Swelling doors.

[davecooper]

I have recently fitted solid pine doors upstairs in my house. At the moment they are primed and undercoated ready for gloss. I have noticed that during damp weather they seem to swell to the extent that in a couple of instances, they jam in the frame. In dry weather there is reasonable clearance. My question is, once they are glossed, will they be sealed against future swelling or should I remove some more material from the edges now?

 

[KenGMac]

davecooper, good evening.

My instinct would be to hold off on the gloss, and remove a small amount from the offending doors, then re-prime and undercoat, the worked on areas.

At one time [just after someone killed the last Dinosaur] and I was an apprentice Joiner I was told that the clearance at the sides of the door being fitted should be the width of an old penny, hence my remark as regards Dinosaurs?

Seriously, I would hold of and remove some SMALL amounts of material, if you gloss now, any required stripping of the door edges will totally screw [ that well known technical term ] the finish on each face of the doors and forever more, there will be that tell-tale mark of forced removal of gloss paint.

As an aside, how long did the new doors stay in the property in order to "Acclimatise" to the ambient temperature and more especially the humidity pertaining in the house?

After all a wait of what could be several weeks is better than a botched paint finish?

Ken.

 

[davecooper]

The doors were in the house for a couple of weeks before fitting. However, that was during a very warm spell in the summer. I am going to take your advice and remove a very small amount. I am limited to what I can take off as I will have to bring the catch plate flush again and this could throw the handle out with respect to the drillings.

 

[geraldthehamster]

In that case take it off the hinge edge

 

[RHJ]

If there is a reasonable amount of clearance on the hinge side of the door it may be easier to chop the hinges in a tad deeper. This may give you the clearance you need on the handle side of the door. If not, take the hinges off the door and plane a bit of clearance off the hinge side of the door. Then let the hinges into the door edge a tad deeper. This should give you the clearance you need on the handle side of the door.


It may sound a bit of faffing about but it doesn’t take that long. Believe me this can be easier than refitting the latch and handles after planning the outside edge of the door. The screws tend to want to go into the old holes when you put the handles back on. You end up with the handles been tight and wont spring back up fully. Drilling new holes at the sides of the others and you end up too far over the other way and the handles are tight again.