Oh my sagging door

[spence]

Exterior door to my kitchen has decided to sag and now only opens half way before it hits the floor. It's older but not ancient. 9 light on top with two horizontal wood panels below.

When it first became a problem I removed the thin shim under the top hinge and that fixed the issue for a while...but with this cold dry weather I wonder if the structure of the door is just failing as it's now hitting the floor again.

Any ideas?

[Guppy]

Take out one or two of the screws in the top hinge jamb side, replace with a couple heavy duty jamb screws...
The idea is to suck the hinge back towards the Jack stud to lift the leading edge of the door.

Keep your fingers crossed that the top doesn't stick after the above..

[nightfighter]

What Ray said... and check all the hinge screws on both the jamb and the door.

[ed morini]

If the door structure itself has been compromised you should see visible signs in the door itself. Usually openings in the joints at the intersection of the rail and stiles. If that's the case you might be able to re-glue the assembly back to square, but because of the door construction success is iffy.
If this is a metal door(you didn't say) the above mentioned replies should work.

Ed

[trevier]

get a new door and install right. Cry now but smile later.

[Raven]

or you can take an extra sharp chisel and chisel the top hinge mating surface
so you can suck it in some more

easy enough to make cereal box shims if need be

[Duke41]

Cut the bottom 4 inches off with a chainsaw. That #^&#^&#^&#^&er will close for sure.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[spence]

Originally Posted by Duke41

Cut the bottom 4 inches off with a chainsaw. That #^&#^&#^&#^&er will close for sure.
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Won't snow blow in under?

[Pete F.]

Originally Posted by spence

Won't snow blow in under?

You wont need to run the Humidifier then, def win/win

[spence]

Originally Posted by ed morini

If the door structure itself has been compromised you should see visible signs in the door itself. Usually openings in the joints at the intersection of the rail and stiles. If that's the case you might be able to re-glue the assembly back to square, but because of the door construction success is iffy.
If this is a metal door(you didn't say) the above mentioned replies should work.

Ed

Yes, it's an older solid wood 9 light. Definitely has visible cracks and the reveal at the top shows the sag. I removed the top hinge shim and sunk a long screw into the frame which pulled it up enough so that it doesn't rub on the floor. But it does still rub on the metal threshold a bit. It closes but not well.

Is there any way to square it up without major surgery or should I just take a kerf off the bottom?

[Slipknot]

I suppose you can try tightening up those joints with some long screws predrill the styles and fasten screws countersunk, putty paint.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[spence]

Originally Posted by Slipknot

I suppose you can try tightening up those joints with some long screws predrill the styles and fasten screws countersunk, putty paint.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

That sounds like it would work as a fix until I'm ready to decommission the door...thanks...

[ed morini]

A real dirty fix is to jack the door up to the position wanted so it clears the threshold and closes. Then add a strip of plywood to the bottom and top that spans the the distance from stile to stile, glue and screws these to the the stiles and rails, sand and paint. I have used this for sagging screen doors and the odd entry door awaiting replacement. Not pretty but effective.
On the interior side make sure the batten is cut back enough so they will clear the side jamb rabbet. The out side can be flush with the door stiles

[spence]

Yea that is dirty.

I tried to jack up the low corner and tighten the cracked part with 3" screws like slip said but it didn't help much. Think I'm just going to trim the bottom and install a sweep or something so it clears and doesn't leak much. Also noticed it's worse when it's cold so maybe I can deal with it for the next two months and kick the can down the road another season.

[Sea Dangles]

Why not replace it, you libs love kicking the can down the road. That's a half day job Jeff.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[spence]

Originally Posted by Sea Dangles

Why not replace it, you libs love kicking the can down the road. That's a half day job Jeff.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Just a lot of crap on my plate right now.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[TheSpecialist]

Originally Posted by Sea Dangles

Why not replace it, you libs love kicking the can down the road. That's a half day job Jeff.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Hahahahaha

[puppet]

I have bought a house full of doors to replace.

I order from the big box. It took me a couple doors to realize that a
prehung door == stoned college kid assembling my door. I did not
buy the cheap ones either. These are 200-400 interior doors and
500-700 exterior.

I do not think one of them was hung correctly. All are related to
hinge installation. Hinges crooked or not fully seated in mortises.
Mortises too shallow or too deep. All of which you end up with a
crooked door hanging in a perfectly level and plumb door jamb.

I am not a carpenter, so this may be a hack or not advisable....but If
you cannot make the hinge side of the jamb plumb again. You can try
tapering the mortises on the jamb.

I have become a master at fixing bad installs just by looking at the
hinges. Some adjustments to hinge mortise depth and alignment,
can produce miracles and might allow you correct what might seem
UN-correctable. A guess is to increase the depth of the top mortise
on the jamb. If there is a middle hinge, detach it until you find the
right depth for the top, then apply half the depth to the middle
mortise.

If the door itself is falling appart and your house is settling or
shifting, this fix may not help long term.