LESLIE: Now we’ve got Russell in Texas who’s dealing with a door that’s just not sitting right. What’s going on?
RUSSELL: Well, we recently had the windows and doors replaced in our house about eight months ago. And up until about two weeks ago, the door locked fine. Now, the deadbolt will lock. I mean it’ll go into the side of the door frame but the door knob itself won’t go in. And these were prehung doors. And I don’t know exactly how to diagnose the problem or even how I would go about fixing it if I was able to figure out what was wrong with it.
TOM: So it’s gotten increasingly warmer in Texas over the last couple of weeks, right?
RUSSELL: Yes.
TOM: And so, I think what’s happening is we’re getting some swelling of the door jambs or the door. And that’s shifting things just enough to make the door knob not sit properly in the strike plate. So, this is just a door adjustment.
And did you install these doors yourself? Did you have a pro do it?
RUSSELL: They were done by a contractor.
TOM: So I think it’s reasonable to ask the contractor to come back and adjust the doors because they’re swelling now. It is possible to put these doors in so that they work year-round without any adjustments. And so I think it just needs a minor adjustment; it shouldn’t be a big deal. But I would call the contractor; ask him to come back and fix it.
RUSSELL: OK. Alright.
TOM: Alright?
RUSSELL: I’ll give him a call.
TOM: Yeah, nothing to worry about there, Russ. Pretty normal. Just needs a bit of adjustment. And fixing a door – adjusting a door is complicated if you don’t do it every day, because it’s kind of an interesting beast. It has about six different ways it can move and if you move it in the wrong direction, you end up making it worse. So I’d have the pro come back and fix it.
RUSSELL: OK. I sure will.
TOM: Alright. Good luck, Russ. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
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