Greetings.

I hope this is the correct sub-forum for this question.

An interior doors to one of our bedroom has a gap between the door and the jamb. The house is old (116 y/o), the door is perfectly square but the jamb isn't, it is 1.75" off square. The door seals fine at the top but there is a diagonal line that starts at the top (lock side) and goes all the way down and basically you can see through inside when the door is closed (see pictures). The long black strip in the first pic is the dark hallway as can be seen from inside the room.
The hinges side is perfect and the doors closes fine.
The door's thickness is 1.5".
We have some old identical doors up in the attic and my initial idea was to completely sand one of them and then cut it in the same shape of the opening.
But then I thought about 'adding' some wood to the bad side, basically glue two pieces of 0.75" plywood, cut them to shape with a jigsaw, then glue/nail it to the door's profile to close that gap, re-send and re-paint the whole thing.

I would appreciate any advise and opinion and of course any ideas for other fix solutions (other than a new door). One thing that I won't do is I will not remove the frame/jamb in order to straighten it. Way too much mess to do this in such a hold house with plaster and lath.

Thank you.

 

If you add wood to the door itself I doubt the door knob/latch would work. You could add wood to the jamb to bring it out closer to the door and then reinstall the door stop.

 

I see what you're saying. Problem with that is that it will indeed "bring" the jamb closer to the door but it in reality will still leave an opening between the entire frame/jamb and the door. Added wood on the door will block gap. The door closes perfectly so I can 'shave' around the latch to allow free movement while keeping a continuous line from top to bottom.

Will I need to remove the paint of can I use nails/nail gun and construction adhesive?

Are there any other ideas to repair it?

Thanks.

 

Most but not all adhesives will bond to paint. Adding to the jamb will look a little funky [better once painted] but can close up the gap. The only other suggestion I'd have would be to remove the casing on that side and pull the jamb out.

 

Adding to the jamb will definitely not close the gap.
I believe we are talking about two different gaps. I believe the one you are referring to is the gap between the door and the jamb (between the two arrows in the first pic); this gap will definitely close when adding to the jamb.
I am referring to the tiny slot/crack that is left when the door is closed that allows you to see through it inside the room (see in the first picture inside the red square, and in the second picture which was taken from the dark hallway the light inside the room). Since it is closer to the door, adding to the jamb won't block this crack, only adding to the door.

 

Install a larger door stop - the wood trim that the door stops at.

 

Yeah, isn't it missing a door stop?

 

Ah, that's a good idea. I just need to find a 3" wide board, which is the width of the stop.
Thank you!

 

No, the door stop is there, the jamb is not straight, it is about 1.75" off. The bottom opening is wider, the left side (latch side) is crooked which creates a gap, so basically only the top of the door meets the door stop.

 

I see. That means the left and right jambs are not plumb (or are out of plumb in different directions.)

 

Correct. The hinge-side is plumbed, the latch side isn't, the bottom kind'a pushed away from the door opening which creates the gap. The top is perfect, the gap starts few inches from the top of the door and expand gradually all the way to the bottom.

Can the door stop be removed or is it "routered" as one piece of the door frame (the vertical one where the gap is)?

 

The door stop is normally a separate piece of wood, you may need to take a utility knife and cut the caulk and/or paint bond before you can remove it.

 

What Mark said is usually true. But old door stops are sometimes glued and also brittle. They often break if you try to remove them because they usually put way too many nails in them.

If you wanted to try to plumb up the entire door you would have to remove the trim and plinth blocks on both sides, cut the door loose with a sawzall and reshim it... Then retrim it.