How do I fix hinge screws that just spin?

A hinge screw spins because the timber around it has been crushed by years of the door's weight working the fixing back and forth. The wood is gone; a bigger screw in the same crushed hole lasts a fortnight.

What you'll need

• Wood glue
• Hardwood dowel, matchsticks or cocktail sticks
• A 60–75mm screw matching the hinge countersink
• A drill and a small bit
• A sharp chisel

Step by step

1. Work out which hole is failing.Usually the top screw of the top hinge, because that is where the leverage is greatest. Test each one — a screw that turns forever without tightening is the culprit.
2. Try the long screw first on the frame leaf.Behind an internal door frame there is a stud, usually with a packing gap of 10–25mm. A 60–75mm screw passes through the frame and the packing and bites into solid timber.
3. Match the head to the hinge.The countersink in a hinge is shallow. A screw with a taller head sits proud and stops the door closing, so use a proper countersunk woodscrew of the same gauge.
4. Pilot drill for a long screw.Frames split easily. Drill a clearance hole through the frame and a smaller pilot into the stud, especially near the end of a frame leg.
5. Plug the hole where a long screw will not work.On the door leaf itself there is nothing behind. Push glue into the hole, tap in hardwood dowel or a bundle of matchsticks, and pare flush once the glue is dry.
6. Let the glue cure properly.PVA needs a few hours before it will take a screw. Drilling into soft glue produces exactly the hole you just repaired.
7. Re-drill a fresh pilot.Through the plug, slightly undersized. A screw driven into hardwood dowel without a pilot splits the plug straight back out.
8. Only replace one screw at a time.The other screws hold the alignment while you work. Removing a whole leaf means re-hanging the door.
9. Check the door margin afterwards.A hinge that has been loose has usually let the door drop, so the gap needs rechecking once the screws hold again.

Tips

• Golden rule: repair the hole, do not go up a screw gauge. A fatter screw in crushed timber strips faster than the original did.
• Matchsticks work but hardwood dowel works better. Beech dowel from a merchant costs almost nothing and takes a screw properly.
• If two or three screws in one hinge have gone, the hinge is undersized for the door rather than unlucky.

Common mistakes

• Filling the hole with wood filler and re-screwing — Filler has no fibre and almost no screw-holding strength. It crumbles under load within weeks, which is why the repair always fails on the heaviest hinge first.
• Driving a long screw without checking what is behind — On external walls and around service runs there may be a cable, a pipe or nothing at all. Check with a detector, and never assume a stud sits directly behind the frame.

If it doesn't work

Questions people ask