Pair of French Doors/ one is warped

nyc1dxo · 11-28-2007, 08:22 PM

1920's house with original 15 glass panel pair of french doors. I finally removed old paint layers to allow doors to close and latch. But now, the doors do not meet in the middle flushed. On the top, it's fine. But the bottom, one door is off by 1". I've adjusted the latch, but for presentation looks, it looks like crap to see that the doors are not fully flushed.

Any suggestions for a fix? Because of them being a French door setup, I cant play around with any door stop as suggested.

Thanks,
Denis

RTRCon · 11-29-2007, 10:07 AM

Sounds like you might have to move the bottems of the hinge side of the jambs in or out to get them to line up. If you can move one side 1/2" one way and move the other side 1/2" in the opposite way it might line up. You will have drywall issues thou

Does the inactive door have a pin that goes into the floor?

nyc1dxo · 11-29-2007, 04:37 PM

The other door does have a latch that keeps that door still.

RTRCon · 11-29-2007, 10:38 PM

Can you move or redrill the pin location to help line up the doors? Maybe be able to still cover the old location with a bigger plate/trim piece?

bofusmosby · 11-30-2007, 09:47 PM

I also have some french doors about the same time period. Mine are 10 panel. I have had the house for about 9 years, and have never had them open. They are in such bad shape, I am going to have to completely strip, disassemble, and re-glue as well. As a matter of fact, one of my doors is sticking out a little at the bottom. I have not gotten to these doors yet, but I had a similar problem with one of my old window sashes. IT was badly warped, so I stripped it down to the bare wood, disassembled the frame, clean and re-glue, but clamped on a flat surface. After the glue dried, it was no longer warped. I glazed a piece of glass back in, and its like new.

I'm not saying that this is your problem, but it just might be. If you do this, this means all the glass will have to be removed, and the wood completely broken down. This will be a time-consuming job.

RTRCon has the best idea, look to the hinges first. The door may have been put in the frame this way, or through the settleing of the house. I would put a "straight-edge" to the door, and see if the door is actually warped. The hinges could be the way to go.

Good luck

nyc1dxo · 12-02-2007, 05:43 PM

Has anyone attempted to move the hinge. Won't this create other issues with the upper hinge as well as the appearance of a crooked installation?

Ron6519 · 12-03-2007, 04:46 PM

Did the door warp as a result of the stripping, neutralizing procedures? You might need to rewet it and gently correct it so it's in a single plane. There's a good chance some of the glass will break.
Ron

Lisa-Adam · 04-28-2008, 06:01 AM

You should use steel door that should be flushed with house.

bofusmosby · 04-28-2008, 08:10 AM

I completely disagree with the steel door idea, unless you have no intention of doing any restoration. To have the original door is a big plus in my mind. However, it you are not interested in the history or charactor of the old house, the steel dore would be the best option for safety and security.