Screws behind Door Hinges

Probably put in to keep the frame square. I'd not take them out.

Tried to respond to you last night via email but it didn't get into this thread.

The house was rebuilt in 2006 after Hurricane Katrina; the levee failure allowed 8' of water into the whole first floor.

The hinges are mortised into the door and the frame. The holes I drilled are now filled with 1" pieces of 3/8" oak dowel but when I jammed a longer piece into the holes, it DID seem like there is a gap between the frame and the stud behind it. (I'm assuming the construction design you suggested; I know little about house or door construction.)

Based on Ed's comment, I'm going to leave them in and finish the job now.

Terry, I tried to respond to your reply last night via email but it didn't get into the thread.

The house was rebuilt in 2006 after Hurricane Katrina; the levee failure allowed 8' of water into the whole first floor.

The hinges are mortised into the door and the frame. The holes I drilled are now filled with 1" pieces of 3/8" oak dowel but before that, when I jammed a longer piece into the holes, it DID seem like there is a gap between the frame and the stud behind it. (I'm assuming the construction design you suggested; I know little about house or door construction.)

Based on Ed's comment, I'm going to leave the screws in and will now attach the hinges to the frame.

Agree with the others that there is likely a spacer to square up the opening behind there. If they are sticking out, instead of removing them, you could take them out, countersink the hole a bit and replace them.

You can also glue toothpicks or other misc wood pieces shoved into the screw holes to tighten up the opening for a secure attachment.

Screwing support screws behind the hinge is fairly common to avoid visible screw heads that are painted over on the jamb or to avoid filling in the screw holes with putty.

I've done it. Put wedges between jam and frame behind the hinge and screw through the shim. Tighten it down and the jam can NOT MOVE. Makes a substandard jam kit almost acceptable. Gluing and mailing the door trim to the face of the jam helps too - makes a "U" chanel of the flimsey finger-jointed pine jam

Not if the jam isn't plumb and square

I dunno...not trying to minimize the hinge issue-- but if you had eight feet of water in your house, I'd think that's about the least of your problems :-(

Wade, As I understand it from my neighbor, who also rebuilt (and raised) his house, my house was gutted then new insulation and sheetrock was installed.

My wife and I are the third family to occupy since the renovation but it appears that the previous folks did absolutely no maintenance. One of the air conditioner filters was caved in from excessive pressure drop.