How to fix double door that can't close?

[aton5]

Hi all,

Have a double door where one of the door can't close recently. Before it became impossible to close it, the same door always felt a bit of resistance when opening and closing. 

Have attached some pictures. Also wondering if anyone could provide some clarity on why is this happening. Wondering if it is a structural issue.

Thank you! 

 

 

 

[JacobZ]

Hi @aton5,

The simplest solution to the problem is to simply take the door off the hinges and use a block plane or planer to remove 4-5mm from the top of the door, repaint it and reinstall it, but assuming the doors were the same when installed, there would be some imbalance somewhere else in the door.

I would start by inspecting the hinges and looking at the gap around the door. The door is hitting the top of the frame; this is fairly obvious, but if the door originally didn't do this, it means either the hinges have bent, or the framing that the hinges are attached to has shifted.

If you close both doors as much as you can and look at the gap between the two doors, does it appear even from top to bottom? Or is it narrower at the bottom and wider at the top?

If you close the door as much as possible then inspect the gap on the hinge side of this door, does it appear even from top to bottom?

The location of uneven gaps around the door will help point us towards the exact problem, which I suspect could be a bent hinge.

If you can inspect the gaps and report back on what you can find, I could take an educated guess on which hinge might be bent.

Also, some photos of the hinges would certainly help.

Let me know what you find.

Jacob

[aton5]

 

Hi @JacobZ 

I have inspected the door again as per your suggestion. Noticed that the gaps at the top and bottom are uneven. The door that can't close is currently higher than the other functioning door. Noticed that the top and bottom part of the hinge gap are also uneven for the door that has issue closing. 

  

 

[MitchellMc]

Looking at your latest photos @aton5, it seems the door has warped slightly, which is why the gaps are uneven and the top edge is catching.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like a simple hinge adjustment would correct it. To get the clearance you need, the door would have to be lowered, but moving the hinges a few millimetres would put the new screw holes right on the edge of the old ones, making it difficult to secure properly.

As Jacob mentioned, the most straightforward fix is to take the door off and plane or use a belt sander to remove a few millimetres off the top, then repaint the edge to seal it before rehanging. That will give you the clearance needed and stop it from binding against the frame.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell