As a house ages, the openings that used to be square sometimes settle into parallelograms, and doors that used to close don’t anymore. I repair a lot of old doors, and in my travels I’ve seen many attempts to make a formerly square door fit into a tilted opening.
Usually a homeowner will remove material from the door stile that is overlapping the jamb. If there’s just a little overlap, this method will work. But if the overlap is substantial, things can get complicated in a hurry, and the amount of time required to remedy the situation grows accordingly. Locksets need to be rebored, and sometimes the holes need to be patched because the door’s handle trim isn’t wide enough to conceal the gaps. An equally complicated approach is to plane away material from the door jamb. This requires moving door strikes and weatherstripping, and it can throw off the spacing of the casing reveals around the door.
The simple way to treat this problem is to remove material from the door’s hinge stile. Measure the door overlap and add 1/16 in. Mark these measurements on the hinge stile and remove the door for trimming. Now cut new mortises for the hinges, using the old screw holes to position them, and you’re ready to rehang the door.
Theodore F. Haendel, Great Neck, NY
