Construction & Contractors Blog
A door that won't close is annoying, and a door that won't open is positively alarming. If either of these problems is occurring in your home, you know you need to find out why your doors are getting stuck. And, most importantly, you need the problem repaired as soon as possible. Doors can become stuck for a number of reasons, and these reasons affect both interior and exterior doors. Some of the reasons just require adjustment, but others can be a sign your home needs some serious work.
The House Is Settling
Houses settle; this is normal. As time goes on, the soil, even if very stable, can settle a bit, and the house frame and materials will move right along with that settling. That can throw door frames out of whack by a tiny bit, just enough to make doors a little rougher to open and close. Settling can start happening immediately after the home is built; for example, a large home on soil can press down on the soil over the years, causing the soil to sink a bit.
You'll find varying opinions on when a house should finish settling, anywhere from less than a year to over a decade later. The real issues are whether your home starts to experience problems and whether you sense an acceleration of settling instead of the settling gradually getting less prominent. Then you have to look into whether the home has a foundation problem.
As for the doors, once you start to have problems opening and closing them, you can see if a few repairs to the door itself might be the most affordable way to go. Door edges can be shaved, for example. This may help if the settling and shifting are minor.
The Door Has a Bad Paint Job
Paint, of all things, can make a door stick. Even if you think you let the paint dry thoroughly, you can still get a bit of sticking that's enough to make opening the door more difficult. While some swear by coating the sticking part with paraffin wax, others simply shave off the offending paint if it's in a spot that isn't visible, or they repaint the door.
The Weather and Interior Climate Made the Door Swell
One of the more frustrating causes of stuck doors is when the door material swells due to heat or humidity. In this case, all you can really do is look for a different door material that won't be as reactive to the weather. It may also be possible to adjust the weatherstripping, but leave that to a door repair company to ensure you don't end up destroying the weatherstripping and insulation. Interior doors can also swell if the interior of the home is hot or humid; this can be easier to solve if you can control the climate more inside your home with air conditioning and dehumidifiers.
When you're not sure what's causing the problem, call a door repair company. They can identify why the door is sticking, and if the problem is something they can solve, you can discuss repair costs.
Share1 June 2022
The world around you consists of a lot of built structures. Obviously, these include a lot of buildings, such as schools, homes, and places of business. It also includes roads and sidewalks. But it also includes things you may not think about as often, such as playgrounds, telephone poles, and sewer systems. All of these built structures common and uncommon, are made by construction workers or contractors of some type. They're pretty incredible, their work is pretty incredible, and we are excited to write about both them and their work here on this blog. We hope you enjoy reading it, probably while inside some type of built structure.