French doors problem

After this scorching summer, my french doors that lead to the outside no longer shut properly. The latches to lock the door no longer match up between the two. I can visually see that the doors are offset at the top and bottoms. The only way to keep them shut is to force the deadbolt closed. I'm thinking the door frame warped from the heat. What is the best option to do now to get them lined up? I checked the hinges and they are all tight.

 

Shim behind some of the hinges to tilt the doors in the proper direction. How much out of alignment are they? If the latch side of a door is high, shim the top and middle hinge. If the latch side is low, shim the bottom and middle hinge. The shim for the middle hinge needs to be half as thick as the shim for the top or bottom hinge.

 

Sounds like a plan. I will try that. Thank you!

 

When you say the the doors are offset at the top and bottom, are you referring to the gap between the doors? Is it tight on top between the doors and loose on the bottom? What about the gaps over the doors when they are closed? Is one of the gaps over one of the doors straight while the other door appears to be sagging a little? If so, you may need to install some long screws through the hinges back into the framing to pull the doors back to the position they formerly were in.

Shimming will work if the jambs have spread, but shimming behind the hinges will also make the gap between french doors tighter, so that may not be the solution. Most often, the jamb has not spread- instead, gravity and the weight of the door has pulled the jamb in slightly at the hinges. Removing one of the short screws in the hinges and replacing it with a long 3" screw usually fixes that problem.

 

Hopefully I can explain this. Looking at the doors (2), I can't see a height difference at the bottom (gap wise), at the top, I notice the top right side of the left door is higher the the top left. Looking at the right side door, the top left side has a bigger gap then the top right. Does that make any sense? The latch is about 1/8 - 1/4 " off. I have to push down on the handle of the left door to latch the dead bolt.

 

Yes, that makes perfect sense. Since the left door is high and the right door is low, here is what I'd try:

First, take note of the gap between the doors- how wide it is, and whether it is consistantly straight from top to bottom. You've already looked at the gap across the tops of the doors, so also remember what it looked like.

Open both doors. Remove 1 screw from the jamb hinge on the bottom left door hinge. Replace it with a 3" long screw and tighten it down snug. Remove 1 screw from the jamb hinge on the top right door hinge. Replace it with a 3" long screw and tighten it down snug. Observe any change that makes in the gaps mentioned above. Hopefully it will be straighter, and if it is, and it needs even more adjustment, you can try tightening those 3" screws even more. If it increases the gap in the middle significantly and you think it is too wide, you can shim behind the bottom right hinge and the top left hinge (leaving the middle alone) to further correct the sag. Sometimes you can insert a few pennies behind the hinge as shims.

Let us know how it goes.

 

I appreciate your help! I will definetly try what you suggested tomorrow, if not sometime this week. Sounds pretty simple, hopefully it turns out that way. Thanks again for your assistance.

 

Thanks for the help! I put in some nice long 3" screws and a few pennies behind the hinge plates and the doors now shut properly. There is a little rubbing between the two doors at the top, but not bad enough for me to worry about. Thanks Gents!

 

Wow....great advice there...and alot of work required too.

Next time you might want to adjust the striker plate (keeper) on the fixed leaf. Then you can just raise or lower it slightly to readjust where the latch and bolt go in....

No need to take the door off or play with the hinges. Why make a mountain out of a molehill?