Hi All,

I am hanging some new door slabs on existing door jambs and ran into a snag. I am able to get the doors to swing nicely and now need to cut the width of the doors to be able to close them. One of the doors when I close it to check the fit the top of the door hits the jambs first and the bottom of the door is about 1/4" away. And vice versa on another door, the bottom hits first and the top is about a 1/4" away. Can someone tell me a simple trick to correct this before I just start guessing and making things worse?

I appreciate any help anyone can give me!!

Thanks!

RFWWorker!!

 

That indicates that either the legs of the jamb are not plumb- not aligned with one another in the same plane, or it could be that the new door slab is warped. You could try swapping slabs around and see if it makes any difference.

You could realign the jambs to correct this by removing the casing and giving the jamb a few good adjustments with a block of wood and a hammer. If the door is nailed really well it might not move and you'd need to cut some nails loose with a reciprocating saw. But often the jamb will move on the nails just enough to get some adjustment out of it.

Lets say you are on the inside of a door, hinges on the left strike plate latch side on the right and there is a gap at the bottom right where the door is 1/4" away. What you'd likely want to do is make some small adjustments to each corner of the door jamb. You'd tap the bottom left away from you 1/16". You'd tap the top right away from you 1/16". Then the bottom right and top left would need to be tapped 1/16" toward you. So you'd go to the other side of the door and do that. This may not be what your door needs, but you get the idea.

Other times it's better to adjust the door stop to match the door.

I wouldn't suggest you try any adjustment to the hinges (moving them closer or farther from the door stop) until you try one or both of the above.

Be sure that your slabs are turned the right way- sometimes one or both sides will have a slight bevel on one side. The bevel helps the door clear the jamb as it closes without creating such a large gap between the slab and jamb once it is fully closed.

 

Thanks for your helpful hints!! I am very grateful. Every tip gets me closer. I am trying to update my mother-in-laws doors and never attempted this until now.

I will try and adjust the hinges a little. If I have the gap at the top, would I want to mortise out more on the bottom to try and even the gap a little?

Kind Regards,
RFWWorker

 

When you say "gap at the top" I assume you are still referring to the distance the latch side of the door is from the jamb near the top, correct? If so, the bottom hinge would need to be moved away from the door stop (which would leave a visible gap where the hinge once sat) the top hinge would be moved closer to the door stop. You won't be able to put screws right next to the old screw holes, that won't work- you'll have to glue, plug and redrill new holes. As I mentioned, I think messing with the hinge mortises should be your last resort.

Just trying to give you good advice. Don't want you finding out the hard way WHY I said it should be the last resort.

 

I misread your first suggestion of messing with the hinges being the last option.

Thanks for your help...I will try to adjust the jambs and let you know the outcome.

Regards,

RFWWorker