Repair of wooden doors - do not rush to throw away the old

Old wooden doors are sometimes easier to replace than to repair, as many designers offer to do. But it is often possible to repair wooden doors, so do not rush to change them - first try to restore.

When repair is needed

While the door looks good and does not cause problems with opening and closing, very few people come to mind to take care of it (see. Caring for wooden doors). But from time to time even the highest quality wooden door needs preventive inspection and care - lubrication and adjustment of hinges, cleaning, coating with special compounds.

If you do not, one day you may discover the following:

• The door sagged and scratches the floor.
• The door hinges, creaks.
• The door does not close well, tightly entering the door frame.
• On the contrary, the door does not close because large gaps have formed between it and the joint.
• Box itself reeling.
• The door cracked, cracks appeared in it.
• Panels are poorly tied.

Repair of wooden doors may be necessary in the case when the exterior decorative finish is damaged - the paint has peeled off (see How to remove the old paint from the doors and cover it with a new material), the laminate is puffed up, the veneer is unstuck, etc.

How to strengthen the door frame

If you notice that the box does not hold well in the opening, you can fix it this way:

1. Remove the trim.
2. Align the box vertically and lock it in the correct position.
3. Drill 2–3 holes in the locking and loopback stands, plunging into the wall a few centimeters.
4. Hammer in steel holes or pinsmade from solid wood. They need to be smeared with epoxy glue before.
5. Reinstall trimstepping back from the edges of the box by 1-1.5 cm.

Attention! If the door is in the opening of the concrete wall, you will need to remove the box to drill holes in the wall with a punch.

How to troubleshoot loops

If the door is pinched in the upper part, it touches the floor or threshold, it does not close properly or hangs on the hinges, it is most likely required not to repair the doors, but to adjust, replace or outweigh the hinges.

First, check whether the upper loop is firmly attached and, if necessary, tighten the screws. If this does not help, it is necessary to deepen the notch in the trimming bar under the hinge plate. But first, if the door is not very tight, try to put a metal washer or a ring made of wire (in the case of detachable hinges) on the hinge pin.

Note! Hinges and washers must always be lubricated with machine oil before hanging the door.

Sometimes the screws turn and cannot be tightened.

In this case, you can do one of the following ways:

1. Replace screws with longer ones.
2. Seal the holes for the screws by inserting matches into them.
3. Remove the hinges from the door frame and the door, lubricate the holes for them with glue, lubricate the new screws with glue, allow the glue to dry and return the hinges back in place.
4. Rearrange the hinges below or above the previous mounting point.

If it's not hinges

Sometimes, even with a cursory inspection, it becomes clear that the cause of the door malfunction is not in the hinges, but in violation of the geometry of the canvas. It may swell from high humidity or, on the contrary, shrink. And sometimes, after several staining (see Painting the old door: how to do it) on the edge of the door and the folds of the box there is too much paint that leaves no gap between them. What to do in such cases?

Close the door tightly, if possible, and check for clearance. If it is not there or it is very small, it is necessary either to peel off the paint or remove the door from the hinges and plan the trimming, ensuring that the gap around the perimeter is 2–3 mm.

If the door does not enter the folds of the box at all, stand on the side of the porch, press the door to the box and draw a light on it with a pencil. This way you get the right contour of the door leaf and you can use the plane to cut off the excess.

Attention! Before planing the door, make sure that the box is level, and retained its configuration: measure its angles and diagonals.

How to eliminate large gaps between the door and the box

If the door was made of undried wood, during operation it may dry and shrink. As a result, large crevices form between the web and the box, the door begins to hang on its hinges, and the latch pull-tab does not reach to the strike plate.

In such cases, repair of the wooden door is also required, which is carried out by fastening the slats of the desired thickness to the edges of the door.

1. Relocate the door hinges, moving the door up so that the gap remains only between the leaf and the threshold.
2. Screw a slat of the required thickness to the bottom end and fasten it flush with the surface of the door.
3. Remove the side gaps by attaching the bar to the hinge end of the door.
4. Fill the gaps between the planks and strapping, sanding the sandpaper after the putty has dried. Then paint the trims in the color of the door.

How to strengthen the panels

If panels are poorly kept in the grooves of the strapping due to the fact that the door has cracked, restoration of wooden doors can be done in two ways:

1. Strengthen the door with steel squares. They are attached to the strapping bars with screws on both sides.
2. Reassemble the strapping bars. To do this, the door must be removed from the hinges, disassembled and thoroughly cleaned of dirt and old glue. Then join the bars together, brushing the spikes with wood glue, insert the panels in place and put the door in the clamping device.

How to eliminate cracks in a wooden door

Methods for eliminating cracks and scratches depend on their size and depth. Below is a detailed instruction on how to repair a wooden door in such cases.

1. Remove the door from the hinges and place it on the table or on the goats.
2. Remove from the surface of the old coating, using special liquid means (acetone), sandpaper or building a hairdryer and a spatula, which is easy to remove the heated paint.
3. Sand the surface with a fine sandpaper.
4. Scratches and small cracks should be puttyed with wood of suitable color or a mixture of fine sawdust with epoxy glue. When the mixture hardens, sand the surface again.
5. Cover the large through-slots with planed wooden inserts smeared with glue. Irregularities zashpaklyuyte.
6. Prime the entire surface of the repaired door and coat it with paint or varnish. For painting large surfaces, use a roller; for thin surfaces and corners, use a small brush.

Attention! If the door goes out into the street, it is necessary to apply at least 2-3 layers of varnish to form a weatherproof coating.

How to repair wooden sliding doors

The main reason for the repair of sliding doors is the poor performance of the rollers in the guide rail (see Sliding interior doors). This can occur either due to the fact that the assembly bar, on which the guide is fixed, has been loosened, or due to unregulated carriage mechanisms.

In the first case, the timber must be strengthened in approximately the same way that the door frame is strengthened. And in the second - to adjust the door. Sometimes it is enough to put the lock nuts under the adjusting bolts.

We hope that our article will help you to make the repair of wooden doors according to all the rules.