the vertical line.
If the issue started with the house settling, the easiest fix is probably to tap the top of the jamb up. I’ve successfully done this a few times. Get a piece of 2x4 to protect the jamb and gently tap in an upwards direction.
Cutting the door is usually last resort. Adjusting the hinges is often first, then as aforementioned tuning the jamb.
If anyone else goes through this thread with a similar problem:
Before anything else, close the handle of a hammer into the offending area between the door and the frame, and give the hammer a good crank upwards/outwards, pushing the door in and frame out. That will solve a good chunk of minor rubs the fastest.
I have recently done this and I agree with this. I used a belt sander. I do not recommend a saw. It takes off too much material, and it’s hard to fine-tune how much you are taking off.
I would not do this unless the root cause is that the door is out of plumb or the jamb is not square. And if you do, use a shim as suggested so the screws are tight. If screws are not tight, over time and with use they will ream out the holes and wobble around.
Wood plane and sander are fine for one or two doors.
And after you spend a couple of decades trying all of the various techniques in your home, you could use one of these:
The problem I have is that all of the doors swell in the summer and stick. No matter how many times I sand, plane, tighten, and whatever, they continue to swell to fill the gap.
I finally grew tired of the tedious process and bought an electric planer. It requires a bit of finesse to avoid hacking a huge swath of wood off (hint: use its lowest setting).
The one I bought came with a handy 5-degree angle fence to use on the latch-side vertical edge of the door so that it is angled slightly toward the opening, as it should be. This makes a huge difference in ensuring a good fit.
Most of my doors were originally installed by me, so they had never been properly angled (doors come from the store with no angle since you could install them either way).
That makes sense…I haven’t experienced it because my doors are all painted, not the veneer kind.
I can’t imagine any chipping or cracking of veneer with one of those electric planers, as the blades are razor sharp and spinning at a scary speed.
But it’s a pretty serious investment for one door–not so bad an investment for a homeowner though.