Bedroom door keeps coming off hinges!

redrabbit · 12 Feb 2017

Hi everyone,

I guess this is quite an easy task for most people. However, for me it's not as everything I seem to touch doesn't quite go right, especially fiddly tasks like hinges and carpentry.

As you can see from the two pics, the screws in the hinges of the door continually come loose. It's got worse and now everyday I need to push the screws back in with my thumb. The holes for the screws I guess are too big now.

What's the easiest fix for this issue? I've read about putting wooden cylinder bits into the holes and then re-securing the screws. Also I've read about chiseling out the bad wood and replacing but I think that's too much for me as i don't want to chisel into the door itself.

I'm considering just getting a handyman in to do it. At least then it's done right.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

Sammy777 · 12 Feb 2017

In what ever order your comfortable with, take the screws out one at a time. Get some pine (from anything) and cut some splinters off it. Make sure the splinters are as long as the screws and nice and wide no wider than the screw thread/shank). Tap the splinters into the holes. Keep adding splinters into the holes until it is rammed full. Be careful not to ram it until the wood splits. Get some fresh screws, and screw them back in. Make sure the hinge is sat firmly in position and you screw into the center of the hole on the hinge. In order not to pull the hinge out of the original position, otherwise your door won't hang right(that's why I'd replace one screw at a time)
Hope this helps

Sammy777 · 12 Feb 2017

You'll probably want a drill or an impact driver to drive the screws in by the way..

Sammy777 · 12 Feb 2017

Alternatively. You could drill 12mm holes, where the screws go, and hammer in some 12mm dowels from your local DIY shop. I'd probably glue them in too. PVA glue is best, just let it dry for a day or so before screwing.
Either way, is relatively easy

big-all · 12 Feb 2017

i wonder if its a door with too much removed so not enough meat for the screws to grip or indeed a cheap cupboard door with a thin rail
you need no7 /3.5mm screws to avoid the heads touching and causing binding
if the screw heads are not 0-0.5mm proud they are the wrong sized screws
your door seems to be de-laminating so probably need a new door but worth filling the holes with wood and glue opening any gaps between the faces and timber gluing then clamping till dry

Doggit · 12 Feb 2017

Sammys got the right idea, but I'll expand a little bit. If you take a bit of pine, and using a sharp knife, cut a sliver off one of the side corners that's approximately the size of the hole, it'll have three sides to it, and as the grain of the door goes downwards, you want the "sliver" to be just about the size of the hole, and you insert it into the hole so that one side of the sliver is vertical. This means that it digs into the grain, rather than cuts across it. If you can do it properly, then you get one solid piece in the old hole, but you want to get a self centering drill from say screwfix, otherwise the drill can drift off centre because the grain and the density of the plug has changed.

Big-alls made a good comment regarding the face delaminating, but I suspect it's because the holes have been drilled too close to the edge, and that's why they are pushing the front laminate off the door. Fix the old holes, reposition the hinges to where the original cutouts are, and if the plug trick doesn't work, then you'll need a new door - or someone better to do it.

foxhole · 13 Feb 2017

You need larger hinges fitted in correct location. No amount of glue or bits of timber are going to fix it.
You may even need new door as that looks to have failed.

Doggit · 13 Feb 2017

I've fixed worse doors than that, but it takes practice, but thanks for that tip Foxhole; that's a good idea.

cjard · 14 Feb 2017

The door is doing this because the screws have chewed the holes out to be so large that the threads no longer bite into the wood. The fact that you can push them in means they're not holding anything any more

Assuming you value your time at £0:

You might as well try the dowel method first, as it's cheap and easy

Next up to try, add another hinge near to the top hinge. Try to get one where the holes in the hinge don't alignn with that massive split down the edge of the door. If you can't, that split should be repaired by glueing, and screwing the face of the door. Drive the screw into the door face a little, then fill and paint over it

Finally, though you didn't post a pic of the face of your door so we can't recommend exactly, moulded white doors from wickes start from 20 quid each. The door case will still need repair, (it's a big job to replace) or he hinge relocating slightly, or another hinge putting on

DaveHerns · 14 Feb 2017

Are the hinges sunk too deep so they're pulling out when the door is closed?

foxhole · 15 Feb 2017

No the hinges are not set in the correct place the screws are entering the door at the front edge splitting off the door facing. No cracks as suggested.

screamer · 16 Feb 2017

buy 4" butt hinges (uncranked) and 1 1/4" x 8 screws should be enough, don't use No. 10 screws

cjard · 17 Feb 2017

And if what screamer said sounds like gobbledegook, ask one of the brighter looking spuds in your local screwfix. Note that screamer's screw sizes are old money. The same screw in a modern metric size would probably be called a 4.0 x 30mm. Screwfix do sell a line of screws that are old money (quicksilver), but they're bloody awful to use. Better pick up a box of gold screw (or silver screw) 4x30s

redrabbit · 18 Feb 2017

Thanks for all your comments.

I bought some dowel today. I filled the 3 holes in the door frame by glueing and hammering the dowel in. That seems to have worked quite well. I'm going to leave until tomorrow so it dries and sets.

However the door is completely screwed I think. I put the dowels into the door too and predictably the crack in the door opened a bit more. I can't imagine any screw holding in the door due to the crack.

I've got a spare door in garage but it sure what condition it's in and if hinges line up to the ones already in door frame.

If all this fails how much do you think a carpenter would charge to rehang the door properly?

Doggit · 18 Feb 2017

Hang on, if the crack opened up again, where did you put the scews. In the holes you tool it out of, or did you set the hinge back to it's original position. We haven't seen a picture of the door without the hinges on, so we could be talking at cross purposes.

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Bedroom door keeps coming off hinges!

Doggit

Doggit

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