How to Fix a Door that Won’t Stay Open

LESLIE: Carl in South Carolina is dealing with some tricky doors. Tell us what’s going on.

CARL: I put the tiles floor in my laundry room and I took the door down. And when I put it back, it won’t stay open; it’ll swing back to close. And the one in my bedroom does the same thing. I have to prop them open with something.

TOM: So they used to stay open before and now they just want to stay closed all the time?

CARL: Right, uh-huh.

TOM: So there’s two ways to fix that, Carl. One way is to rip out the door and rehang it, properly shim it because it’s out of level somehow. And that’s a pretty big job. And the other way to do it is to pull the hinge pins out, put them on a hard, concrete surface and give them a sharp rap so you bend them slightly.

CARL: OK.

TOM: Then tap them back into the hinges and you will have added some friction to that connection.

CARL: Right.

TOM: You follow me?

CARL: Yes.

TOM: The slight bend on the hinge pin – a little trick of the trade. That will give you a little more tension on that door. Just take one out and give it a rap so it has a little bit of slight bend to it. You might not even see it. Just a slight bend. Tap it back in, try the door, see how it works. If it kind of stays where you want, that’s fine. If not, maybe do the top one and then do the bottom one. Give that another rap. Keep adding a little pressure to it by doing that until you get it just right. OK?

CARL: Alright. Well, thank you very much.

TOM: You’re welcome. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.