How to Fix a Door That Sticks

Maintaining a home comes with many responsibilities both large and small. One of those small maintenance tasks can be figuring out how to fix a door that sticks. Fortunately, it’s not as challenging a task as you may think. That’s why our expert craftsmen at Handyman Connection of Blue Ash have put together a few steps and pro tips to help you fix a sticking door in your home.

Plane the Door

The easiest way to fix a door that sticks is to plane it. When you plane a door that simply removing the door from the frame, and adjusting the edges to ensure that the door fits properly in its frame and that each side is level. It’s a bit of a process, but easily doable in an afternoon. Before doing that, try these steps to fix the problem in the meantime.

Step 1

First of all, do a quick inspection to check for any hinges that may be loose. If you notice that any screws are loose, which is likely to happen over time and depending on how frequently the door is closed or opened, be sure to tighten them up with a screwdriver. We recommend using a screwdriver as a power drill can drill too tightly and end up splitting the wood of the door, which is the last thing you want. Simply tightening the screws may fix the problem with your door, which is the best-case scenario.

Step 2

If that doesn’t solve your problem, adjust the hinge. You can do this by removing a screw near the middle of the hinge, and driving a 3-inch or longer screw through the doorpost into the framing. By completing this task, you can bring the door hinge and the jamb closer to the frame resulting in a slight repositioning of the door. Draw in the upper hinge if the door sticks near the top, and draw in the bottom hinge if the door sticks closer to the top. Watch the frame and trim closely so that you don’t create gaps or adjust too tightly.

Step 3

Test the door completely after completing these two steps by opening and closing the door many times. If none of these solutions have fixed your issue, you’ll need to plane the door. This project takes more time than the other quick solutions, but will almost always solve your problem.

Do your best to identify the general area where the door seems to be sticking before removing the door. After you’ve done that, remove the door and use a belt sander or plane to help solve the problem. Sand the door down in a consistent and fluid motion. Make sure you keep consistent and work in short spurts so that you don’t sand too much off. Replace the door and continue to test the quality of what you’ve done and to see if that has solved your problem. You may have to replace the door more than once, as it’s a trial and error type of process.

If you have more questions about how to plane a door, or if you’d like to talk to a professional about tackling the job for you, give our crew at Handyman Connection of Blue Ash a call. We’d be happy to help.