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Plan & Takeoffs

What to check, and in what order

A door sticks, binds or will not close properly

Which EDGE binds, and whether it changes with the seasons. A top edge that binds in wet months and frees in dry ones is swelling. A binding edge that is constant, or a gap that tapers, is the frame or the structure having moved — and planing that door removes material you will want back.
  • 6Candidate causes
  • Most commonMost likely
  • No — candidates onlyA diagnosis

Where this starts

A door is a rectangle in a rectangle, and it sticks when the two stop matching. What changed is the question, and it is answered mostly by WHERE the contact is and WHETHER it comes and goes.

SEASONAL binding — worse in humid months, easing in dry ones — is moisture movement in the door or the frame. Timber takes up moisture and swells across its width, so the clearances close. It is normal, it is reversible, and it is the one case where patience is a legitimate remedy.

CONSTANT binding that has appeared and stayed is the frame or the opening having moved. The diagnostic is the GAP: run your eye down the gap between door and frame on the hinge side and the closing side. A gap that is parallel means the door is simply too big or the hinges have moved. A gap that TAPERS — wide at the top and closed at the bottom, or the reverse — means the opening is no longer square, and the door is reporting that.

That distinction decides the whole response. Planing a door to fit a distorted opening works until the opening moves again, and then you have a door with a tapered edge and less material to work with. It is the commonest wasted repair in a house.

What it could be, and what tells them apart

These are candidates to check against your own building, in the order they most often turn out to be the answer. None of them is a diagnosis of your situation.

  1. Seasonal moisture movement

    Most common

    Binding on the top or the closing edge that is worse in humid weather and eases in dry, with the gap otherwise parallel. Often several doors in the house at once.

    How to check: Whether it has done this before and then stopped. A door that binds every winter and frees every summer is swelling, not moving.

  2. Hinges loose, worn or dropped

    Most common

    Binding at the top of the closing edge with a widening gap at the top of the HINGE side, and often a visible drop when the door is opened.

    How to check: Lift the door handle-side while it hangs open. Movement at the hinges, or screws that turn without tightening, identifies it.

  3. Screws into a worn or shallow frame

    Common

    The same symptom as dropped hinges, but with screws that spin freely and hinge leaves that have pulled slightly out of their rebates.

    How to check: Try to tighten each hinge screw. One that turns without biting has lost its grip in the timber and is carrying no load.

  4. The frame or opening has moved

    Common

    A TAPERED gap rather than a parallel one, constant rather than seasonal, often with cracking at the corners of the opening or elsewhere in the wall.

    How to check: Look at the gap along the whole closing edge. A taper is the opening out of square, and that is a building question rather than a door one.

  5. A new floor covering raising the door

    Common

    Binding at the BOTTOM only, dating from when a floor was laid, with the door catching as it swings over the new covering.

    How to check: When it started. A bottom-edge bind that began with new flooring is arithmetic rather than movement.

  6. Paint build-up in the rebate

    Less common

    Binding along the closing edge or the stop, on an older repeatedly painted door, with visibly thick paint at the contact point.

    How to check: Look at the contact area. Layers of paint at the stop or in the rebate close clearances that were adequate.

What to check, in order

The order matters — each step is here because of what it rules out for the ones after it.

0 of 5 checked
  1. 1

    Close the door slowly and watch, or run a slip of paper round the gap. Top, bottom, hinge side or closing side each point at a different family of cause.

  2. 2

    A parallel gap is a door problem; a tapered gap is an opening problem. This single observation decides whether planing the door is a repair or a mistake.

  3. 3

    Swelling reverses and does not need material removed. Removing it anyway leaves a loose, draughty door for half the year.

  4. 4

    It is the cheapest fix on the page and among the most common causes. A screw that spins is carrying nothing, and longer screws into solid timber often resolve the whole problem.

  5. 5

    A symptom that started on a date usually has a cause on that date, and it saves looking for movement that never happened.

The calculations behind this

Several of the causes above are a quantity that was specified or assumed. These compute them, with the formula and the standard behind each.

Door & Window Casing Calculator →ADA Door Maneuvering Clearance Calculator →Baseboard & Trim Calculator →

When to stop and get somebody in

  • Where the gap tapers and there is cracking at the corners of the opening or elsewhere in the wall — the door is reporting movement in the structure, and that is what needs looking at.
  • Where several doors on the same floor have gone out of square over the same period, which points at the building rather than at any of the doors.
  • Where a fire door is involved: its clearances, its intumescent seals and its hinges are specified, and planing or packing one can void its performance.
  • Where the door is in a frame that is part of an external wall and the movement coincides with damp, since both may share a cause.

This page lists candidates to check, not a diagnosis — nobody has seen your building. If the symptom involves anything structural, read this first.