Don’t Shave that Door — Shim It! – On the House

Don’t Shave that Door — Shim It!

By on July 19, 2014

With the wet season comes doors that bind. And that can mean tugging hard to get them open. Our first instinct is to use a wood plane to sand or plane the door. Don’t. Doors and windows usually don’t move on their own. They need help. And house shift is the main cause. When the ground gets wet, it expands and parts of the foundation move — resulting in an uneven floor. This can cause doors to shift in their openings.

Planing or sanding the door very slightly is OK, but it is better to adjust it at the hinges. Pull the pin out of the hinges (one at a time) and bend the rungs on the door hinge opposite the way you want the door to move. If the knob edge of the door is rubbing against the frame, bend the top and bottom door hinges toward the frame that is being rubbed. When the door shrinks back into its original place this summer readjust the hinges. 

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