Hanging doors - DIY Chatroom

Jackamus · 10-29-2009, 10:48 AM

I have just re-hung a door. Does anyone know of a difinitive way in which I can work out which hinges to adjust to stop a door self closing?

Jack

12penny · 10-29-2009, 11:03 AM

Jack...sounds like the door wasnt hung plumb, in reference to its face. Did you rehang the entire unit or just the door?
Put a level on the door next to the hinges and move the hinges in/out till door is plumb.

RTRCon · 10-29-2009, 11:13 AM

Or you can use an old carpenters trick and pull a pin out of one of the hinges, lay it flat on concrete, give it a slight wack with a hammer to put a slight bend in it and reinstall back in the hinge.. Works most of the time..

Jackamus · 10-29-2009, 11:22 AM

Thanks for your quick response. I re-hung the door from the left side of the door frame to the righthand side. Assuming you are looking at a closed door that opens towards you; the door can be out of plumb in 3 different ways;
1 The door frame is out of plumb.
2 If one hinge is rebated more than the other.
3 One hinge is sticking out towards you more than the other. Its trying to decide which one. There is a point when the door is in equilibrium at about 18 inches from the closed position. I suspect that the door frame is wrong.

Jack

Jackamus · 10-29-2009, 11:26 AM

RTCON,
Bending hinge pins is cheating!

I will resort to that if after finding that correcting it any other way will make the door look unsightly - uneven door gaps etc.

Jack

skymaster · 10-29-2009, 01:33 PM

NORMALLY if a door swings closed on its own it is out of plumb vertically; IE place the level on the face of the door and you should see which way u need to move it, sounds like you need to move the top of the door out toward you

Jackamus · 10-29-2009, 02:15 PM

Hi,
You were right the bottom door hinge needed to go closer to the door stop by about 1/8 inch on the door frame. After cutting away more of the frame I tried it with just the bottom screw in the hinge and that was OK. However when I put the other two screws in the hinge it started to close again! I loosened off the top screw and it stopped. Crazy!. Just to see what would happen I loosened off the top hinge screws and then retightened them and the door now stays wherever I put it. I reckon that loosening the top screws allowed the door to 'settle' in some way - I don't know what else it could be. I now have to move the door stop to allow for the new hinge position.

Thanks for your advice.

Best regards.

Jack

skymaster · 10-29-2009, 09:27 PM

Jack: glad you got it fixed, Also nudder trick is take old playing cards and use em fer shims under the hinges works really well. Man here I am talking to myself again!!!!!!!!!!
Jack

Jackamus · 10-30-2009, 06:33 AM

'Fraid so Skymaster!

BTW have you ever been able to sucessfully use a plumb bob? I find them virtually impossible to keep still without banging in nails to tie the string to and hold it still or is there a technique I've missed?

Jack

skymaster · 10-30-2009, 12:07 PM

I do pretty much same thing. One thing to make sure of is to wrap the string aorund the pc you are trying to plumb TO a couple of times then just tack to the back of it. Hmmmm I try in English now LOL LOL
Make the wraps FROM the face so string hangs against it. Also use a real HEAVY plumb bob NOT a chalk line critter. You can get em in box stores, nice big brass with steel tips and use mason line.
Jack to Jack

Jackamus · 10-30-2009, 03:01 PM

Hmmmm I try in English now LOL LOL
Make the wraps FROM the face so string hangs against it. Also use a real HEAVY plumb bob NOT a chalk line critter. You can get em in box stores, nice big brass with steel tips and use mason line.
Jack to Jack[/quote]

What about the diameter of the plumb bob weight? I supose it is OK for it to rest against whatever it is you are checking provided you make sure there is no friction to hold it out of-line.

I reckon that a 3mm flat steel disc about 100mm in diameter with the line attached trough a hole close to its edge would make a good one and keep the line close.

Jack

Thurman · 10-31-2009, 04:00 PM

Jackamus: as far as RTRCon's post--I cheat also. Bending one pin is not really cheating to me, bending two or more means it is time to check the door frame about twenty different ways. Jackamus, you re-hung the door from a LH to a RH, which is quite a feat. At least it sounds as if you have found the problem and the solution which is good. I like to use a plumb-bob for hanging new door/door frames myself, but-I use my 6" speed-square to place it 6" away from the actual door frame, and a large numbered 12" scale to read my measurements. An old trick from hanging steel when building buildings. Nowadays, the large numbered scale is good for the old eyes

. This series of posts is one reason I recommend this site to people, so much good information for people to learn. Thanks, David

Jackamus · 10-31-2009, 05:49 PM

Hi Thurman,
Thank for your response.

I too like to gather up new information on time old problems.
Changing a door from right to left hand was easy - it just means cutting new rebates for the hinges and door catch plate in the door frame, fixing the old rebates and door catch hole with bits of wood, filling and sanding down.

Is your 'speed' square the same as an English 'Try' square (a steel plade set at right angles into a wooden stock or something else? I am struggling with trying to vsualise how you use a square and plumb line and 12inch rule when setting up a door frame.

I'm a retired technical illustrator and love drawing everything to explain how and why and it is reletively easy for me to do that. What about you?

Jack