How to Fix a Sticking Door

Most sticking doors are not "too big". They have sagged, usually because the screws in the top hinge have worked loose, or because humidity has swollen the wood. Fixing the cause first often means you never have to take any wood off.

Step 1: Find where it rubs

Close the door slowly and watch where it touches the frame. Look for shiny, worn or scuffed spots on the edge of the door and on the frame. You can also slide a sheet of paper around the edge of the closed door. Where the paper grips or tears, the door is touching.

Note whether the rub is at the top corner on the latch side (a sagging door), along the latch edge (swelling or a poor fit), or along the bottom (the door has dropped or the floor has changed).

Step 2: Tighten the hinges

1. Open the door and check each hinge. Try each screw with the screwdriver, and tighten any that turn freely.
2. Replace one screw in the top hinge with a three-inch screw. Take out the middle screw on the top hinge and drive in a three-inch wood screw. It passes through the frame and bites into the wall framing behind it, which pulls the door back into place.
3. If a screw hole is stripped, push a few wooden toothpicks or a matchstick with wood glue into the hole, let it dry, then drive the screw back in.
4. Close the door and test. For many sagging doors, this is the only fix you need.

Step 3: If it still binds, remove a little wood

Only do this if the door still sticks after tightening and, if the problem is seasonal, after humid weather has passed.

Old paint warning. If your home was built before about 1978, the paint may contain lead. Do not dry-sand or plane painted surfaces. Have the paint tested, or have a professional who is trained in lead-safe work do it.

1. Mark the spot. Use a pencil to mark where the door rubs.
2. Remove the door if you can, or work with it closed and the edge exposed, using a block plane or sandpaper.
3. Sand or plane a little at a time, just to the pencil mark. Take off less than you think you need, and test the fit often. You can always remove more. You cannot put it back.
4. Round the sharp corner slightly with sandpaper so it does not catch.

Step 4: Seal the bare wood

5. Prime and paint the bare edge, including the top and the bottom of the door, which are the surfaces people forget. Bare wood soaks up moisture and swells again.

If the latch will not catch

If the door closes but the latch does not engage, the strike plate on the frame is probably out of line. Look at the scuff mark the latch leaves on the plate. If it hits high or low, move the plate a little, or file the opening slightly larger.

When it is not a simple fix

A door that sticks everywhere, with a diagonal gap pattern or cracks above the frame, is telling you the frame is out of square. That can come from settling, moisture or structural movement. Shaving the door will not solve it, and it can make things worse. See the list below.