Tips for Home Maintenance
Here we offer some easy solutions for simple problems... and insights into identifying and solving bigger problems.
Josh Best
2 min read
The Thing with Doors
The 3 photos above show a door that Home Maintenance, LLC installed in an existing wall opening of a 100-year old house. We widened and shortened the wall opening, installed a pre-hung door, custom trim boards, then puttied and painted. We're happy to report the new door performed extremely well!
Maintaining good-working doors is a technical exercise, but simple once you've done it the first time. The mark of a good-working door is that it doesn't squeak when you open or close it, it doesn't stick and is easy to open and close, it's well balanced in that the distance between the edge of the door and the frame is consistent on each side (see pics above), and does what you want when you leave it open: stays put, closes, or opens.
Squeaking is often taken care of with WD-40 or a silicone spray on the hinges. Careful, you will over-spray so hold a cloth up to catch and absorb the spray beyond the hinges. Open and close the door once or twice to move the lubricant into place, and viola!
If the door sticks, look to see if its catching on the top, bottom, or side. 99% of the time the top of the door and the door frame are battling it out. There are a few solutions to consider: trim the top of the door, move the hinges down, or spray some of the lubricant on a cloth and rub it on the door frame and the top of the door. We typically see trimming the door at the top as the best option, and the easiest if you have the right tools and experience.
If the door has a mind of its own when its open, its off balance. The hinges can be adjusted to get the door to make it do what you want. Its another technical exercise that requires patience and good tools, but the result can be very rewarding.
If the gap between your door and the door frame is visibly uneven or inconsistent, you have several problems that need attention. You may be at the point to call a friend or call us to help.
Maintaining a good-working door is rewarding and technical work. Give it a go, and if you're the one getting stuck, just contact us -- we'll stop by and help.
