Whenever you take a door out by pulling the hinge pins, putting it back is too often an awkward fumbling clown performance. Preparation is the secret to getting less laughter from the bystanders.
Instead of trying to juggle the door and hinge pins, insert each pin about 3/4 of the way into the top knuckle of its hinge. If it stays there by itself, fine. If not, stick it lightly in place with a little tab of blue painter’s tape.
Find a scrap of 1×2 roughly a couple feet long, and a wood wedge. Lay the wedge on the floor where the middle of the door will be in mid-swing, and perpendicular to it.
Now for the juggling act: With the 1×2 handy, grab the door from the latch edge, and dance it into place up the wedge. As soon as you get the first hinge to line up, reach over with the 1×2 and tap its pin down to hold it. That’s the hard part. Now you just have to get the rest of the hinges to line up, and tap their pins with the 1×2. Drive the pins home, and you’re done.
— J.S.
