Doors swing on their own

[LCHIEN]

At least one door in my home and now some at my Daughters new home won't stay where you put them... they swing shut.

I assume this is because the door was not hung perfectly perpendicular to the ground and the weight of the door wants to swing it shut. It probably tilts in the direction where it wants to swing toward.

Am I right?

Any suggestions about how to make them stay put... other than
1. rehanging the door,
2. using a wedge door stop,
3. putting some sticky sludge into the hinges...

[charliex]

Most times this is an easy fix. Loosen the bottom hinge from the frame and place a shim ( 2 playing cards or similar stock behind it) if it has a center hinge do the same except only 1 shim. If that works quit, if not, add 1 more shim to each. If it has just started to swing this usually works. Good luck.

Funny: I have the same problem, but we have a cat that nuzzles the edge of the door with her cheek, thereby opening or closing it.

Chas

[Tom Slick]

Bend the hinge pin slightly, adding friction to the hinge assembly.

[cabinetman]

Most times this is an easy fix. Loosen the bottom hinge from the frame and place a shim ( 2 playing cards or similar stock behind it) if it has a center hinge do the same except only 1 shim. If that works quit, if not, add 1 more shim to each. If it has just started to swing this usually works. Good luck.
Chas

Shimming may be a fix, and it may not be. Before shimming, check the door in the opening to see if the spacing is even to the jambs. Shimming could solve it, or make it worse.

You could also check the pins for being straight. Check the hinges to see if they are mounted straight to the door. Another cause could be that one hinge could be bent due to experiencing blunt force trauma. One or more hinges could be hinge bound. If there are three hinges, remove the center one first to see what happens.

When reinstalling the hinges, plug the hole with wood (you can tap in some wood toothpicks), or use longer screws. They usually come with 9x1".

.

[Mr__Bill]

Bend the hinge pin slightly, adding friction to the hinge assembly.

As Tom said, this has worked well for me. I do the top hinge also grease the hinge with wheel bearing grease so there is no squeak yet moves firmly.


Bill
on the sunny Oregon Coast

[gerti]

I had a door doing that that was beyond shimming. It had one of those springy thingies to prevent the doorknob from hitting the wall. I pulled of the plastic head, inserted a couple small round rare earth magnets, replaced the cap, and put a small screw in the baseboard
the magnets would stick to. Been working for years...

[cabinetman]

Here's something you could try first. Remove the pins, and hand hone the hinge pin holes with a bore brush. Use a microfiber pad and clean the pins. Use graphite on the pins and holes and see if that does it.

.

[Pappy]

The black dirt my house sits on reacts quickly to changes in miosture content so my doors are always changing. So much that I have to have extra length slots in the strike plates for the door latches and dead bolts.

The shim trick will usually work if the movement isn't too extreme. My preference is to cut shims from plastic milk jugs.

[tommyt654]

What Tom said, works everytime

[conscience]

Shims work for doors that are out of plumb from top to bottom along the inside face of the jamb. For doors that are out of plumb along the narrow face of the jamb you either have to reposition the hinges so that they form a plumb line or you can take a beater block to the opposite side of the jamb and whack it with preferably a dead blow mallet to move the bottom back to plumb. Use a couple of screws hidden behind the lower hinge leaf to keep it in place.

Of course, a lot of doors start to swing with age because the jambs weren't screwed in place and only rely on nails to keep them in place. Constant usage over the years and seasonal moisture changes combine to allow the top of the jamb to pull slightly away from the door studs to an out of plumb position. A lot of times the reveal at the top of the door will be smaller on top of the handle side.

If that is the case just remove the top hinge from the jamb and run a 3-inch screw into the door studs to suck the top of the jamb in. Go slowly once you make contact with the jamb - if there aren't any shims it can suck the jamb in to far.