Newly hung doors hard to close that last bit

[happypeter]

Hi,

I've just hung 4 new internal doors. 2 of them seem a little difficult to close just the very last bit...I mean they close fine 97% of the way then that last 3% they get a little tough. If I close them all the way they spring back the 3% so they sit slightly ajar.

I can't see anywhere they are binding and there's a nice gap all the way round. I'm wondering if its something to do with the hinges placement but can't think what!

Can anyone suggest what I've done wrong?

many thanks

 

[sircerebus666]

Did you put a slight bevel on the edges?

Any chance of a pic of the door open and shut , and of the hinges open and shut?

It could be something as simple as the screws for the hinges are slightly high and catching the other side of the hinge, something as you know you can't see when the door is shut

 

[happypeter]

Hmmm I can't see any bevel. I just tried placing some cardboard under the hinges on the door frame side to push them out a little but its still the same. Dam

 

[sircerebus666]

Hmmm I can't see any bevel. I just tried placing some cardboard under the hinges on the door frame side to push them out a little but its still the same. Dam

Putting cardboard under the hinge won't do anything in fact might make it worse

As you haven't put a bevel on I'm gonna go out on a limb and say the hinges are too close together , certainly the one in your pic isn't flush with the door edge

Are the hinges in line with each other and the doors aren't bowed?

You could temporarily remove a hinge and see if anything improves , if not try the others and see if it improves.

Normally I fault find this by sound, feel and eye balling it so I'm not gonna be much help I'm afraid

 

[happypeter]

Putting cardboard under the hinge won't do anything in fact might make it worse

Yes I think it did make it worse

Doors as straight as my level (although the door frames are anything but!) Removed each hinge in turn but no improvement.

When you say to close together do you mean I just move the top and bottom hinges further apart?

 

[sircerebus666]

Yes I think it did make it worse

Doors as straight as my level (although the door frames are anything but!) Removed each hinge in turn but no improvement.

When you say to close together do you mean I just move the top and bottom hinges further apart?

I mean when they fold together when you close the doors the two sides of the hinge come together and touch , its why you bevel the door edge to take out any inaccuracies in the right angle of the door lining on the hinge side so they the two leaves of the hinge or screws won't touch

 

[sircerebus666]

With the door fully closed you might be able to look up and down the hinges to see if the two leaves touch

The other thing if the door is to tight on the door jamb that will cause it to spring back as well

 

[happypeter]

Ahhh I seeeeeee.

I mean when they fold together when you close the doors the two sides of the hinge come together and touch

So I removed the added cardboard from the bottom hinge and its now 99% there. So I guess I've mis aligned them somewhere. I'll keep playing with them for a while or maybe just live with the 1% annoyance.

Thanks for your advice much appreciated. Doors are hard :/

 

[KenGMac]

With the door "open" use a small straight edge across the hinges on the frame and on the door, if there are any areas [or screws] that make the straight edge "rock" then it is possible that the hinge / screw is the problem. hinges are generally fitted into a sloping rebate in the door frame, meaning the rebate for the hinge is "deeper" on the door frame the further away from the frame edge. not easy to explain without waving your hands???

Slowly close the door standing on the inside of the room, watch very, very carefully to see if the door begins to rub / touch the door stops, if so then there is another potential for the problem. The door stops are the bits of timber that the inner face of the door, not the sides of the door touches, or there should be a very, very small gap between these two components, the only part of the door stop that needs to touch the door face is the door stop on the lock / handle side of the door.

Ken.

 

[JaimieH]

Door stop on the hinge side would be my guess too.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

hinges are generally fitted into a sloping rebate in the door frame, meaning the rebate for the hinge is "deeper" on the door frame the further away from the frame edge. not easy to explain without waving your hands???

Sorry to say this Ken but most modern door hinges (especially fire door ones) are thicker than the old steel hinges and are designed to work in a recess which is chopped in coplanar to the edge of the door (so we can install consistently using a router). They are almost always designed to be used with a 2 to 4mm door to casing gap

OP. I feel your doors are more likely to be hinge bound than have problems with the stop lath. Before swinging the doors on the hinges did you shoot the door into the opening? To do this a couple of 2mm or 3mm packers are placed on top of the door and it is offered into the opening and pscked up off the floor using either slim wedges or a couple of Winbags. This allows you to visually check the gapping all round the door, which needs to be 2 to 3mm with modern stainless steel.hinges. Use thin horseshoe packers or glazing packers to check for 2mm minimum. Where required, mark the door, then drop it out of the opening, clamp it on edge and then shoot the edge of the door to shape with a jack plane (power planes whilst great for removing large amounts of stock but are useless for really fine cuts). Check by offering into the opening again. If OK then chop out the hinge recesses and swingbthe door in the hinges. Old frames often exhibit a bit of bowing in the jambs

 

[JohnD]

What does "coplanar" mean?

 

[Diver Fred]

Did you chop the hinge recesses out by hand or with a router?

first check is to make sure the hinge leaves are fully in the casing and door side. They should by level with surrounding timber certainly at the pin side. If the hinge is binding or screw heads are causing binding you may deepen the hinge recess slightly at the side away from the pin.

Use inch & quarter No7 screws on door butt hinges.

 

[happypeter]

Did you put a slight bevel on the edges?

So after removing the door half a dozen times it turns out sircerebus666 was right..oops sorry There was a very slight bevel on just 6cm of door near the bottom hinge. Only spotted after shining a torch round the door when closed.

Appreciate the help, lesson learnt, turns out the first answer is almost always right!