we have double closet doors that have ball catches at the top. The doors are both flush at the top , but at the bottom, the right door sits out about 3/8" proud of the left door. So if you ran your hand from left to right across the doors, you would bump against the right door edge at the bottom. Door does not appear warped. Is there any way to shim hinges to make right door close flush? The vertical space between the doors looks even. Thanks

 

I would not recommend you do this, since my hands aren't on the door, but the door can be "unwarped" in the opposite direction. The method I use is placing a block (2x4 scrap) at the top and push the door bottom toward the closed position. I do it a little at a time and the door will eventually gain a memory. Remove the block with each push to determine its closeness to what you want.

 

Not sure where you would put the 2x4. Door bottom would need to be pushed in toward closet. Where would the 2x4 be placed at top and how would it be used? Thanks

 

If Chandler's suggestion doen't pan out... or if the doors are not warped, (or can't be warped back into shape) you could always check the jambs for plumb. Misalignment like that indicates the jambs are racked- i.e not aligned with one another in the same plane.

If the door jambs are not secured very well, you might be able to tap the jamb and casing in/out with a block of wood (to soften the blow on the trim) and hammer. Basically the right jamb needs to go in (toward the closet) on the bottom. The left jamb needs to go out on bottom (from inside the closet tap out toward the room). The opposite would be true on top. The left jamb would go in on top and the right side jamb would go out on top.

If you can move each jamb just 1/8" or so, it would probably fix the problem.

Here's a 2nd idea- you might be able to align the doors by putting an astragal-like strip on the back side of the offending door, so that when you shut the left door, it aligns and pushes the right door shut as well. The only drawback is that it would make the left door the one you would need to pull open first... (or both at the same time). But when you close them the right one would always have to be shut first before the left one closes.

(By putting the strip on the right door, it would force them to align when you close the left door against the strip.)

Here's a link to an illustration of what it would do.

A 3rd idea would be to put a ball catch and strike plate between the doors near the bottom, that might also force them to align.

I'd start with idea #1 since that would be the best way to fix this problem IMO. Messing with hinge mortises will also work but it would also mean drilling out, doweling the holes, redrilling holes, and having unsightly gaps behind your mortises, plus you'd likely need to adjust the interior door stop too.

 

Thanks everyone. The jambs are plumb. I may do the astrigal. That's a great idea. I still would like to try Chandler's idea first. I know where to push in at the bottom, but how would I brace the upper part of door? He had mentioned somehow using a 2x4. I was going to pull back on the top of the door while pushing in the bottom. I was thinking it should be done for a prolonged period of time, like overnight, but I'm not sure how tomaintain the stress on the door. I'd like to do it withthe door still on it's hinges

 

Dave, yes, put the scrap wood at the top and push in on the bottom, carefully. Like I said, it is a "touch" thing. Too much and you may pop a joint in the door. You won't have to maintain pressure for long. Try it a little and see the difference. Do it again and so on. The astragal is an excellent way of making sure the doors meet properly all the way up. One thing, you will need about 1/2" gap between the doors for the astragal to attach to the door. May not be a biggie.

 

I'm still not quite sure about how to use the scrap wood. Would I place it on the outside top of the door and clamp the door to the stop? I was thinking of pulling the top of the door and pushing the bottom. I can't figure out where scrap wood would go

 

Close the door on the block of wood and press inward on the bottom of the door. I'm just trying to save your fingers that will be stretched out over 6' to do what you want to do. Put the block in at the top, holding the door open slightly and push in the bottom.

 

I'm with the X man on this one. The jam on at least one side was installed twisted.
The right way to fix it would be to remove the casing and reshim it so the jam was at an exact right angle to the wall.

 

Just an update....astragal worked perfectly. One other thing though. The right door is slightly lower than the left. In other words, the top edge of the right door is 1/8-3/16" lower than the top edge of left door. Is there any way to cheat this without moving hinges and remortising? Thanks again

 

That usually means the door frame is out of square, which really isn't something you can change much unless you take the casing off both sides of the door, and reshim it.

But you could remove one of the short hinge screws (one of the ones closest to the door stop) and replace it with a longer 3" screw with the same head size. You would do this on the top hinge on the right door (the one that is low). As you tighten it, it "might" raise the door 1/8".

This will also increase the gap BETWEEN the doors near the top. So if that's not acceptable... well, then you can't have your cake and eat it too. LOL

 

So on the top hinge leaf for the door that sits lower is screwed to the jamb. It has 3 screws. Would I replace only one of those screws with a longer one or all 3? The orientation of the screw holes is such that the center hole is closer to the stop than the 2 outer holes. Would I just put a longer screw in that center hole? Thanks again.

 

Not to steal XSleeper's thunder, but yes, you are correct. One long screw in the single hole closer to the stop. You would be more apt to hit framing under that hole. Let us know what happens. Glad the astragal worked. Now, maybe this minor correction will help the attitude.

 

Success! I tried using the longer screws, but they would not cinch tight enough to pull hinge in tighter. So I shimmed out the bottom jamb hinge on the door who upper edge was low and shimmed out the top jamb hinge on the door whose top edge was high. Now they're even. Thanks again, everyone.