How to warp doors to fit

[James]

Hello, I have some home-made quite old t&g doors that don't fit flat into the frames. Can anyone suggest how I can warp them to fit please. tia. James

[Cash]

Almost impossible to manually "warp" them to fit perfectly - but below are a few methods that can be used to tidy things up a little.

1 Move the hinges and/or doorstops in or out is the easiest method - or move the leg of the doorframe to suit. 2 If the doors are bowed in or out at the centre - fit an extra hinge in the middle of the doors and adjust the slamming stops to suit. 3 If the hinge sides of the doors are ok, but the 'shutting' sides are bent/bowed/twisted - remove the doorstop and refit in the best position and use the door catch to keep things 'straight' (you may have to push the door shut rather hard to get the catch to work).

As for actually "warping" the doors to fit - forget it, as they'll simply go back to their old position once you've taken any weights or cramps off.

As the information supplied is rather scanty - the above are simply 'best guesses' from my own past experiences of working on these things.

Are the doors internal (e.g. inside a habitable property) or external (e.e. outhouses, sheds stables etc), are these doors themselves warped, or are the frames out of true? Such information, along with links to photos (if you have any) [1] of the problem is relevant if you want a correct diagnosis and solution.

[1] Upload any photos to (or a site of your choice) and then post the links here.

Cash

[James]

Thanks for that, Cash. The door I most want to deal with is shown in photos at

. When it's closed, the bottom "shutting" corner is about 13mm (~1/2") spaced from the stop on the frame. At the top corner on the same side it's touching the frame, and the space increases gradually all the way down - so the door doesn't appear to be bowed.

On the hinge side it's more uniform and close to the frame, though I think I can improve it slightly by changes to the hinge and frame (this will make the problem I describe here slightly worse).

The t&g is about 22mm thick (7/8"). The door is probably at least 55 years old. I stripped the paint off it, varnished it, and hung it in this frame about 25 years ago. It probably didn't fit any better then, but I'm trying to reduce draughts and this is a noticeable source. James

[McGyver]

I don't know of any practical way. But the following impractical method might work, depending on the type of wood. And it might not destroy the door. No door is worth this much work unless it's an antique, in which case you should sell it or donate it to a museum or sent it to a restoration professional. I offer this only because it was fun to write, not as a recommendation.

Build a steam cabinet big enough to contain the door. The cabinet would be oriented so that the door, when it is in the cabinet, is parallel to the ground. The cabinet must have a flat floor made of something that will not be affected by heat or steam.

Build a mechanism to lower weight onto the door after it has been steamed into a malleable condition. One method would be to place the weight on a hinged lid over the door. (How much weight? Your guess is as good as mine, but I'm guessing that if you cover the lid with cinder blocks, that would do it.) The end of the lid opposite the hinge would be raised and held above the door by a hydraulic jack. The hydraulic pressure would be released at the proper time by a tool that passes through a hole in the cabinet wall.

Raise the weighted lid with the jack. Place the door under the lid. Close the steam cabinet. Turn on the steam boiler. Release the steam into the cabinet. Periodically release air that has cooled and add more steam so that the cabinet is full of steam for two hours.

Release the hydraulic pressure so that the weighted lid lowers onto the door.

Keep the steam going for another hour.

Turn off the boiler and release the steam from the cabinet.

After two days (assuming the cabinet is indoors), jack up the weighted lid and remove the door.

Done. Easy.

McGyver

[Cash]

James,

Having looked at the photo's, I would appear that the doorframes themselves have been rebated to accept the door - making things a little more difficult to resolve without either renewing the door, or some major 'surgery' on the rebate of the frame itself by making the rebates deeper.

Having said that, from your later description, it may well be that the jambs of the frame itself are out of parallel with each other [1] which will give you the effect that you are having - have you checked that by 'eyeing' the two jambs? To do that, simply eye the outside edge of one jamb with the inside edge of the other.

If they are out, then moving the jambs of the into 'parallel will resolve your problem - but causing a fair bit of damage to paintwork.

If they are parallel, then the other option is (as previously said) to cut the rebates deeper along the head of the frame and down the slamming jamb to a depth equalling that of the gap. This (along with fitting draught excluders) will mostly resolve the problem, but ruin the frame for a new door, and will look rather ugly aesthetically on the hall side.

If neither of the above methods are acceptable, then you could try fitting on the dining room side of the door, either an EPDM white draught strip:

OR an aluminium draught strip: and then fit a draught brush at the bottom of the door: (the three links are taken the B&Q site

But again, this may look rather out of place with the effect that you have appeared to obtain with the rest of the room - but that unfortunately is all that I can suggest, as these doors can be notoriously awkward to successfully draught proof using the normal methods.

[1] Rather than 'out of plumb'.

Cash

[fred]

In article , James writes

Would you mind experimenting with some sort of permanently visible brace?

My thoughts were that something like a a guitar neck truss rod could be used to pull the door into straightness but it would need to stay there for life.

An experiment with some threaded rod, nuts and heavy angle anchors might be worth a go. I haven't tried this btw.

[James]

Cash,

Thank you for that, and I think you have identified the problem. Sighting along the door jambs does show that they are not parallel, and this is confirmed by a spirit level. The door seems fairly true, which is pleasing considering its age and appearance. I think I will try to make a tapered wooden filling strip to fit along the slamming jamb.

I'll try a brush at the base, but don't know whether it will press too hard on the carpet as the door is opened. Otherwise it will have to be something improvised and fixed to the wooden step.

But I'm pleased you have diverted me from the door to the jamb, which does appear to be the cause of the fault, so thank you.

James

fred - thanks but it would be rather untidy even for me. McGyver - don't call us, we'll be in touch...

[Cash]

James,

Let us know how you get on with the job - being a very old carpenter, I am always interested in any problem resolutions, no matter how unorthodox,

Cash

[AJH]

I know exactly how frustrating this can be, I've had some success in the past by taking doors off and laying them down outside on a very hot summers day using bricks and blocks to hold them in a reverse warp position for a few hours on end until they cooled. As yours are probably fairly thin this should work better but obviously not a lot of use to you at this time of year!

I've got some softwood exterior French doors which are bowed enough to let draughts in so I'm looking to put an espagnolette lock system on as hopefully the top and bottom shoots will pull the gaps together when closed.

If yours are single opening doors I think adjusting your door stops is going to be the most effective solution really

[James]

Some of them are cupboard doors, tall enough to walk in. I've just tested one of them and it seems to be about right (still need to remove a spacer from a hinge and ease a bit that's fouling so I'm not sure yet). It's been held under stress for about 3 weeks. Two pieces of ply with a hole in each, connected by strong electric wire to hold in the top, block of wood about

75mm thick to force out the bottom. Time will show whether it retains its new shape. James