Door off by 1/4 inch

[albertshaw]

I think I will end up moving into a house that was put together badly. Some doors don’t close because they were hung 1/4 inch too low. The good news is the house is huge, made with good material, but put together badly.

So the question, how do you rehang a door 1/4 inch higher? I figure, drill out the existing holes. Glue in some dowels. Wait for it to solidify. Then redrill holes.

Or I can trim the door, and very carefully add more material to the top of the door, then plaster it so it looks like a good fit.

Or do I just get bigger moulding to hide the gap after trimming door. I will have to make custome moulding with my router.

Thanks guys/gals. You are wonderful with all your previous help.

[thiggy]

Usually the problem you describe is caused by settling within the house rather than the door being hung incorrectly initially. However, if the door is really 1/4″ low, just do as you first suggest – re-hang it 1/4″ higher. Plug the screw holes as you stated, remove one of the hinge leaves and use it as a template to mark in it’s new position. Take a razor knife and cut the outline of the hinge where wood needs to be removed to mortise the hinge in the jamb. Carefully shave out the wood to the level of the original mortise and reinstall all hinges in their new positions. You will probably have to make a similar adjustment in the strike plate on the other door jamb. Good luck!

[Unregistered-LLW]

Look for other signs of settling such as drywall cracks above the doors. You can get the inspector to put this stuff in his/her report. Maybe you can get a $100 at settlement to cover the cost of a new router.

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