Re-aligning door

[Attila.Iskander]

My front door has shifted

Facing out, the hinges are on the right, doorknob on the left Top left corner of door has shifted down by about 1/8" and in by about 1/8"

This means that I need to lift on the doorknow to get it to latch I also have a small crack open to the cold along the upper edge at the upper left corner.

In effect the upper left corner needs to be moved up and outward to get proper closure with no leaks

What are my options for correcting this problem And how do I go about figuring out what the right solution(s) may be

Tnx.

[Paul Drahn]

Check and tighten all the hinge screws. They do loosen after some years. If that doesn't help. Put some paper shims behind the lowest hinge.

Paul

[Larry W]

The first thing to do is make sure all the hinge screws are tight. Often that is all that is needed to get a door operating acceptably again.

[hrhofmann]

Are you sure the door has shifted and not the house?? How old is the house, how long have you been in the house, when did the problem start, more information please.

["<<< Bøb >>>"]

Uhhhh ... how would one shift the house while keeping the door stationary ????

[Attila.Iskander]

The door was installed new, with frame, about 7 years ago. The House is 60 years old, and has shown no other signs of shifting The door is the primary access and is used constantly by. 2 adults, 2 kids,

1 dog with a squirrel fixation and TB (Tiny Bladder).

The shift is very recent. The door and seals were inspected last fall.

There also has been some bridge demolition 2 blocks away for the last month The old bridge footings, which are being removed, are concrete and over 50, maybe 70+ years old. Very massive, always made me think "Hoover Dam", whenever I walked under them along the creek.

[trader4]

What he means is with movement in the house the door frame may no longer be square, a common problem.

[DanG]

I suspect that you have lost the swage in the top and center hinge as these take most of the load of the door. The most simple thing to try would be to take off the bottom hinge and swap it for the top hinge. This might be a total fix for your problem.

The other thing to do would be to re-bend the top swage in the top hinge. I would take an adjustable wrench (Crescent wrench). Fit it as tight as possible on the top hinge barrel and carefully bend the barrel toward the hinge side of the door. Do this same adjustment to the center hinge. This should last many years.

[Joe]

Concur on the possibility of house movement. Age doesn't always equal stability. Get out those big levels and start checking. Also do the corner to corner string test after getting the square, plumb, and level fixed. Do that and fix the loose hinges and the door will fit fine.

Joe

[Robert Macy]

watch out for the effects of construction near your home. We used to live in a 100+ year old home that withstood the 1906 earthquake!, yet when light rail went by directly adjacent, in front the pile driving caused the house to lean towards the street an extra 1 inch at the top! More damage than the earthquake.Nobody said that would happen!

Lesson - vibration from construction will settle your home quickly.

Back to your door problem. We have similar right now with new construciton and initial settling. The door frame has gone parallelogram, door latch won't line up with metal [had to remove metal and use wood hole to keep door closed] and all the seals are gaps to the outside! Door is 4 foot by 8 foot solid wood so it's a bit of a challenge to even work with.

If somebody posts an easy way to fix, I'm watching.