A door that scrapes, jams or needs a shoulder to close is one of the most common problems we get called out to across Edinburgh, especially in older tenement and Victorian properties. The good news is that most sticking doors have one of four causes, and at least two of them you can sort yourself in under an hour. Here is how we diagnose and fix them, in the order you should try things.
Before reaching for a plane or sandpaper, find exactly where the door is binding. Close the door slowly and watch the gap between the door edge and the frame. Ideally you want an even gap of about 2 to 3 mm all the way round. Run a sheet of paper around the closed door: wherever it will not slide through, that is your tight spot. Rub marks, shiny patches or worn paint on the door edge also give the game away.
The cause is usually one of these: loose or worn hinges letting the door drop, seasonal swelling of the timber, layers of paint built up over the years, or the frame itself moving. In Edinburgh's damp winters, timber doors can take on enough moisture to swell 2 to 3 mm across their width, which is exactly why a door that was fine in July starts jamming in November.
Loose hinges cause more sticking doors than swelling does, and the fix costs nothing. Open the door and lift the handle edge: if you can feel movement at the hinges, that is your problem. Tighten every hinge screw with a hand screwdriver rather than a drill, which can strip the holes.
If the screws just spin, the holes are stripped. Remove one screw at a time, push a couple of glued matchsticks or a whittled hardwood plug into the hole, let the glue grab for a few minutes, then re-drive the screw. On heavy Victorian doors, which can weigh 25 kg or more, it is also worth swapping the middle hinge screws for longer 50 mm ones that bite into the wall stud behind the frame. If the door is catching at the top corner on the latch side, packing the bottom hinge with a slip of cardboard behind the hinge leaf will often tilt the door back square.
If the hinges are sound and the door sticks along one edge, you are likely looking at swelling or paint build up. Old doors that have been painted eight or ten times can carry well over a millimetre of paint per face, and that alone can close up the clearance gap. Stripping or sanding the leading edge back and repainting with one or two thin coats often solves it without removing any timber.
For genuine swelling, resist the urge to plane aggressively in winter. Take off only what you need, a millimetre or so at the marked tight spots, using a block plane or coarse sandpaper on a sanding block. Mark the binding area in pencil first, take the door off its hinges if you need to work the bottom edge, and keep checking your progress by rehanging it. Crucially, seal any bare timber you expose with primer and paint or varnish, including the top and bottom edges. Unsealed edges drink in moisture and the door will swell again by the following winter.
Some sticking doors are a symptom rather than the problem. If the frame has visibly moved, if cracks are opening above the door, or if several doors in the house have started sticking at once, the building may be settling and planing the doors will only mask it. Fire doors should never be planed down at all, as removing material can void their rating, and the same caution applies to doors in communal stairs and HMO properties where regulations are strict.
A joiner can also rehang a door properly, deepen hinge recesses, or fit a new door where the old one is past saving. For a straightforward ease and adjust, expect a visit to take under an hour; rehanging or replacing a door is a longer job and the cost depends on the door, the ironmongery and the state of the frame. If you are in a period property and want to keep the original door, easing and adjusting is almost always cheaper than replacement and worth doing first.
Timber absorbs moisture from the air, and in a damp Scottish winter a door can swell a couple of millimetres across its width. Sealing all six faces of the door, including the top and bottom edges, greatly reduces this seasonal movement.
Yes, if the hinges are sound and you work carefully, removing a little at a time and resealing any bare wood afterwards. Avoid planing in the depths of winter when the door is at its fattest, or you may end up with draughty gaps in summer.
No. Planing material off a fire door can compromise its fire rating, which matters particularly in flats and shared stairs. Have the hinges and frame adjusted instead, or get a joiner to assess it.
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