It is difficult to imagine any home, no matter how many rooms it has, without interior doors. First of all, this enclosing structure is necessary for bathrooms and toilet rooms. Therefore, it is important that interior doors work properly for a long time. For this purpose, at the final stage of door installation, it is adjusted.
In addition, it is often necessary to adjust old doors. It is this process that we will try to understand in our article. But let's start with general description structural elements of an interior door.
Often homeowners, who are not naturally deprived of the ability to do manual labor, decide to self-installation and adjusting the doors of rooms in your home. In principle, such work can be done with your own hands. But for beginners, it is first important to know what it consists of. interior door.
The main structural element of any door is the door leaf; it is what people first pay attention to when purchasing a door. Another name for the canvas is sash.
Installation of the door and its operation is impossible without the frame, which is installed in the doorway, and the leaf itself is attached to it. The frame is an original structural element of each specific door, matching it in color scheme
. This means that installing a new sash in old box does not seem possible.
Often the box comes complete with the finished canvas. It consists of three or four elements. If the door is planned without a threshold, then the box has U-shape, it includes 2 long vertical beams (loop and false) and one short horizontal beam (lintel). If necessary, the box design includes a threshold, in which case it will look like a closed loop.
The decorative function is performed by the platband. It is this that closes the seam where the door frame is installed in the wall opening.
If the thickness of the wall is greater than the thickness of the door frame, then it is necessary additional strip. This is also decorative element, the color of which matches the canvas.
An important part of the doors is the fittings, which include two hinges on which the door leaf is attached to the frame, a latch and a set of handles. For doors installed, for example, in a bathroom or toilet, a locking device is also provided that allows you to close the door from the inside.
These are the main ones structural elements interior doors.
Adjusting interior doors as the final stage of installation
So, the process of installing the interior door is coming to an end. The box is installed in the opening, and the sash is suspended from it. At this stage, before foaming the gap between the opening in the wall and the frame beams, it is necessary to adjust the door. First, an initial inspection is carried out to check the opening and closing of the door, the uniformity of the distance between the leaf and the frame. There may be several reasons why the gap size is not the same.
The gap may be so uneven that the door will touch the jamb at the top or bottom.
If no violations are found during the inspection, then a more thorough inspection begins, during which several major malfunctions may be discovered. Let's consider each of them, the reasons and ways to eliminate them separately.
Can't close the door
This is the most common problem. There are several reasons that prevent the interior door from closing normally.
This mainly happens due to skewed door frame which is related to her incorrect installation, during which the beams were insufficiently fastened together or the correct proportions were not observed when connecting the horizontal and vertical beams.
You can detect if the box is skewed using a level or plumb line. If the problem is really in the box, then it will need to be removed. It is necessary to check whether the cut of the joints of the beams is even, reconnect them to each other, strictly observing the angle of 90 degrees. Secure all joints with at least two screws. As a result, you should get an even letter P with firmly connected corners.
They may either be insufficiently recessed in comparison with the surface of the box or canvas.
In some cases, you can deepen the loop by tightening the screws in it, but this does not always work. If this does not help, you will have to unscrew the hinges and deepen the attachment point using a chisel or grinding.
Deepening hinge grooves by grinding
Hinges may also be installed incorrectly in horizontal plane: deeply removed from the front part of the canvas. Then they will need to be removed and moved closer to the facade of the sash.
The door gets stuck in the opening
This means that the door closes without problems, but it is not easy to open. There are two main reasons for this problem.
Firstly, the box beam fasteners are not tightened enough. Everything is simple here: you need to tighten the screws that secure the false beam in the opening.
Secondly, excessively deep grooves can be prepared for the hinges. To cope with this problem, you need to remove the door, remove the hinges and place cardboard under their doors.
A door that is not tightly closed opens or closes on its own
This happens when the door frame is not installed strictly vertically. If its top is blocked in the direction where the door swings open, then the door opens. When the top of the box is folded in the opposite direction, the door closes. This can be corrected by leveling the box, especially the loop beam. You can use a plumb line as a guide, but a long level is preferable. It is also possible to use a short level; for this it is worth linking it, for example, to a rule. Once the box is aligned, secure it to the opening.
In addition to problems with the box, hinges or door leaf, inaccuracies in the installation of locking mechanisms may be identified.
Adjusting locks and door handles
A common problem encountered during installation door lock, is that it is not deepened enough. As a result, the side bar of the lock or door handle hurt door frame. The way out of this situation is to deepen the hole for the latch or lock mechanism.
Sometimes the lock or latch screws are not screwed in enough, so the mechanism dangles in the groove. The solution is simple - tighten the fasteners.
Adjusting old doors
Despite the fact that adjustment is the final stage of door installation, it is often necessary to carry out it for older doors.
One of the main and most common problems with new interior door designs is creaking hinges. Sometimes this is observed at new doors. To eliminate this problem, it is necessary to lubricate the hinges with machine oil. To do this, place a wedge under the door and lift the door to partially remove it from its hinges. Oil is dripped into the gap that appears in the loop using a pipette, which can be replaced with a piece of graphite lead of a simple pencil.
Another common problem old doors are skewed. There are several reasons for this.
For wooden doors, misalignment may be associated with swelling of the door leaf. In this case, it is necessary to determine the location of the bulge. To do this, apply paper to the suspected distorted area and close the door. The place where the carbon mark will remain is the bulging section of the canvas. It is this that needs to be cut off and the door itself painted over, as was described in the case of new door with broken geometry.
For heavy doors, for example, made from solid wood, the distortion may be associated with deformation of the hinges. This is usually caused by the stitches being selected incorrectly.
Pay attention! Heavy wooden doors should be installed on three hinges rather than two.
There are several ways to correct skewed loops:
- replace with new, more durable ones;
- install additional hinges;
- unscrew the screws from the hinges and replace them with longer ones;
- strengthen the sockets for the screws with a cork coated with glue;
- install washers in the hinges, which will raise the door a couple of millimeters in the center of the hinge.
Installing the washer
A skewed door leaf can also be caused by a change in the geometry of the opening in the wall. Without replacing the door elements, this defect can be eliminated as follows:
- sharpen the door where it is skewed;
- remove and rearrange door frame, adjusting the joints of the beams while maintaining an angle of 90 degrees.
In the latter case, you need to focus on the building level, and securely fasten the box to the doorway. To do this, two holes are made through the box in the wall on the side of each beam. The depth of the holes in the wall must be at least 50 mm. Pins made of metal or wood are driven into the holes. Wooden fasteners are pre-lubricated with glue.
Final word
The door installation and adjustment can be done independently, but maximum precision must be observed so as not to ultimately damage the door leaf or frame.
Pay attention! If your home is planning to or has already installed wooden door, then remember that its prevention must be carried out annually.
If you have any doubts about own strength, then it’s better not to take risks and entrust the entire process of installation and adjustment of the door installation to professionals.
Video - Door adjustment
Hello, we installed the interior doors ourselves. Now one of the doors touches the frame when closing and is difficult to close, can this be fixed?
Obviously you did not screw the box to the opening, but used foam. The fact is that the foam swells due to changes in atmospheric pressure, (before rain) the frame is deformed and the door stops closing. Drill holes through the box into the wall and install long screws.
Of course, you can fix everything. This happened either because the door frame is swollen (more precisely, the material is swollen. Wood), or you foamed it too much. In the second case, you need to remove the mounting foam, install the door normally and foam it again. While the foam hardens, install spacers. If so The material of the door and frame has swollen from increased humidity, which is more difficult. This is the quality of the product itself.
As they say, the miser pays twice. In your case, you should call professional door installers, and perhaps they will still be able to rectify the situation.
It looks like the door is simply "swollen". This happens in summer (the door was installed in winter).
If so, then the most best option door fitting - electric milling machine. From the hinge side and from the bottom of the door.
To work you will need a chisel, a hammer and a plane. It is necessary to determine the place where the door touches the frame. As a rule, a slight protrusion of half a millimeter interferes, or it can be only a millimeter thick. It is necessary to trim the door from the end in this place. It will be both unnoticeable and low-cost. First, try walking with a plane, and then, if the plane is inconvenient, then use a chisel and a hammer.
And finally, the place where the door is stitched, so to speak, can be painted in the color of the end of the door, which will make this place less noticeable.
Swelling of doors in summer, when humidity increases significantly, is a natural process. And taking this into account when installing in winter, when due to the operation of heating radiators, the air is much drier, leaving a gap of about 4 mm between the door and the frame around the entire perimeter.
In your case, the gap turned out to be too small; there are several options for fixing it, depending on what you have with the door or frame and what experience you have in working with wood.
1. We need to see if the box has been opened? This happens quite often. To do this, you need to measure its width at different heights and especially in the place where the contact occurs.
If the box has moved, then it is somewhat simpler.
Using a flat metal corner or level, we determine where the bulge is located. This can be seen on the door, but you may not be able to see from which side this is happening, from the side of the hinges or the handle.
Best result measurements will, of course, be given by a metal level, but it is unlikely that meter If you have one lying around the house, instead of it, pick up some kind of flat block or strip.
The bulging area will be felt immediately. There will be a bump where your block or level will roll.
Carefully remove the trim from the side of the box where the bulging occurred, from the outside and inside.
Then we take a hacksaw, preferably with not too coarse teeth, and parallel to the box for the entire height, or only in the place where it bulges, we cut through the foam. On both sides of the doorway. It is better to make this cut directly along the box. Don't forget about the fastening dowels, you need to go around them, but also give a gap between the foam and the box. After this, tighten the door frame fasteners with a screwdriver, and tighten it for several days until the wood takes the desired bend and selects a new gap above the foam. In other words, we will gradually press the box against the opening. The result will begin to appear immediately.
2.1. Another case is if the frame is flat, but the door is swollen. Is there a question here? What kind of door do you have? If it is a simple wooden panel door covered with tinting and varnish, then the problem is solved somewhat easier.
The simplest option. Remove the lock and sand the end of the door with sandpaper on a block. Necessarily sandpaper attach it to a block or plank in order to sand off an even layer. Check the door periodically for signs of jamming. As soon as it stops touching, stop sanding, the door will no longer swell, and you don’t need the extra gap.
Now we are trying to install a lock. It may already be protruding somewhat, because we have removed some kind of layer. Check if the lock does not touch the box, then it can be placed freely; if it does touch, then you need to take a chisel and carefully deepen it seat. For handles, as a rule, the installation gaps are sufficient, but you can also correct these holes in the door.
Now we select a tinting composition and cover the treated end of the door with it, then we go over it with varnish.
2.2If your doors are expensive and such a tint or stain cannot be found, although you can choose one. Sand the door from the hinge side. To do this, we remove it, and then we also deepen the places for the hinges, tint and varnish.
In any case, this option gives a gap and, most importantly, the results of working with the door are practically invisible. Even if you make any mistakes, they will not damage the door, because this side of the door sits on hinges and is almost invisible.
Good luck and let me know how it goes for you.
Swelling of doors in summer, when humidity increases significantly, is a natural process. And taking this into account when installing in winter, when due to the operation of heating radiators, the air is much drier, leaving a gap of about 4 mm between the door and the frame around the entire perimeter.
In your case, the gap turned out to be too small; there are several options for fixing it, depending on what you have with the door or frame and what experience you have in working with wood.
1. We need to see if the box has been opened? This happens quite often. To do this, you need to measure its width at different heights and especially in the place where the contact occurs.
If the box has moved, then it is somewhat simpler.
Using a flat metal corner or level, we determine where the bulge is located. This can be seen on the door, but you may not be able to see from which side this is happening, from the side of the hinges or the handle.
The best measurement result will, of course, be given by a metal level, but it’s unlikely that you have such a measuring device lying around the house; instead, pick up some kind of flat block or strip.
The bulging area will be felt immediately. There will be a bump where your block or level will roll.
Carefully remove the trim from the side of the box where the bulging occurred, from the outside and inside.
Then we take a hacksaw, preferably with not too coarse teeth, and parallel to the box for the entire height, or only in the place where it bulges, we cut through the foam. On both sides of the doorway. It is better to make this cut directly along the box. Don't forget about the fastening dowels, you need to go around them, but also give a gap between the foam and the box. After this, tighten the door frame fasteners with a screwdriver, and tighten it for several days until the wood takes the desired bend and selects a new gap above the foam. In other words, we will gradually press the box against the opening. The result will begin to appear immediately.
2.1. Another case is if the frame is flat, but the door is swollen. Is there a question here? What kind of door do you have? If it is a simple wooden panel door covered with tinting and varnish, then the problem is solved somewhat easier.
The simplest option. Remove the lock and sand the end of the door with sandpaper on a block. Be sure to attach the sandpaper to a block or board in order to sand an even layer. Check the door periodically for signs of jamming. As soon as it stops touching, stop sanding, the door will no longer swell, and you don’t need the extra gap.
Now we are trying to install a lock. It may already be protruding somewhat, because we have removed some kind of layer. Check if the lock does not touch the box, then it can be placed freely; if it does touch, then you need to take a chisel and carefully deepen its seat. For handles, as a rule, the installation gaps are sufficient, but you can also correct these holes in the door.
Now we select a tinting composition and cover the treated end of the door with it, then we go over it with varnish.
2.2If your doors are expensive and such a tint or stain cannot be found, although you can choose one. Sand the door from the hinge side. To do this, we remove it, and then we also deepen the places for the hinges, tint and varnish.
In any case, this option gives a gap and, most importantly, the results of working with the door are practically invisible. Even if you make any mistakes, they will not damage the door, because this side of the door sits on hinges and is almost invisible.
Good luck and let me know how it goes for you.
Interior doors and frames for them are not made of titanium and are afraid not only of mechanical influences, but also of humidity, due to which they are deformed. Today we will tell you what to do if the interior door touches the frame, that is, the latter has become deformed.
Causes of deformation
The box can become deformed for a number of reasons, here are the most common ones:
- — Exposure to moisture,
- — Incorrect fastening of fittings,
- — Incorrect fixation of the box in the opening.
To expose the door to moisture, you don’t need to water it; often ordinary dampness in the bathroom is enough, but if the neighbors flood it, then every third frame can “lead” even with an ideal installation. This happens due to the characteristics of wood, which changes shape not only due to temperature changes, but also due to changes in humidity.
Incorrect fastening of the fittings can weaken its fixation, and the door will begin to cling to the frame, damaging the outer edge of the door leaf. Also, the box can “move” due to savings or improper fixation of anchors during installation, and also due to a violation of the technology for using polyurethane foam.
Exposure to moisture
The reason for deformation of the box can be not only dampness or flood, but also the decoration of the wall near doorway after installation of the structure. Putty and plaster have water base, and the water, evaporating, enters the tree and causes it to swell. Moreover, gypsum mixtures can expand after drying, which also leads to swelling of the tree.
If, after installing the door, you decided to putty the walls near the frame and it became deformed, then:
- — Set the location of the deformation,
- - Remove the casing,
- — Unstitch the seam between the frame and the wall.
To determine the location of the deformation, take a strip of paper and run it along the gap between the closed door and the frame (photo 1). This is necessary so as not to unstitch the door over its entire height.
Now mark the place of deformation with a pencil, remove the casing and use a spatula or a sharp knife to remove the putty/plaster from the side of the wall (photo 2). Just close the door overnight with a paper gasket in the gap between the door and the frame and in 90% of cases the problem will be resolved.
Defective box fastening
If there is no exposure to moisture, but the frame of the box “walks,” then the second most likely reason for this is improper fastening door design in the opening. According to the technology, there should be two anchors on each side of the door, but if it is not possible to fix them (a thin partition on one side, for example), then the box is fixed on one side with a pistol (!) polyurethane foam. This foam does not expand and acts like glue while filling voids.
If you need to additionally press the door frame so that the door does not touch it, then the casing is removed, the height of the frame is expanded, as if deformed from moisture, after which the sides are tightened either with anchor bolts or placed on pistol foam and pressed out with spacers or inserting paper into the door slot .
If the hinges are not fastened correctly, then the door is removed from them, the holes for the screws are clogged with wooden plugs, the cutting depth of the outer layer for the fittings is checked, and the hinges are reinstalled. This type of defect is rare; much more often the door touches the frame due to moisture or poor fixation of the frame in the opening.
