How to fix a door that sticks

A door that has started to stick is usually trying to tell you about its top hinge. Here is how to find out where it rubs, and fix it with the smallest change possible.

Find where it rubs

Close the door slowly and watch the gap round the edge. A sticking door rubs in one place: usually the top corner on the handle side. Run a pencil along the frame and close the door on it, or look for a shiny worn patch on the paint.

Check the hinges first

Open the door and lift it by the handle. If the top hinge moves, the screws have worked loose and the door has dropped onto the frame.

1. Try tightening the screws in the top hinge, on the door and the frame.
2. If a screw just spins, the hole is stripped. Take the screw out, push two or three matchsticks dipped in wood glue into the hole, snap them off flush and drive the screw back in.
3. If that does not hold, swap that one screw for a longer one, 50 or 65 mm, that reaches through the frame into the wall stud behind.

Close the door. Most of the time, that is the end of it.

If it still rubs

Mark the rubbing area with pencil while the door is closed. On a small area, sand it back with 120 grit. On a larger one, take the door off its hinges, lay it on its side and take a few passes with a block plane, working from the corners towards the middle so the edge does not split.

Take off as little as you can: a door that sticks in a wet November may have a gap in a dry July.

Seal the edge

Bare timber takes on moisture and will swell again. Brush a coat of primer and paint over anything you have sanded or planed, top and bottom edges included.

When to call someone

A door that sticks along its whole length, a frame that has visibly moved, or a crack running from the corner of the door frame up the wall is a sign of movement in the house rather than a door problem. A dropped door, though, is an hour in our job basket.