pre-hung interior door won't close


  #1  
Old 12-27-05, 03:23 PM
DebbieW
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pre-hung interior door won't close

I have attached a pre-hung 36x80 interior door. Everything is plumb. But now the door won't close completely. It doesn't meet the inside stop near the top of the door. I suspect the upper hinge isn't right...what else might cause this problem and what is the remedy?
 
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Old 12-27-05, 04:12 PM
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Its not likely that the hinges are the problem. When a door does not hit the door stop, it usually indicates the door jamb is out of plumb with the wall. Unless you're using a 6ft level, it will be hard for you to tell if the legs of the jamb are really plumb or not. I'm not referring to the door being level and square, I'm referring to the plane that the door sits in, as compared to the wall. If you center the door in a wall that is out of plumb, your door will not be plumb. The door jamb may actually have to stick out past the wall a little bit in one or more places in order to truely be plumb.

It could also be that the slab of the door is warped. Occasionally you'll get a door that is whacked out on one corner. You can check it by setting a straight-edge on the door and see if it's flat or not.

The remedy will either be moving the door stop in to meet the door, or moving that corner of the door jamb in so that the door meets the door stop. (conversely, you could move the bottom out and achieve the same thing.) You could also move the bottom hinge side out a bit which would also bring the door toward the door stop, or conversely you could move the top hinge side in and accomplish the same thing. Usually the adjustment is made on the bottom legs of the jamb so that you can keep the top of the door inline with the wall so as to keep your casing miters nice.
 
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Old 12-27-05, 07:22 PM
G
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Excellent post XSleeper. Another way to check for a warped door panel is to tie a piece of kite string around the door long ways, being sure to pull it tight. Any gaps between the string and the slab will indicate a warped panel.
This problem however, usually is the result something being not plumb.
 
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Old 12-27-05, 07:47 PM
DebbieW
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thanks, that makes sense. I'll look at it and see if I can adjust the bottom of the jamb.
 
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Old 12-28-05, 11:45 AM
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Thanks grob62 And DebbieW, if it makes sense, that's amazing, because when I re-read it, I sounded pretty confusing! Let me try to explain it one more time, using an example:

Let's say you are standing on the side of the door where you have pulled it shut, and you can see how the door is not hitting the door stop. Let's say that this is occuring in the top right corner of the door. (if your door is gapped open on the top left, just reverse everything in this post.)

If the door is gapped open on the top right and is not coming into contact with the door stop, that would mean that the top right corner of the door jamb (and attached door stop) needs to be knocked in (toward the slab of the door). This may mean the jamb will be knocked in a little farther than the wall surface, but if its only 1/8" that will be okay. If that isn't enough to make a difference, then the left top side would need to come toward you. Again, 1/8" would be about the most you would want to move it.

Now like I said earlier, you often would rather make this adjustment on the bottom if at all possible, so that your miters will stay true. So- perhaps rather than adjusting the top, what you would do is kick the bottom left side of the jamb in... which would produce the same effect as pushing the top right side in. Or, you could pull the bottom right side of the door out, which would be the same thing as moving the top left side in.

Often, if a door is really whacked out, you will have to do a combination of all 4 adjustments to get the door plumb, because 4 minor adjustments are often better than making 1 big adjustment to only one corner of the door.

Also, like mentioned before, moving the door stop is often the most simple way to get the door to latch, but it doesn't really fix the problem.
 
 

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