Why will my shed door not shut, and how do I fix it?

Shed doors are ledged and braced boards with no proper frame, hung on a building that moves with the ground. Three things go wrong: the shed settles, the door racks, or the timber swells. They look identical from the outside and need completely different fixes.

Step by step

1. Check the shed is square before touching the door.Measure the diagonals of the door opening. If they differ by more than a few millimetres, the shed has settled or racked and that is the actual problem.
2. Level and pack the base if the shed has settled.Lever the low corner and pack under the bearer with slate, concrete or plastic packers. Even 10mm of settlement at one corner closes a door opening noticeably.
3. Check the door for racking.Measure the door's own diagonals. A ledged and braced door that has dropped at the latch corner has racked and needs its brace attending to.
4. Get the brace direction right.The diagonal brace runs from the bottom of the hinge side up to the top of the latch side. If yours runs the other way it is doing nothing. Replace it the right way round.
5. Square the door and refix before adjusting anything else.Lay the door flat, push it back to square with the diagonals equal, and screw the brace in that position.
6. Check and upgrade the hinges.Shed doors are often on undersized tee hinges screwed into thin cladding. Longer straps, through-bolted where possible, and screws into the ledges rather than the boards.
7. Plane the closing edge only if the shed and door are square.Take material off the latch stile, not the hinge stile, a shaving at a time, checking the fit as you go. Then seal the planed edge immediately — bare timber swells fastest.
8. Fix the threshold and the ground.A door catching at the bottom often has a rotted or dropped threshold, or the ground has built up outside. Lower the ground, or replace the threshold timber and set it a few millimetres lower.
9. Seal all faces including top and bottom edges.The top and bottom edges of a shed door are almost never treated and they are where the moisture goes in. Take the door off, treat the edges, rehang it.

Tips

• Fix the door in dry weather but leave the clearance for wet weather — 3-4mm at the closing edge rather than a perfect summer fit.
• A pair of doors that meet in the middle needs a stop or an astragal so they cannot be pushed inwards. Wind through the gap does real damage.
• Adjustable hinges are available for shed doors and save planing when the shed has settled slightly.

Common mistakes

• Planing the door before checking whether the shed is square — If the opening has twisted, planing the door means it will be too small when the shed is levelled — and it usually still will not shut properly.
• Fitting the brace running down from the hinge side — The brace works in compression and must rise from the hinge corner. The wrong way round it carries no load at all.

If it doesn't work

Questions people ask