Hi, I was called to look at 3 30″ doors because they do not close correctly. It turns out all 3 few doors on the lockset side have a curve in them. 1 of them really bad, didn’t even have to put a 4′ level on it to check. The doors are about 2 years old. The frames they are in are not plumb. I checked the door stop and the side jambs, again the lockset side. They area between the wall, the colonial molding and the side jambs do not show signs of stress. I would appreciate any comments on how they may have gotten this way. Btw, they keep the house very warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Windows are generally never opened. They thought they could fixed by making a minor adjustment here and there. Well, to me they are out of wack so bad I’m going to be telling them the doors and frames have to be replaced. O, the door stops are the type that cannot be removed without damaging the frame. I’m sure the client are going to ask me what happened. Especially, if they are going to replace the doors.
Thanks in advance
Replies
Were the tops and bottoms sealed?
If the jambs are out of plumb, they might have been set that way. (assuming the doors are 2 yrs old as are the jambs.) Also assuming they're interior doors, though why in a rabbited jamb I don't know.
At any rate, the jambs could be re-set, dealing with the out of plumb wall they are in (if that is so), by tapering a jamb extension or hogging out the back of the casing or beating the #### out of the drywall.
In the case of a bowed door (on edge) you could make them at least latch by moving the strike or filing it bigger. Can't move the stop, doctor up the latch.
Are the doors sealed top and bottom? Moisture swings will reek havoc (sort of ) on a slab.
edited for spelling.
A Great Place for Information, Comraderie, and a Sucker Punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
Edited 12/18/2007 9:35 pm ET by calvin
assuming they're interior doors, though why in a rabbited jamb I don't know.
Calvin, don't you guys use rabbeted jambs out there? Or do you apply your own stops?
Mike, greetings!
I would say the norm would be rabbited on exterior. Applied on interior. Some of the old stuff, maybe rabbit. Doesn't make much difference if they're solid or hollow core.
Course, after 70 yrs of paint that'll chip if you breath wrong on the applied stops, might as well be rabbit.A Great Place for Information, Comraderie, and a Sucker Punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
Greetings yourself!
Funny, in New England the only choice for interior doors is single rabbeted or double rabbeted. I've made my own with applied stops several times but it's certainly not the norm.
Well, then there's split jambs, but they don't really count ;-)
I've got a set (leaning against the wall) of rabbited at the meeting point, french doors. Salvaged from a Lake Erie shore house for they pushed it in the drink. Even the morticed lockset is rabbited. I've never seen another like it-you probably have.
They must have been sons of those of your kin that settled the Western Reserve.A Great Place for Information, Comraderie, and a Sucker Punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
Lots of Mainers settled in Ohio during the westward expansion. I can trace my roots back to the first settlers of Maine (pretty sure my last name is a coincidence, though!). So yeah, yer neighbors may be my kin!
I vaguely recall seeing a rabbeted full mortise lockset. Haven't installed one though.
Oh, and my wife's grandfather is on the faculty at Case Western Reserve...does that count?
Mike ,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connecticut_Western_Reserve http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firelands Interesting to me anyway.
They can't get your Goat if you don't tell them where it is hidden.
Thanks--that is interesting stuff!
Driving across country a decade ago I was struck by how the landscape felt like home once I crossed into Ohio.
They even used an old jail in Ohio to shoot scenes from "Shawshank Redemption," which was set in Maine.
Mention of "ShawShank" reminded me that I just saw a news article of an escape that used the same technique for covering the hole in the wall. Just happened within the last week. Somebody has got to be saying: DUH!!! http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071218/ap_on_re_us/jail_escape_7
They can't get your Goat if you don't tell them where it is hidden.
Had the interesting 'pleasure' of playing softball in that MAXIMUM security facility back in the 70's. We were invited by one of their inhabitants, a friend of ours that ran afoul of the law.
I don't think the "Redemption" exagerated one bit on the ancient-ness of that jail. Nor of the conditions that probably existed there.
The foul poles were those gun towers that resemble an open air fire tower.
What an experience.A Great Place for Information, Comraderie, and a Sucker Punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
Keep in mind that any piece of wood exposed to differing conditions on one side vs the other will tend to warp. The wood will tend to curl towards the dry side, though in winter it's often hard to decide which is the dry side (outside air has higher relative humidity but lower absolute humidity).
If they have a humidifier and keep things excessively humid then I'd expect the doors to curl towards (be concave on) the outside. If they don't have a humidifier and it's quite dry in the house I'd expect the opposite.
They may be able to correct the situation somewhat by properly humidifying, but metal doors are a better long-term solution.
It would be helpful if you filled in your profile with your location, so we can know what kind of weather you experience.
OK, I see that I'm assuming these are exterior doors (though 30" is a little narrow for that) and others are assuming interior. Which is it, and if interior are they between heated/unheated areas or to bathrooms, etc, where temperature/humidity contrasts will be present?
Thanks for the input. Top and bottom sealed, I don't know I didn't paint the doors. I've meet the painters and they seem to like applying an oil base primer and then a latex top coat. So, what do you do to seal the top and bottom. I've painted doors before and I've never done anything to the tops or bottoms. Sounds like a good thing to do.
These are interior doors to bedrooms.
No, they do not run a humidifier.
Sounds like maybe I can re-install 2 of the doors. 1 of them, which almost does an S will have to be replaced. And I'll check to see if the top and bottoms were "sealed"
thanks again
'Nother question: Were the hinges maybe mistuned so that you had to force the door closed? This would put constant stress on the door & cause top and bottom edges to warp outward.
If your view never changes you're following the wrong leader
If they sleep with the doors closed it's possible that breathing would be enough to cause the doors to warp away from the bedroom. Or if someone has asthma, etc, and they use a vaporizer a lot this would be even more likely.If these are painted, and you can't find something like mistuned hinges as a cause, I'd seriously consider replacing them with composite doors.
If your view never changes you're following the wrong leader
When I paint solid wood doors, I "seal" the top and bottom simply by priming them. If I have any concerns about moisture, such as bathroom doors, all 6 sides get a coat of oil primer. I re-hang the doors to topcoat with latex so the top and bottom don't get a topcoat. Ideally, they should.
Composite doors are pre-primed and more stable so I don't bother with the top and bottom at all.
Solid wood doors warping must be a reflection of the quality of the wood that is available today. I've seen properly painted doors warp significantly and even expand seasonally by almost 1/4" and yet there are doors on 100 year old homes that were never painted on top/bottom that are as stable as the day they were installed. In fact, in most older homes, if the doors don't work right it's either from too many layers of paint or uneven settling of the entire house.
Some doors come marked "paint on six sides or warranty is void" or something similar. Sometimes it's stamped on either the top or bottom of the door. I've seen it written in install instructions too. Unfortunately, this is not necessarily common practice.
Are these solid wood doors, solid core, or some kind of hollow core?
Thanks for all the help.
The doors are solid wood.
On one of the doors, the bottom hinge looks to close to the stop. More room could have been left for painting. In fact the frame for this door checked out to be twisted.
I'm going to see the client today. I'm going to look at the rest of the doors in the house.
Composite doors, good idea. I'm going to suggest that to them today.
The