Short answer
Find where the door touches before you buy anything. A door that rubs at the top corner on the latch side almost always has loose top hinge screws, and 3-inch screws into the framing fix it in 10 minutes. A door that binds along one full edge in humid months needs that edge planed and sealed. If the gap runs diagonally, several doors stick at once, and the walls are cracking, the frame moved with the house and a new door changes nothing.
Find where the door rubs in five minutes
- Close the door slowly and watch the gap. Note the first point that touches: top, bottom, latch side or hinge side.
- Run a dollar bill around the closed door. Where it drags, the door is tight. Where it falls through, the door is loose.
- Lift the outer edge of the open door with both hands. Movement at the hinges means the screws have pulled out of the jamb.
- Look at the gap along the top of the door. An even gap is a door problem. A gap that tapers wider at one end is a frame problem.
- Look at the strike plate for a shiny mark. A mark above or below the hole means the latch no longer lines up.
- Walk the rest of the house. Check whether other doors stick, whether cracks run from door and window corners, and whether the floor slopes.
If one door rubs and the gap is even, this is an adjustment job you can do today. If the gap tapers, other doors stick, and walls are cracked, stop and treat it as foundation movement.
Repair or replace
| Situation | What to do |
|---|---|
| Rubs at the top corner on the latch side, hinges move when you lift the door | Repair. Swap the top hinge screws for 3-inch screws that reach the framing behind the jamb. |
| Binds along one edge only in humid months, gaps otherwise even | Repair. Plane or sand the tight edge, then prime and seal the bare wood so it stops drinking water. |
| Closes fine but the latch will not catch | Repair. Move the strike plate or file its opening. The door is fine. |
| Bottom of an exterior door is soft, swollen or coming apart in layers | Replace the door. Water is already inside the core and planing it makes the hole bigger. |
| Gap tapers diagonally, several doors stick, walls cracked above door corners | Hire a structural engineer before any door work. The opening is out of square because the house moved. |
Can I do it myself?
Yes for the three common fixes. Tightening hinge screws, moving a strike plate, and planing a swollen edge need a screwdriver, a chisel and an hour. Take the door off its hinges for planing, work a little at a time, and seal every bare edge you cut.
Hire for this when the gap tapers, when more than one door sticks, or when cracks run from door corners, because that is foundation and framing movement and it is structural work. A carpenter or a structural engineer looks at the house first, and the door gets rehung last, after the movement is dealt with.
What a contractor will ask you
Have these ready and you skip the back-and-forth.
- Where the door starts to rub or jam. Open and close it slowly and note top, bottom, latch side or hinge side.
- A photo of the whole door and frame from a few steps back, with the door partway closed.
- Whether it is an interior or exterior door, and how long it has been sticking.
- Whether other doors in the house stick, and whether any walls or ceilings are cracked.
- The age of the house and the foundation type: slab on grade, crawlspace or basement.
- Your city or address, so the contractor knows the local soil and frost conditions.
- Whether anything is visible outside too, such as cracked or sunken concrete.
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