I recently replaced our home's entry door. It is a pre-hung 36" door with a 14" side light. I removed the old door and installed the new one, and everything was working great. Then a few weeks later the door began to warp/sag and no no longer latches when it closes. In order to get it to latch you have to lift the door so the latch lines up. This all seemed to happen at the same time the humidity went up. I've tried to adjust the shims and a couple of other little things to fix the problem, although these things helped, at least temporarity, they did not prove to be the fix. I've looked at adjusting the door latch system, but it is poorly constructed enough that I would have to move the latch about 3/4 of an inch to get it to line up properly. So if I did that, one of the screws would fall right into the existing latch hole. The door does not seem to be level, so I am baffeled as to what caused this and how to go about fixing it. I am hoping somebody has some advice on how I can deal with this situation.

Thank you in advance,

Bob

 

If the door was properly shimmed to plumb/level then fasted securly(I use 3" screws into the house framing, also at the top), it should stay put. How did you fasten it to the house?? Which side with reference to the hinges is the sidelight??

 

I think Just Bill hit it on the nose, asking which side the sidelight is on. When doors have a sidelight installed on the hinge side, they almost always have problems with sagging, because when you go to put a 3" screw through the top hinge, there is nothing to screw the hinges of the door to, since the nearest stud is 16" away!

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/thexsleeper/detail?.dir=4b29&.dnm=d26cre2.jpg

When there is no long screw through the top hinge, the weight of the door pulls down on the hinge, which will cause the door to drop down on the latch side- dragging on the threshold- and they sag toward the latch side jamb- sometimes rubbing on the side jamb right at the top as the door closes.

I did read an intruiging article once, detailing how to go about fastening a door to the hinge side studs by threading an anchor through the top stile of the sidelight (just above the sidelight glass) and through the hinge side jamb. What that does is it keeps the hinge side of the jamb (that separates the sidelight from the door) from bowing under the weight of the entry door by securing it to the stud- through the sidelight. Although I've never had to use it, that would be a good trick to remember.

Another possibility is that the threshold is not perfectly level, or perfectly straight. The latch side could be too high and it might mean that you need to insert shims under the threshold under the hinge side of the jamb. Try prying under the hinge side of the threshold/door frame and watch the latch to see if prying up helps raise the door.

It is really key to check the bottom of the rough opening for level- prior to installing the door. I like to level the bottom of the rough opening with shims, ensure that the shims will provide a flat surface- that the center of the opening is not bowed up or down- which, on an opening that is about 60" wide, means cutting a perfectly straight board that just fits into the opening, setting it where the door will sit, and checking it with a 4' level to ensure the entire length of the rough opening is level. If you move a 4' level from one side to another in an opening that is wider than 4', you won't get a true reading.

So if you can get your face down next to the bottom of the threshold, close one eye and see if it's really sitting straight. I'm guessing that it might be taking a dive on the hinge side, and needs to be pryed up, and supported with shims.

Depending on how much you raise the door, it will probably compromise any sealant you put across the bottom of the rough opening, so you'd probably want to uninstall / caulk / reinstall the door, because if you just try to recaulk the surface edges you will probably find that caulking the front of a door threshold really does very little to keep water and air out.

 

The side light is oposite the hinges. so if the center post saged it would actually make the latch work better.
For installation I screwed the brick mold to the house in 8 places, screwed long screws through the hinges into the studs of the rough opening, and put a screw up into the top of the rough opening in about the center of the door/sidelight opening. I also put shims in the corners of the door both top and bottom when leveling the door, before screwing it in place. The best I can figure is that the frame of the door absorbed moisture and shifted because of it. Now I am not sure how to fix it. I've installed doors before and never had them do anything like this after installation, so this is new territory for me.
Maybe if I put shims about midway in the top of the door? But I would think that would screw everything up.

Steps I have taken to try to fix the problem. I've tightened the screw that goes through the top hinge into the rough opening stud, which fixed things for a little while, but the problem came back. I then adjusted the shims and tried loosening the screw in the top of the door frame, but that didn't do much. So now I am kind of at a loss.

 

The door seems torqued in some way. Take a framming square to all inside corners to see which way the door is out of square. If the latch hangs low, it indicates that the hinge side of the door needs to be raised up. Place shims under the threshold to raise the hinge side of the door. I would also not use the brick molding as the main anchoring mechanism. Instead, Free all attachments from the Brick Molding and use shims to set each side (front to back and Left to right) plumb. To check for level (horizontal) use a 4 ft level (not a small speed level) to get an accurate reading (both top and bottom). If you can, I would pre-drill and countersink 3 1/2" exterior screws through the shims on both the sides and header, Plug, sand and paint the holes. The gap around the door slab and frame should also be even all the way around.

 

XSleeper wrote:

>>So if you can get your face down next to the bottom of the threshold, close
>>one eye and see if it's really sitting straight. I'm guessing that it might be
>>taking a dive on the hinge side, and needs to be pryed up, and supported
>>with shims.

Have you done this, and is the bottom edge of the threshold perfectly straight? Since you say the sidelight is on the latch side, the hinge side of the door could be low... it could be the side that might use a shim under it.

You need to install shims behind all 3 hinges to give them support. It could be that if you do not have shims behind the lower and middle shims, that the door has been allowed to sag. Screws through the brickmould don't really keep a door from moving at ALL. So I'd say that a few shims to tighten up the support behind the lower hinge might be the trick. Since the door has sagged, it's likely that you'll have to use a prybar between the lower hinge and the stud to give you enough room to slip the shims in.

The most accurate way to check a door for plumb is with a 6' level that will check all 3 hinges at once.

 

XSleeper wrote:

>>It could be that if you do not have shims behind the lower and middle shims

That should have read, "lower and middle HINGES!"

Its too bad we can't edit our own posts after a certain amount of time.