Adjusting catching french doors

[pcdj]

I've recently had a chap come round to take a look at my upvc french doors at the front of our house which seem to catch in hot weather and are ok when it's cold out.

He took the door apart and came to the conclusion that the door hadn't dropped, but packed an extra (think it was 1mm) wedge in anyway). This didn't make any difference, so the problem can't be resolved by toe and heeling the door.

Unfortunately, he also explained that the door has been installed with hinges that are non-adjustable.

His only suggestion was to remove the hinges on both doors, re-drill the holes slightly further apart and refit the doors to create a greater clearance between the two.

Incidentally, he mentioned that the clearance between the two doors where they meet in the middle should be about 13mm, and in my instance the clearance is more in the region of about 5mm. Likewise, when the door is closed the frame should overlap each door where the hinges are by at least 8mm, and it's more like 5mm again. Do these figures sound right?

My question for you guys is whether his suggestion of refitting the hinges in a different position really is the only method available of doing this?

 

[Watchmaker]

You could try (carefully) slackening the hinge securing bolts/screws and then slightly re-tightening, say, one bolt/screw on each hinge and, before bringing the two doors together, prepare a couple of packing pieces, approx 10mm thick, and close the two doors, with the packers trapped between them (top and bottom). If there is some slack in the hinge bolt holes, this might (only might) re-position the doors slightly but, don't proceed if you have to use much force to close the doors together. If the doors do close, fairly easily, on the packing, tighten up the remaining hinge bolts, and see if the doors stay a bit further apart. ( This comment is from a DIYer so, the experts might advise further or, suggest other methods which would help.)

 

[yandownie]

i assume you have pencil hinges which are virtually useless adjustment wise,it would be far better to replace them with flag hinges which offer far more adjustment possabilities,its a simple job for someone who knows what there doing so am suprised this hasnt been offered as a solution,unless theres some reason they cant be used? which would be unusual on upvc doors

 

[pcdj]

Yandownie, a picture of the hinges can be found here: //www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=610226#610226

The guy did mention that any decent door would have flag hinges as they're fully adjustable. However he didn't mention them as a solution.

In any case, would replacement or re-drilling and repositioning of the existing hinges, cause any sort of issues with the holes left over? In particular, can they be covered over or would the proximity of the old holes in relation to the new holes (given the hinges only need to be moved a few mm either side) cause any problems?

 

[yandownie]

flag type hinges would partly conceal the holes left over from the old hinges,other than that i can think of no issues that may be a problem.

 

[bendylow]

I haven't seen this particular type of hinge before,but,on the ones i have seen their is a small amount of adjustment.on the ones i've seen the adjuster screws are found in the same location as where the holes are in your picture,their aren't any screws inside those holes by any chance are there.doors with butt hinges tend not to drop as there is very little movement in the hinge,if there are screws inside those holes you will find that they will only turn about one quarter of a turn it should pull the door back about 5mm but this should give you enough clearance for the doors to work properly,if they don't adjust check that the frame is in square and straight,make sure that the sides of the frame are not bowed a long spirit level or straight edge is all you need to do this.if all this fails try to tighten the screws a little more it may pull the doors apart enough for them to work properly

 

[Forest Grump]

Yes they are adjustable but only about 1.5mm either way.
If you knock the pin out slightly until the hex head of the pin is clear from the hinge body you should be able to turn it with a 10mm spanner, as the pin works on a cam principle.
If you adjust both doors then that should give you an extra 3 mm between the doors, unless they are already fully adjusted of course.