What to do with a bulge in a door frame

[GMM]

Doing some painting has revealed that some doors fit their frames a bit too tightly. Although many frames are not square etc, who would have thought a few layers of paint could make so much difference? Just to balance things out, some are too loose and have been treated to additions to the stops.

Anyway...In one case, althought it's clear that the door is too close a fit overall, so could use a few mm taking off one side, it also shows that the frame has a small bulge in it, of maybe 2 - 3 mm over 150mm, around the level of the lock. Clearly, if this was flat, it would reduce the amount I have to take off the door and leave me with a better fit all round.

It's not the most accessible spot, as these door frames don't have loose stops. I've been mulling a few approaches including: A lot of sanding (quite tricky all the way into the angle of the stop), planing (also hard to get right into the angle) or routing (potentially a good outcome but a bit or a pain setting up a jig for the job).

So what quick and easy approach am I overlooking, chaps?

[The Natural Philosopher]

car body filler?

[harryagain]

You should be looking at the door rather than the frame. Once installed, there is almost bugger all you can do ith the frame as you have found out. You can make minimal alterations to the frame with a belt sander set with the belt as close to the edge as possible. Clean out corners with chisel.

Belt sander is good on the door too. Be sure to remove all paint before deciding anything, it's surprising how thick it can be.

[Chris J Dixon]

Could be an excuse to buy one of these:

I've never used one, but they look the kind of thing that might be quite handy for certain jobs.

Chris

[Brian Gaff]

Back when I could see, I did the sanding and the corner with just a chisel. I guess it depends on how hard the wood actually is though.This house is

1939, and they seem quite soft.

Brian

[news]

I have had similar problems with a door catching more and more on the frame with the passage of time (no paint involved). As its a metal skinned door any changes to the door are excluded.

It Started initially at the bottom of the door and a bit of planning of the frame sorted the problem, but gradually worked its way higher and higher until the area of binding had reached the height of the lock area and I thought it was getting ridiculous.

I thought I would look at using some window frame fixing screws to "pull the frame" back tightly onto the bricks.

This sort of thing

(Make sure that whatever you get can contract in length and "pull in" rather than just anchor in place).

You need to counter-bore the hole in the frame so that the screw head sits below flush.

After installation you can if you want make little wooden plugs to fill the holes and hide the screw heads completely.

I needed three (two below the lock and one above it) but now have a door which opens and closes with one finger - and has a rather larger gap than looks neat at the bottom where I initially planed off material.

I could post some pictures if it would help.

[Andy Burns]

Unless it turns out a (now inappropriate) shim or wedge was used between frame and bricks where the bulge has developed?

[news]

That's certainly a possibility but it might also be that the wood has simply warped/bulged between fixings - its got to be worthy of consideration and for me it was a better and more lasting solution that any planing/sanding/chiselling.

[Andy Burns]

Has the O/P got a longish bar clamp where the heads are reversible to make it into spreader? Might be worth a test ...

[newshound]

I have an air one and have used it much less than expected.

[fred]

In article , GMM writes

As it appears to be in an isolated region I would try to smooth it out.

I would use a manual plane to remove as much of the material as possible and then use a wide razor sharp chisel to extent that level into the corner of the door stop. You may need to pare into the corner a few times as the edge of the plane becomes bound on the step of material in the corner.

I think there are planes that have a blade going right to the edge of the body but I don't have one.

Tidy up by sanding on a rigid block, using a narrow one if you just need to tidy the corner.

[spuorgelgoog]

Or a car jack to spread the frame apart?

Owain

[michael adams]

As you left out the question of cost, the tool for the job would be a rebate plane

michael adams

...

[News]

In message , Chris J Dixon writes

Handy indeed, but, having bought one, I find I use it less than expected. Put another way, if it died, I would not bother to replace.

[Tricky Dicky]

Spreading the frame and adding additional fixings to pull the bulge in is p robably the thing to try first but if projecting brickwork or a warped stud do not allow that then the easiest way is to plane the door any hacking at the frame is probably going to be a lot of hard work leaving a poor finish . You do not have to plane the entire edge of the door, a 2-3mm dip into th e door edge can easily be achieved with with a Jack plane or preferably a s moothing plane set at an angle to the door edge rather than in line and onl y the area where the bulge is needs to be treated this way. You will probab ly have to reset the latch a little deeper.

Richard