need to improve door clearance

[SS]

Recently move to this house and previous owners fitted new internal doors. One of the doors has to be pulled strongly to close it as the hinge side is catching the door frame (I think called the door stop) Anyhow ideally if I could move the door (hinges) forward by 2 or 3 mm it would be much smoother, the door stop part of the frame is jointed so thats a no no.

Any ideas on how to do this as drilling new holes for the hinges would overlap the old ones, I could live with it as its a spaere bedroom but if there is a relatively easy fix then I would do it.

thanks

[Tim Watts]

Plane a bit off with an edge plane? Or shave with a very sharp chisel, carefully?

[Cash]

Tim,

That's not always the best idea as a first resort.

More often than not in these situations, the door is 'hingebound" [1] - with result that the hanging side of the door touches the frame, and a simple piece of cardboard fixes the problem.

The other simple problem is that the doorstop has been pushed too hard into the face of the door on the hanging side and then nailed.

Look for, and cure these problems first (if they are there before resorting to the plane or chisel.)

Where the plane and/or chisel comes into their own - is when the doorstop is rebated into the frame itself and either the door or frame have warped too much to correct by moving the hinges in or out. Again, look for and resolve these problems first if they are there.

[1] Hinge set too deep into the frame or door - or both!

As an old, retired chippie, when I was actually on the tools, the only time I ever used a side-rabbet or bull-nose plane (rarely) was usually on front and rear external doors - and that was after trying everything else.

Cash

[SS]

I think the problem is that whoever fitted the new doors has set the hinges slightly to `near`against the doorstop. If I could move the hinges a couple of mm away from the doorstop then problem would be solved. The previous owner going by the state of the place was happy enough if the door opened and closed :-( Virtually every job (DIY) in the place has been botched. I wont complain as I got it £40k below market valuation.

[John Rumm]

The traditional way of doing these things is to hang the door on its hinges first and then fit the stops (much easier than attempting to align it all perfectly with an existing door stop).

Cash has already given chapter and verse on the normal fixes. If you do need to actually shift the hinge screws, then cut some slivers of wood (matchsticks will often do) and hammer them tightly into the old screw holes (you can glue glue them as well if you want). Pare level with a chisel. That will let you sink a new screw right next to the previous hole if needs be.

Can't argue with that then ;-)