I redid my bathroom last year and as part of that I installed a new 28″ x 80″ single panel door shown below. When I installed it, it was plumb and square (and still is) and would stay open or sit at any position where it was left.
However, in the past few weeks, when left open, it closes slowly to about 1/2 way open. The only thing I can contribute to this is the boiler is below it (steam radiators) and maybe it has dried some things out?
Anyway, what’s a good way to fix the door so it stays open. I read in Family Handyman magazine that you could take the bottom hinge pin out and bend it slightly to provide some resistance or isn’t there a trick where you put a cardboard shim behind one of the hinges on the jamb side?
Replies
That 'door stop' on the top hinge could have thrown the hinge out of alignment. Those things put a lot of strain on the hinge.
Take the top hinge pin out, place flat on concrete floor, strike gently with hammer to produce a small kink, re-install pin. That should add enough resistance to keep door put. If not, take out middle pin, repeat as above.
Edited 11/13/2007 9:19 am ET by gendaito
Re-check the plumb on your door. My money says that something has moved just a little.
We have double doors to the master bedroom and they were perfect when I hung them - a couple of years before the Loma Prieta earthquake. After that, they wanted to wander around some. They didn't get any worse after the last quake (a couple of weeks ago), but they didn't get better, either. - lol
You can often fix this by putting a slight bend in a hinge pin, but do it carefully. Overdo it and it's a real bear to get the pin back in the barrels.
Before banging up your hinge pins though, you may want to try the carboard shim trick. I'm not sure what material the pros use, but I have had success with inserting either one or two layers of cardboard behind the bottom hinge to keep the door from swinging closed. I think by pulling out the bottom of the door, you keep the momentum in the open position. I assume you could balance the top hinge in an opposite way. Play around with that first.
The only time the above method doesn't work as well is when you don't have the proper spacing between the slab and the jamb (like many of my doors :). Now that I think of it, doors are really a challenge to get perfect.
Good Luck!
If you move the hinges around you will have to take some wood off the side of the door. I'm not sure you want to do that since you spent so much time and effort getting it plumb and square.
Bending the hinge pin works well for small forces against the door.
Thanks for the replies, took the top hinge pin out, one smack with a light hammer, slight bend, re insert....stays exactly where you put it.
Went to my front door which closes by itself EVERY TIME (previous owner installed, he coulnd't do anything right) and I bent the top pin more than the bathroom door, still closed, bent the middle one, and now it stays open. Close the door more than half way, it still shuts by itself. Oh well.
The hinge pin trick doesn't work well with exterior doors(too heavy). Something else is going on there.
I've never had much success with padding the butts with cardboard to get a door from swinging by itself. It works great to do final adjustments to get even reveals around the door and jamb though.
Here's my thinking on this.
Imagine looking at the top of a door and jamb in a plan view.
Your hinges are on the left side of the door and and the knuckle is facing the bottom of the page. Using the butt to butt method of handing a door this would be a right hand door. (There are regional differences to how doors are handed and this is the method I like to use)
Scenario: the door rubs at the bottom of the jamb on the latch side of the door.
Fix : I like to use cardboard shims I make from an empty cereal box because it is solid and does not have voids as in the type of cardboard from a packing/shipping type box. I cut it into thin 1/4" or less strips the length of the hinge.
If the door is sticking on the bottom of the latch side I would remove the screws on the bottom hinge and place a couple of these cardboard shims on the back/inside edge of the hinges mortise rather than cover the whole width of the mortise with cardboard and I usually hold them in place with a small piece of masking tape. Put the screws back in and close the door. If it is still rubbing I'l repeat the process until it does not rub and the reveals look good.
If the door rubs or is tight on the hinge side of the door on the bottom I'll pad just the outside edge of the mortise until the door pulls away from the jamb.
Same goes for the top hinges if the top rubs.
Doing it this way "rocks" the surface underneath one side or the other of the hinge to get desired results to relocate the position of the door in the jamb. I don't see how padding the butts will keep a door from swinging though.
BjR