I have a metal door on the back of my house that opens to our deck. My problem is when the ground freezes in the winter the door binds at the top. If you stand a few feet back and look at the door from the inside it does appear to be closer, ever so slightly, to the frame at the top then at the bottom. I checked the plumb and the level shows its square and plumb. Any suggestions on how to fix this. It is quite a pain, especially in the winter when you want to use the grill.


Thanks, Tom

 

The problem is not in the door or frame, it is in the ground under the door, or whatever is under the door. Whatever is under the doors soaks up moisture all summer and when it freezes it expands.........and raises the door frame and threshold. Fix the moisture porblem under the door and you will fix the door problem.

 

The problem is not in the door or frame, it is in the ground under the door, or whatever is under the door. Whatever is under the doors soaks up moisture all summer and when it freezes it expands.........and raises the door frame and threshold. Fix the moisture problem under the door and you will fix the door problem.

 

I think Just Bill is on the right track. If some of your decking extends under the threshold of the door, it could be that when the deck rises, or ice under the threshold expands, it is making your door threshold raise up slightly, pinching the door on top.

In that case, a solution might be removing a few pieces of decking, chiselling maybe 1/8" off the ledger, then reattaching the decking.

If the problem is related to the entire structure (that the door is sitting on) heaving due to frost, then you have a bigger problem that has to do with the foundation and footing not being deep enough.

Before you get too involved in diagnosing the problem, a simple fix might be remove one of your short hinge screws from the bottom hinge and replace it with a 3" screw that will go into the stud. What this will do is pull the door down on the top latch side. Play with the tightness of the screw- you might be suprised how much it adjusts the gap on the top of the door. (Don't tighten it too much, since this adjustment will also make the gap wider on the sides of the door near the bottom.) Also, if it makes the door drag on the bottom, then that's not good either. I'd try this adjustment first, because it takes 5 minutes.