Spent a whole weekend trying to get a door to stop sticking

The door to my home office was rubbing on the frame at the top corner. I figured I'd just sand it down, easy fix. After two hours of sanding, it still stuck. I finally got a level and found the whole door frame was out of plumb by almost half an inch. Had to take the trim off, shim the hinge side, and rehang it. What I thought was a 30 minute job took me most of Saturday and Sunday morning. Anyone have a better method for checking a door frame before you start sanding?

3 comments

3 Comments

uma6851mo agoMost Upvoted

Oh man, the "whole door frame was out of plumb" thing is a classic lol. Reminds me of when my friend tried to fix a squeaky floor by nailing it down, only to find the whole joist underneath was rotten. Sometimes the small fix points to a way bigger headache. At least you figured it out before you sanded the door into a toothpick.

jordang321mo ago

Watched a buddy do the same thing, he just eyeballed it and sanded for hours. A cheap laser level from the hardware store would have shown the problem in two seconds.

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elizabeth9001mo ago

My buddy Mike spent 3 hours sanding a door once until I grabbed a 20 dollar level from the garage and showed him the whole frame was off by half an inch. @uma685 is right though, sometimes these little fixes just uncover a bigger mess waiting to bite you. I learned that the hard way when I tried to patch a drywall crack and ended up tearing out half the ceiling.