Why are all my interior doors falling apart?

[KLF]

Moved into this house last September, bought it from the original owners that had it built for them in '95. Shortly after moving in, I noticed that almost all of the interior doors have come apart at one or more of the joints, most are at the joint adjacent to the lockset, but a few are also coming apart on the hinge side stiles. What's weird is none of the corner joints are opening, just the central rail. Some have opened up as much as 3/16", the door will no longer close properly as it hits the jamb.

These are not cheapy Homey Depot pine doors, they are good heavy solid fir doors that have been uniformly stained and poly'd. The rest of the house is finished with good cabinets and trim, the builder did a very nice job. I find it hard to believe that they didn't allow for panel expansion when the door was constructed, but I suppose it's possible.

My thoughts on a repair is to lay the door down and drool some glue down into the joint on both sides, then pull it back together with a clamp. Then remove the lockset and sneak a couple of 3" screws into the joint, hiding them in the lockset hole. On the hinge side, I figured I'd bore a deep hole with a sharp Forstner bit, then again hide a long screw, fill the hole with a wood plug.

Any thoughts or help are appreciated...

[Tom Miller]

It appears the panels in this frame-and-panel construction are exerting pressure on the sides, as you suggest. The panels should be loose enough to allow movement as they swell and contract with moisture change. Perhaps the panels are too wide, so that they bottomed out in the side grooves of the stiles. Or, perhaps they were accidentally glued on one or both sides. Maybe instead of glue, too much finish buildup? If the latter, you could maybe "break" this bond by pulling the joint together with a clamp. If the former, regluing this joint will not hold.

Regards,
Tom

[Knottscott]

One problem with just drizzling wood glue into the loose joint is that they've already been glued once, which means it's aleady absorbed into the pores and makes a fairly poor reglue joint for wood glue.

If Tom's correct and it's caused by panel expansion, you really need to correct that first. I'd try taking doors completely apart. Odds are good that the glue joints are fairly loose now. It's a bit of work but shouldn't be all that bad and is a lot less expensive than replacing them. Correcting the panels will also allow you to try to get down to bare wood at the joints before reglueing.

One method of adding extra strenth to the joint is to bore horizontal holes from the edges and bury a big screw into the end of the rails to help hold the styles in place. You can do that from both edges. You'll need to remove the lockset to get at that center rail. You can plug the pilot holes on the exposed edge once done. In addition to pilot holes and screws from the edge, you can also try an angled pocket hole from the top and bottom to strengthen those rails even further....those holes won't be visible.

[KLF]

One method of adding extra strenth to the joint is to bore horizontal holes from the edges and bury a big screw into the end of the rails to help hold the styles in place. You can do that from both edges. You'll need to remove the lockset to get at that center rail. You can plug the pilot holes on the exposed edge once done.

This is essentially what I was describing in my repair thoughts, sorry if I wasn't clear.

I realy hope that I don't have to disassemble these doors, this would be a huge project, there are 12 doors in all that need repair now.

I think what I will do is use this dry period now to fix one of the doors, while the panels are dry and shrunk to minimum. If the door joint pops open again in the Spring, then I'll know that the panel(s) are the problem.

[cabinetman]

I wouldn't suggest taking the doors apart. The joints will be compromised and likely not go back together, not to mention possible damage to the door. It's possible that too much finish has locked the panel in a place restricting its movement. You might first check to see if the panel is loose.

You could try clamping across the center rail to see if the rail closes up to the stiles. If they do, you could force glue into the joint and re-clamp. Clamping should be done evenly from both sides. Using long screws may present a problem if they are difficult to tighten up. DAMHITK

Finally, check all the hinge plates to see if they are secure and not protruding. While you're at it check the strike plates that they are secure. You could also handplane the lockset edge.
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[cgallery]

The This Old House series from New Orleans (after Katrina) had an episode where they were building/rebuilding an entry door (this work was being done in a commercial shop that was helping on the project).

For additional strength, they used a doweling jig and 1/2" drill bit and drilled through the stile and into the rail (it was a LONG drill bit). They went several inches into the rail.

then they added glue to the hole and the dowel, and pounded it in like mad men, then cut it flush.

It was their answer to doors that failed due to changes in humidity.

So if panel expansion isn't causing the failure, I might suggest the dowel rod trick to repair it.

[Knottscott]

This is essentially what I was describing in my repair thoughts, sorry if I wasn't clear.

I realy hope that I don't have to disassemble these doors, this would be a huge project, there are 12 doors in all that need repair now.

I think what I will do is use this dry period now to fix one of the doors, while the panels are dry and shrunk to minimum. If the door joint pops open again in the Spring, then I'll know that the panel(s) are the problem.

Actually, now that I've read it more carefully, your explanation was a lot clearer than my scan reading! We're on the same page...

[JimD]

I have an old entertainment center where I used a cut off lag screw running in a routered groove arrangement to make doors that recess into the cabinet. They work but are not real smooth in operation and I pulled the frame and panel doors apart. I tried re-glueing but it did not work. Plugged screws are working well after several years.

I agree that pulling them back together with a clamp prior to screwing them is a good idea.

I think dowels might work but I would have more confidence in long screws.

Jim

[cabinetman]

I think dowels might work but I would have more confidence in long screws.

Jim

I didn't mention dowels in my last post because it's a PITA, and could go south very quick. I upgraded our back door which was a long jalousie in the door frame. I converted it to a panel bottom and a fixed window top. The stiles are 5" and the bottom rail is a two piece rail 12" high. The rails were M&T to the stiles and the bottom rail had pulled out from both side stiles.

I could clamp them up tight, so a fitted joint wasn't the problem. I considered long screws, but to sink them that deep, it would be a wonder that they could be pulled up tight without stripping out the head. If that happened I'd have been in deep feces. So, I opted for dowels.

The long drillbits are called "long drill bits" or could be called "bellhangers bits", depending on where you buy them. The lengths can go up to 48".

I used 1/2"dowels cut to 8". They were smooth, so I took a large Channel Lock and gripped the dowel at one end, and held it in the opening of a vise and pounded the dowel through the teeth to put some grooves in it.

Since glue has to go on the dowel, and in the dowel hole, and in the joint of R&S, I did only one side at a time. I forced glue (TB III) into the joint, clamped it up tight, and then drilled out the hole. If you get too much glue in the hole, you may not get the dowel to go in. The depth of the hole should be referenced on the dowel before inserting so you know how far down to go. The dowel should be long enough to cut off, because you may wind up pounding it in with a mallet. If that happens the top of the dowel will definitely get peened. I let each side dry overnight.
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