French doors no longer shut after plastering room

[CluelessDIYer1]

I say after the room has been plastered - i'm not saying that this is in any way the cause as i don't know. All i'm saying is that the doors DID shut when we got the house. We got plasterers in to do the living room & we've just noticed today that the doors no longer shut...

This is as close as they'll go:



I don't see anything trapping them, nothing from stopping them shutting. They both still line up with their locks, however the left door isn't perfectly lined up (don't know if it was before). The lock will go in, but it sort of hits the rim first & then goes in.
So you think the left may be the problem.

This is until you go to the dining room side & shut them individually. The left side shuts flush, whereas the right side when you shut it, it doesn't shut flush against the board at the bottom, there's a bit of a gap.

I've looked all over & can't find anything i see as possible cause. I've tried forcing them which doesn't work.

Any idea?

 

[big-all]

if they are internal leave them open and ventilate the room and see how they settle down as the room dries

 

[gregers]

yep looks like they have absorbed a lot of moisture,ventilate the room as much as possible,even the use of a dehumidifier might be of use?
imo wait a couple of weeks to see if they shrink back,then look to see what needs to be done,either set the butts in a tad more or if they are really bad off they come for a tickle with an electric plane.

 

[CluelessDIYer1]

Thanks guys.

I imagine they'll have taken a fair amount of juice since the living room is 6.7mtr-x-3.5mtr & we've had ALL walls AND the ceiling done too as well as a patch in the kitchen.

Is it likely they'll just swell up & stay like that?

We're not in the house so we can't ventilate it too much as we don't want to leave the windows open when we're not there (although some neighbours do this - why would you??!).

I wonder...would it be worth removing them & taking them to my mums - she lives in a detached house middle of nowhere. I could put them in the garden & they'd get all the ventilation in the world then.

Or is that no good?

 

[big-all]

they will shrink back eventually
did i read in another thread you where using a dehumidifier ??
that will help as long as its emptied daily and the doors are open/ajar in between to allow it to draw the moisture out

 

[CluelessDIYer1]

they will shrink back eventually
did i read in another thread you where using a dehumidifier ??
that will help as long as its emptied daily and the doors are open/ajar in between to allow it to draw the moisture out

Yeah we were - for the plaster, but i was told it's pointless. Well not pointless, but airflow is better, so i've turned it off.

As i say, would it be a good idea to take them off & stick them in my mums garden for plenty of airflow since we're supposedly going to have a weeks worth of decent weather?

 

[big-all]

if you not using the house it wont make much difference
if you take them out they will shrink but when you put them back up if theres lots off moisture back in the house they will swell up again

although a warm room away from direct heat is better for drying but you then risk the doors not being stored properly and twisting out off shape

just open the door to allow airflow
if you can open windows upstairs to the locked vent position and let the air flow up through the house

once you have heating and ventilation in the house it will sort its self out probably in a week or three

 

[Flyboytim]

Just leave them in place - they will dry out at their own pace. Although the days are dry there is a lot of dew on the cold mornings, so you don't want them outside in that. Point an ordinary unheated fan towards them to increase airflow. The vertical and horizontal rails of the door need to dry out uniformly, to shrink in all directions.

In the midst of January, I could hardly open or close our hardwood front door, it had expanded with the damp so much, now it is back to normal.

 

[CluelessDIYer1]

In the midst of January, I could hardly open or close our hardwood front door, it had expanded with the damp so much, now it is back to normal.

I remember that years ago with our old wooden front door.

It'd get to the point where it wouldn't open/shut. You had to boot the damn thing.

So you plain a bit off & all is well. Then summer comes & it rattles. Nuisance.

Plastic doors have their advantages i suppose, but then i hate plastic fittings - they're such poor quality, especially the window latches.

 

[foxhole]

This is is why doors should be sealed on all edges, tops look like they have never seen any oil or varnish.

 

[CluelessDIYer1]

There is probably plaster dust all over that door, not sure if that's what you're seeing? But probably not. Based on the state of other things in the house, i highly doubt previous owners would have looked after them.

How often should you oil/varnish them?

Wife is wanting to paint the things white i think, but i think she's caved in to the idea of light oak

Still, whatever colour they go, what's the best way to treat them? TBH i'm not sure we'd get a good light oak colour on them & have them looking well.??

 

[big-all]

you cannot lighten the colour so what ever you add will be the same colour darkened by what ever you add
so light oak added to a redy colour will be a darker redy colour with a hint off brown/yellow on top

 

[CluelessDIYer1]

So in short, the wife taking Nitromors to it to see if it would help strip it has made things worse for us...
...& now I'm guessing the only option left is to paint it?

What about the baseboard or whatever it's called? That's going to get a lot of abuse over time so how would you best protect this? Gloss? Or is that not possible & it'd have to be new white framework to go with the doors?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Wife is wanting to paint the things white i think, but i think she's caved in to the idea of light oak

But they're not oak.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Plastic doors have their advantages i suppose, but then i hate plastic fittings - they're such poor quality, especially the window latches.

Aluminium.