Wood door out of balance

[Wilfred Xavier Pickles]

Greetings, I belong to a little brick bungalow in the midwest US, built in 1954.

The back door is wood with 3 glass sections, 3 panel sections, and

3 hinges with nice, tight screws.

Say the door is at 0 degrees when closed and latched. It will open to 100 degrees or so when it encounters a door-stop. When I set it fully open, it comes back to about 90 degrees open. It doesn't stay in place when opened fully.

The door is obviously out of balance, but I can't see the reason for it. Is there a common cause for such behavior?

Thx, Will

[krw]

It's not "balance", per se. The "problem" is that the hinges aren't plumb (it's likely the house has settled). You can try loosening the lower hinge screws and slipping a piece of paper or two behind the hinge (frame side) and retighten. This will raise the latch, so it may cause more problems than it cures.

[clare]

Much better yet, simply shim the hinges so the door "hangs" open.

[croy]

The kingpin angle is off.

[dpb]

On 11/22/2011 8:02 PM, Wilfred Xavier Pickles wrote: ...

...

Too small a footprint to tell anything for certain...

--

[krw]

The level has to span all three hinges. Even then it may not be good enough, depending on how good the hinges are. The best way to fix this is to just shim it until it doesn't do what you don't want it to do.

[Wilfred Xavier Pickles]

True ... were just an indicator.

I can install a stop, whatever, no problem. The problem is ... "The Mystery". I been here 27 years, and for 26.75, the door didn't 'close itself'.

Something changed, and I need to know about it. But it doesn't seem to be visable.

Other ideas?

Will

[DerbyDad03]

Have you checked for loose screws at the hinges?

Have you really checked for square by measuring the opening diagonally from corner to corner?

Your "little torpedo level" was nothing more than an "indicator" of the ~6 *inches* it can check. I could tell you about the time my 6

*foot* level showed that a beam was level but my eyesight proved that not to be true.

[Wilfred Xavier Pickles]

And that's likely what I'll wind up doing.

Leaving "why did it start doing this after 26.xx years" a mystery.

Will

[krw]

I might check for termites/carpenter ants.

[micky]

I used to find it pretty eash to adjust my fridge legs so the refrigerator door shut by itself.

But here, I can open the door more than 90 degrees. It took a bunch of adjusting to get it to shut even then.

Your door has the same problem, or the opposite if you want it to stay where it is.

[DanG]

It sounds like wear on the top hinge which usually takes most of the load. Try swapping the top hinge for the bottom hinge to see if that fixes it. Hinge pins and the hinge barrels themselves wear. In-laws had an older home that let the bathroom door down almost a 1/4" so that the latch didn't even catch. Antique hardware didn't want new hinges, so swapped the hinges and all was well.

[Wilfred Xavier Pickles]

Definitely worth checking out. Unfortunately, the top hinge looks to be as tight as the proverbial cats arse.

I figure the problem started when I greased the hinge pins. There was a squeak ...

Next time, if the damned thing works OK and squeaks, I'm gonna leave it the hull alone! :-)

Will

[DerbyDad03]

He didn't say anything about the tightness of the hinge, he talked about wear on the hinge.

Did you swap them as suggested or did you simply perform a visual/ jiggle check?

I'm sure you'll agree that it's obvious that you can't see or the jiggle the door to find the problem. If you could, you would have solved it by now.

It's time to take some action and try a few things.

I guess you take the newly "greased" pins out and roll them in the sand. That oughta negate some of the lubrication.

[dennisgauge]

Probably nothing has changed, then. If you'd lubed it 27 years ago, you would think the door NOT swinging on its own was strange, and be driving everyone nuts insisting you need to know WHY!!!

BTW it doesn't take much to make the door swing. You may not be able to perceive the misalignment even with a proper level.

[Wilfred Xavier Pickles]

I was about to try binding one, but I found I couldn't match the diameter for a replacement pin. Afraid to ruin a pin.

Then thought of wrapping alum. foil around pin, decided it would break too easy.

Then took an old pair of underwear, cut a super-thin strip of cloth, wrapped it around pin and hammered it in with a wood block. Voila! Just enough friction to hold door steady, not enough to be an impediment to use of door.

Thanks, Will

[Vic Smith]

If that cloth wears out, try teflon tape next time.

--Vic