Leveling a bedroom door

Question

My son's bedroom door is not leveled. We thought the doorknob stopped working so we replaced that but my husband discovered that once he pushes up on the door it closes. How can we fix this?

Answer 1

check to see if the hinge screws are still there and tight. take a wood block and hammer and hit the jamb by the top hinge hard, see if that has moved the jamb some you can also take one of the hinge screws closest to the center of the jamb out and replace with a long s***w to suck the jamb tight, if this still did not fix your problem, do like above and file the hole on the strike plate down so the latch will catch..GL

Answer 2

Push the door almost closed. Now take a felt tip pen and mark where the center of the bolt hits the strike plate.

The bolt is the part of the k**b that sticks out at the edge of the door. The strike plate is the metal pc. that is on the frame and catches the bolt as it shuts.

The problem is your strike plate is too low, so you need to remove it and move it so it is right in the center of the bolt as it closes. The strike catch is recessed a little bit in the frame of the door. So, line it up with the center of the bolt, and outline it in pencil, Take a utility knife and score around the pencil mark with the blade, take a wood chisel and remove about 1/16" deep into the frame. Also mark the hole in the strike plate with a pencil. Take your wood chisel and dig out the hole about 5/8" deep, this allows the bolt to go back in this hole to hold door shut. Sometimes your old s***w holes are so close to the new ones, that the screws want to go back in the old holes. If this happens take your utility knife and cut some wood splinters off the edge of a pc, of wood and put some glue on these slivers of wood and drive them into the old s***w holes, Let them sit 1 day and then your new s***w holes should hold.

Make sure you tighten all the screws in the hinges before raising the strike plate - it might be that your screws in the hinges are loose and this lets the door sag down a little.

Good Luck

Answer 3

I don't agree with messing with the strike plate but the last answer was accurate when they said to shim the lower hinge with non corrugated card board. But first remove one of the upper hinge screws and replace it with a longer coarse thread s***w this will grab onto the wood nailer beyond the door jamb and should pull it into place. If not place a 1/4 inch wide not thick piece of cardboard behind the hinge on the outside of the hinge. If you place it on the inside it will do the opposite of what you are looking for.

Answer 4

If the door is tight and looks ok in the frame you can remove the strike plate and file the bottom of the hole larger and remove some wood behind the strike plate if need be. Check to make sure the hinge screws are tight.

You could also place some shim material behind the bottom hinge such as some thin cardboard, that is if there is room between the door and the frame below the door k**b.

Answer 5

As long as he has not been swinging on the door and the door jamb is level then it is and easy fix.

Now for the bad news, Do you have a slab or shifting foundation problem?