Composite door hinge adjustment

[Ljn100]

Hi there, hoping someone can help.

My front door isn't closing properly, and is sticking when trying to pull the handle up. You can see from the pic it's not level and dropped at the handle side.

I'd hoped to find something online to show me how to adjust the hinges as my suspicion is its the kids pulling on the handle etc maybe causing some movement over time. Anyway, I cannot see any examples with hinges like mine. See pic attached, it has no name on it although on the top of each hinge is an "S". I tried to take the small hex in the centre out to see if this let me remove these caps and reveal anything to adjust but couldn't easily move them.

Rather than risk breaking something, I decided it might be safer to ask for advice first! Any guidance would be very much appreciated.

 

[Gazman16]

Looks like non adjustable fixed hinges but there is an oldschool trick with these, Tip/shim the hinge.
Loosen the screws where the hinge attaches to the frame and slip some packers in behind (far left hand side when looking at your pic) this will tilt the hinge and move the door over a bit

 

[Ljn100]

Thanks Gazman, much appreciated - I'll give that a go.

 

[Gerrydelasel]

What is the set screw for, exactly?

 

[crank39]

It's to stop the hinge pin riding up as you open and close the door, depending on the orientation of the hinge it's also stopping the pin from falling out

 

[Ljn100]

Managed to add some material behind the hinge to shim it as suggested and that's levelled the door a bit.... trouble is now the deadlock is very hard to engage on other side and we're having real trouble locking it. Pulling the handle up it will only go 3/4 up without a lot of effort.

We had some work done paving in the front garden recently and I'm now thinking maybe the whole door frame has shifted a bit rather than the door itself. Trying to figure out if anything is adjustable on that side but not getting very far!

 

[Gazman16]

The keeps on the other side may be binding. Try taking them off one at a time to see which one (or how many of them) are the problem.
They can usually be re-positioned slightly if needed but showing us a pic of them wouldn't hurt first

 

[Ljn100]

Thanks again, Gazman. Was convinced it would be the top one but turns out it's the bottom one. With the keep taken out, it's locking fine.

Couple of pics attached. Turning the flathead moves it side to side but can't see if it can be moved other ways.

 

[Doggit]

If you're right that it's happened since the front paving was done, then it may have settled, but it could continue to drop. Can you post some pictures of the whole frame, both inside and out, and some closer ones of the bottom of the door both the inside and ouside as well. In addition, how many fixing screws are there ib the lock side of the door frame, and is there any evidence of the door frame having slipped on the lock side.

 

[Ljn100]

Hi, I haven't had a chance to take any pics yet but had a look at the frame. I think there's a spacer under the door sill/threshold. Could it be possible that rather than the door dropping, the frame has been lifted a little instead?

 

[Doggit]

More likely that the frame is dropping on the door lock side.

 

[crank39]

Something's moved but not sure how when the frame is bolted to the walls?

From what I can see though is it looks like the transom is bowing down as illustrated by my yellow line, this is purely cosmetic and hasn't caused the door to lean to the left, open the door and see if the transom will push up, there should be clearance between it and the glass for it to go up.

Again my picture shows the top of the door has somehow leant over to the left, check the frame fixings near the top hinge, has the weight of the door bowed the the frame away from the wall, get a tape measure and measure the internal opening in the frame, do it top middle and bottom, they should be all roughly the same or within 3mm.

My arrows show the top has moved left indicated by the red and the bottom may have moved right which combined has made it look bad and causing locking issues, basically follow the green arrows, can the door be pulled over to the right at the top, try packing the bottom hinge out to the left, pivoting on the middle hinge it might throw the top over to the right

 

[Ljn100]

Sorry for the lack of response from me but thanks for all the replies - it's very much appreciated.

Doggit, you may be right. I've tried various ways of packing the hinges to compensate left/right with no luck and I think it's about up/down movement instead.

I think it's dropping on the hinge side (right hand side in original pic I posted). We've looked in more detail and it looks like it's dropped (and may still be doing so).

From the outside, we can see underneath there are 2 supports under the sill... and not much else! The guys who did the paving have been back to look but don't think it's anything they explicitly did and I think they are probably right. The bigger concern is that aside from 2 supports, there's nothing under there - you can just put your whole arm under there.

The window that's next to the door is also dropping by the hinge so the whole thing has probably dropped and needs fixing? Starting to feel a bit of of my depth - is this something easy to rectify e.g. trying to get some more packers under there to raise it up, or am I better off getting someone in. If so, guess this is now a builder not a window fitter we need?

 

[crank39]

Is the door still under its 10year warranty?

 

[Doggit]

If it's dropping on the hinge side, then you need to take the door off of it's hinges, undo the screws keeping it to the wall, and then see if you can lever it up with a crowbar. If that works, then you need to pack something under the frame to make sure it doesn't happen again. A few pieces of a slate tile are more supportive than the blue packers they've used, and you'd do it at several points across the cill.

As to builder or door fitter. If you need to take the door frame out, then fitters should be able to put some cement down underneath it, put the frame back in, and then pack underneath with slate or packers if the cement shrinks back a bit.

Now if the frames dropping on one side, is there any evidence inside or out of the frame sliding down the door reveal. Is there a gap appearing at the top of the frame on the hinge side.