Amazing Shrinking Doorway!

[Mike Dobony]

We recently moved into a '96 mobile home and have developed an interesting problem. The storm door opening is narrowing at the bottom. The frame doesn't seem to have moved (there is a metal threshold between the door frame sides), but now the door is too small for the opening. The storm door frame is tight to the wooden frame. We have been in the trailer since early November and have not had a problem. We have been having generally warm weather (above freezing), but recently had near zero temps lately and are in a warming spell again, up to 50 today. Any ideas would be welcomed!

Mike D.

[Art]

Use a block of wood to protect surfaces and a hammer to knock the frame back into position. Should take about 10 seconds to fix. Tools needed is a hammer and block of wood about 3inch x 3inch by 2 inch.

[Mike Dobony]

No place for it to go. Also storm door frame is screwed very securely into the door jam. If there was room, it would move the frame away from the threshold.

[Shopdog]

My guess would be that something has moved or rather "cocked", Check the square of the door opening, also check the level of the trailer frame.

Searcher

[dpb]

Yep...sounds like possibly one or both ends may have drooped. Had a lot of rain lately, too, perchance?

[Michael B]

[Mike Dobony]

Some rain, but the underside is still very dry. I was just under there to add some phone outlets. There is pretty good drainage away from the trailer.

The storm door frame was not installed properly and has a gap at the catch side on top. Gap has not changed. The main door is still fine. Only the storm door has a problem.

[Noozer]

Any chance that it's a cheap door and IT is swelling?

[Mike Dobony]

Aluminum swells?

[Noozer]

I didn't seem Aluminum mentioned anywhere.

Then I'd agree that the ends of the trailer may be drooping and squeezing the frame.

[marks542004]

how about frost heave ?

[Mike Dobony]

The ground isn't frozen. In fact, it started after the temps went above freezing. Trouble is, the door frame width is locked in by the threshold. There is no sign of any compacting of the wood frame against the aluminum threshold. The main door is still a good fit. It didn't change, only the storm door.

[Mike Dobony]

P.S. The previous owner put insulation inside the skirting except for half of each end. When it was near zero overnight it was fairly warm under the trailer.

[dpb]

That it was warm under the trailer doesn't necessarily imply the ground under the supports didn't freeze/thaw. The symptom after the warmup after cold is pretty typical of a minor heave movement. If the blocking is just sitting on the ground, wouldn't be at all surprised if it moved some after a spell of zero-degree weather.

If it isn't related to something overall, then the conclusion has to be something on the frame itself or the mounting to which it fastened moved.

[Mike Dobony]

There is no indication that this is an old problem as there were no marks on the storm door frame. Why would it take 10 years to see this? We just left for the week. When I get back I'll have to check for twisting, if the problem is still there. Which still leaves the question as to why the entry door is fine and unaffected.

[Mike Dobony]

Got back from the trip and the door now works fine again. It has been in the 60 all week. The entry door has only a slightly larger gap than the storm door. If the door frame got squeezed enough to require forcing the storm door open and closed, why did the gap on the entry door not change? They share the common door frame!

[Don Young]

The inner and outer edges of the door frame do not necessarily remain an equal distance apart. It is entirely possible for the outsides to move closer together without the insides doing so. In other words, the jamb can twist slightly. You can probably jack or lever the outsides apart slightly if needed. Everything in the world is elastic, just some things more than others.

Don Young

[Mike Dobony]

Even with an aluminum threshold there to keep the sides from moving in?

In other words, the jamb can

I tried to move it, but only cracked the door frame. It refused to move, even after removing the screws on the storm door frame. There was no room to move as there is no gap between the storm door frame and the entry frame.

[Don Young]

It is not clear just why the door is binding but it seems strange that there would be absolutely no gap between the two frames. Door frames are not real high precision assemblies and there is usually some allowance for mis-alignment and/or sllightly differing dimensions.

I suspect that the solution to your problem will require removal of both frames and cutting back the rough opening to allow enough space for the doors and their frames to fit squarely in the opening with the proper clearances all around. You should not attempt to install them too tightly, they need small gaps everywhere.

Don Young

[Mike Dobony]

This I know. There is a small gap between the door jam (rough opening) and the entry door frame (less than 1/4"). There is zero gap between the entry door frame and the storm door frame. If I go to the trouble of doing as you suggest I would go the extra mile and put in a real door and storm door.

However, the point I am trying to get an answer to is how the door frame can shrink on the outside edge only when there is an aluminum threshold preventing the frame from moving in. It was only jamming at the bottom foot to foot and a half. There was still a gap between the rough opening and the frame (I looked under the molding). Nothing anyone has said makes any sense of the situation. After returning a week after this problem developed the problem is gone, for now.

Mike Dobony