Easy One -- Interior Door Movement

[JB]

OK...here is a question that I'm sure has one of those "Duh!" answers to it but its a head-scratcher to me. I have a standard lightweight interior door that must be off balance on the frame because it swings open. I need it to stay unlatched but 95% closed (to keep heat in the main room, but just open enough to let the cat go thru where his box is). Unless its latched, it will swing fully open and away from the main room.

Forget door jambs and rolled up towels on the floor on the back side. Its too hard to explain but those won't work. And I don't want to re- hang the door. I tried bending the hinge pin abit, but that doesn't work. How can I create just enough friction on the hinge to keep it from moving?

Thanks!

--Jeff

[mm]

Try bending it a bit more? (actually something about the whole bending thing bothers me.)

Put a sweep under the door so it rubs on the floor.

Put a cardboard shim under the top hinge, like from a box of poptarts or instant oatmeal. Two layers or 3 if necessary. (This is the best suggestion for your particular need (at least in the winter.) It won't just stay where you put it, it will swing close, but not all the way closed because the hinge is mounted at the corner, not at the middle of the edge. By drilling the hinge holes in the fence gate right, I made it so it swings almost shut. Unfortunately I need a spring to make it go all the way shut.)

By adjusting the legs, I have my fridge set up so that the door stays open if open 90 degrees, but swings shut from anywhere less than that.

[dreamchaser]

Off balance sort of. I bet if you close the door and put a level on it on the side that it opens to, it will be slanted toward the opening side. The door was hung slightly off level in that direction.

Take your hinge pin to Lowe's and search in their pull out drawers with all the special hardware and find some really thin round washers, actually shims that will fit over the pin. I'm talking shim thickness of say .005" or so. Then put a shim between the hinge points of the plate screwed to the door jamb and the plate on the door and slide the pin back in. That should tighten up the hinge maybe. It won't be easy to get the shims in but ...

[whatever]

Remove a hinge and replace it with a spring hinge. You can adjust the tension so you always get a 95% closing.

Here's what I'm referring too.

Regards Dale

[David Bonnell]

Easy 'fix'...place a wedge door-stopper under the door. Alternately, be creative and use some other form of homemade door-stopper.

Is this a closet door, or does the door lead to other useable areas of the house? I had this problem at my house for a while...I had to leave the basement door open to allow the cats 24/7 access to the litter box. This was NOT very comfortable, because (1) our basement is cold and (2) the basement door opens up into the main traffic area in our house.

My solution was to install a small cat door. I thought about putting one on the door itself, but we have those 6-panel colonial doors, and a cat door would have been really ugly. In the end, I put the cat door in the wall adjacent to the basement door. No more cold air, no more open door, and still 24/7 access for the cats. BTW, my cats didn't like the hard plastic door, so I trained them on clear flexible doors (similar to 6 mil vapour barrier). Now the cats chase each other through the door at top speed.

[Goedjn]

Spring-loaded hinge.

[JB]

I think Dale wins the free toilet plunger for this one! I didn't know you could get nice brass spring-loaded hinges for interior doors. My problem door is NOT a closet but a pass thru between the main TV family room and the "back" utility room with extra bathroom, washer/ dryer, storage, etc. We close it in the evenings when home since the utility area gets pretty cold and drafty. I got tired of getting up off the couch to let the cat in and out. And I really didn't want to start cutting holes for pet doors. (Its open all the time in summer.)

Thanks Dale for the pointer!

[Jeff Wisnia]

I'm somewhat dubious about a spring hinge for your application.

If your cat is anything like ours, he may decide to push the door more fullyopen when he passes through, and then the spring will swing it back to the point where it may overswing and then latch closed.

Seems to me it wouldn't take rocket surgery to come up with an appropriately bent piece of coat hanger wire which could be attached to the top of the door frame with one screw and moved down into place to hold the door firmly (for a cat at least) in the appropriate location when needed.

Just my .02,

Jeff

[Goedjn]

A wooden block or thick wad of felt against the doorstops will prevent that. As would rehanging the door so that it swings both-ways, like they occasionally do for kitchen/dining passages.

[Marilyn & Bob]

I question the basic premise of this query. Leaving the door open a cat's width will still let out a lot of heat. Perhaps not quite as quickly as a fully opened door, but almost.

[Goedjn]

Well, if said cat is going to get back in, the door has to be open enough to let it grab the edge and pull it open.

Unless, like some people I know, the door swings both ways.

[HeyBub]

Cats learn. And never forget.

I remember the night the cat learned to open the gerbil's cage...

[HeyBub]

No... I had a cat that could open a closed and latched door.

The door has a lever instead of a knob; the cat would jump and grab the lever. Door popped open.

Some dogs have been known to turn a doorknob with their mouth.

Animals are smarter than we sometimes credit them (and often less human than we think).

[JB]

Just FYI, on my way home tonite, I stopped by my local specialty hardware store (not Lowes or HD). They didn't have a brass tension hinge but had an adjustable spring-loaded hinge pin made by Stanley ($5). Remove the old pin, install theirs and set the tension. Works like a charm. Just enuf gentle tension on the lowest setting to keep the door closed.

And yes, the cat can push it open from one side and pull it open from the other when finished!

[3G]

check it out

door stopper is great for cats. they can shut the door when they enter by playing with the "mouse doorstop"

| | Is this a closet door, or does the door lead to other useable areas of | the house? I had this problem at my house for a while...I had to | leave the basement door open to allow the cats 24/7 access to the | litter box. This was NOT very comfortable, because (1) our basement | is cold and (2) the basement door opens up into the main traffic area | in our house. | | My solution was to install a small cat door. I thought about putting | one on the door itself, but we have those 6-panel colonial doors, and | a cat door would have been really ugly. In the end, I put the cat | door in the wall adjacent to the basement door. No more cold air, no | more open door, and still 24/7 access for the cats. BTW, my cats | didn't like the hard plastic door, so I trained them on clear flexible | doors (similar to 6 mil vapour barrier). Now the cats chase each | other through the door at top speed. |