Last night I fixed the sticking front door that has been gradually getting worse ever since we bought our house. It was so easy, I thought I’d share because others probably have the same problem. The problem was that the top hinge wasn’t holding well, and I couldn’t tighten the screws, because they were stripped. A while ago, I used a chisel to expand the hinge mortise up an inch, and drill screws into fresh holes, but that didn’t last. The solution, as detailed with pictures here (Scroll down to “In some cases the longer screws will not hit solid wood”), is to drill out the screw holes, plug them up with wood glue and wooden dowels (you don’t even have to worry about sawing them off neatly; you can just break it off!), drill little pilot holes, and your screws will hold just fine. For good measure I also used a chisel to deepen the mortise a little bit. Now the door closes great! And since I didn’t have to buy any tools for this job, the cost was $0.59 for a 1/4″ dowel; and I still have most of it left!
Filed under: Handy, House, Woodworking
Dad and I have used the same idea on a smaller scale using wood glue and wooden match sticks. It works as well.
A PHD is a wonderful thing. See what it can do.