How do I fix a door that sticks?

Planing a door is irreversible, so it should be the last step rather than the first. Most sticking doors are held by loose hinge screws that have let the door drop a few millimetres — a five-minute fix that people often skip in favour of an hour with a plane and a permanently undersized door.

What you'll need

• Screwdriver
• Pencil
• Wooden matchsticks or dowel and wood glue
• Plane or surform (optional)
• Sandpaper (optional)

Step by step

1. Close the door slowly and find exactly where it catches.Look for a shiny rub mark or a stripped paint line. A slip of paper run round the gap shows where it's tight.
2. Check whether it sticks all year or only in damp weather.Seasonal sticking is timber swelling. It may not need any permanent correction — and if you plane it, you'll have a gappy door in summer.
3. Test every hinge screw for tightness.Loose screws let the door drop, and dropping makes it catch on the latch side or the top corner.
4. For screws that spin without tightening, plug the hole and refit.Push matchsticks or a glued dowel into the hole, snap flush, and drive the screw into fresh timber.
5. Check whether a longer screw would reach the frame stud.Replacing one screw per hinge with a 60mm screw anchors the hinge into the structural timber, not just the lining.
6. If it still catches, check whether the hinges are recessed too deep or not deep enough.A hinge sitting proud pushes the door towards the latch side. Packing card behind a hinge is a valid adjustment.
7. Only then consider planing, and remove the door to do it.Mark the area, take off very little at a time, and check the fit repeatedly. You cannot put it back.
8. Seal any planed edge with primer or paint.Bare timber absorbs moisture and swells, which recreates the problem you just fixed.

Tips

• A door that catches at the top of the latch side has almost always dropped on its hinges. Start there.
• Rubbing a candle or a bar of soap along the sticking edge is a legitimate temporary fix, especially for seasonal sticking.
• If a door has dropped repeatedly, the frame may be moving. Check whether the frame itself is square before working on the door.
• Take photos before removing a door — hinge positions and packing are easy to get wrong on reassembly.

Common mistakes

• Planing before checking the hinges — Most sticking is a dropped door. Plane it and you'll have a permanent gap once the hinge is fixed.
• Planing a door that only sticks in winter — It'll be visibly gappy in summer. Seasonal movement often doesn't need a permanent fix.
• Leaving a planed edge unsealed — Bare timber takes up moisture and swells straight back.
• Taking too much off at once — It can't be undone. Small passes, checked frequently.

Questions people ask