Hello,
I moved into my house about 4 years ago and the inspector never noticed any unevenness or cracks in the corners of the frames windows or doors. I’m not sure if he over-looked it, the previous owners tried to mask it or they are new. Some of the closet doors appear to have been attempted at some kind of repair (looks like caulking or putty and small nails). Could anyone look at these photos and give me an idea of what I might be dealing with? So far the doors and windows open and close okay and they seem to be level. On the front and back door there is more wear on one side of the bottom of the door than the other. I’m just wondering if this is normal settling, poor craftsmanship, or something larger that I need to be concerned with and if so, who I should contact?
I’ve attached photos. Thank you for any and all recommendations and comments.
Replies
How old is this house?
To figure out the cause of what you show here would require a first hand look. The window casing separations might indicate structural movement. The door jamb and trim movement could be the same but looks more like poor setting of the jambs, lack of shims/fasteners in the corners and someone bashing it apart.
You could take a proper set of levels to the jambs and maybe figure it out. You don’t show any cracks in the drywall which might suggest structural movement.
Entry doors that don’t have long screws that go to the framing in the upper hinge can sag showing drag or wear on the bottom latch side as well as a larger margin on the top of the same side. That can usually be corrected by using the longer screws into the framing in the top hinge.
Do you have a quality carpenter you can trust to take a look?
I believe it was built in 1984. I do not, unfortunately, have a quality carpenter. I have a difficult time selecting quality contractors. If you know of any in the Rochester, NY area, I would be happy to take any recommendations.
As mentioned above, a good carpenter would be a wise choice. Removing the trim may expose the root cause. It could be as simple as a poor job of setting windows/doors and not a structural issue. At this point, no dry wall cracks is encouraging. Properly shimming/supporting doors and windows and re-trimming would be a hassle, but far better than having to deal with a structural issue. That is why a good carpenter would be a wise choice to properly diagnose the situation and a course of action to resolve the problem.
Looks like they didn't shim. Easy fix for a real carpenter. Big Cal will do it for beer and food but it would be cheaper to hire some local talent. Talk to friends and neighbors for recommendations.
Yo!
Mr T is from that area, let Tony know we have a potential victim......
I might have an old email for him, I’ll check.
wood shrunk, lack of shimming, no glue on miter joints