hollow core door warping?
#10
the door to my shop was in an inconvenient place, so I moved it.  It is a low-end pre-hung door. The only change I made was that I reassembled the frame upside down because I wanted it to open the other way.  Turns out the doorknob is centered, so they really only make one kind of door, it depends on how it is assembled. I'm sure this was the cheapest pre-hung door they could buy at Lowes at the time.

Anyway, I don't know if it was sprung in its original installation, but now the door doesn't quite close at the top. There is about 1/4" gap between the stop and the door.  I have the door frame plumb to within the measurement capabilities of my level.  In fact, I installed it a little bit out of plumb to close the gap.  Maybe that was a mistake.  I did have a flood in my shop about 15 years ago where the gap under the door got filled with leaves so there was about 8" of water until I could get rid of it, which took about 10 hours or so.  I imagine that's not good for a cheap door.

Other than live with it, I'm not sure what to do.  The gap around the door is pretty even.  I'm thinking about hanging a new door, they don't cost too much.  Any ideas?
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#11
(03-14-2018, 09:22 AM)EricU Wrote: the door to my shop was in an inconvenient place, so I moved it.  It is a low-end pre-hung door. The only change I made was that I reassembled the frame upside down because I wanted it to open the other way.  Turns out the doorknob is centered, so they really only make one kind of door, it depends on how it is assembled. I'm sure this was the cheapest pre-hung door they could buy at Lowes at the time.

Anyway, I don't know if it was sprung in its original installation, but now the door doesn't quite close at the top. There is about 1/4" gap between the stop and the door.  I have the door frame plumb to within the measurement capabilities of my level.  In fact, I installed it a little bit out of plumb to close the gap.  Maybe that was a mistake.  I did have a flood in my shop about 15 years ago where the gap under the door got filled with leaves so there was about 8" of water until I could get rid of it, which took about 10 hours or so.  I imagine that's not good for a cheap door.

Other than live with it, I'm not sure what to do.  The gap around the door is pretty even.  I'm thinking about hanging a new door, they don't cost too much.  Any ideas?

Buying a new door is probably the right way to do it. Uneven heating and moisture can definitely cause hollow core doors to warp, especially the flat ones - for whatever reason, the hollow doors with the faux panels seem to be better at withstanding that.
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#12
Before I'd buy a replacement, I'd take the old door off, lay it on a bench and use a couple winding sticks to see if it's flat.
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#13
(03-14-2018, 11:08 AM)joe1086 Wrote: Before I'd buy a replacement, I'd take the old door off, lay it on a bench and use a couple winding sticks to see if it's flat.

This.  If the door closed OK before then it likely is flat - and you need to adjust the alignment of the frame.   

John
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#14
(03-14-2018, 11:08 AM)joe1086 Wrote: Before I'd buy a replacement, I'd take the old door off, lay it on a bench and use a couple winding sticks to see if it's flat.

Place a long strait edge diagonally across the door in both directions. It will tell you if it is warped.  Use string if you don't have a strait edge.


Al
I turn, therefore I am!
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#15
(03-14-2018, 11:53 AM)jteneyck Wrote: This.  If the door closed OK before then it likely is flat - and you need to adjust the alignment of the frame.   

John

that's hard to know at this late date.  I just looked at the upstairs doors as a reference, one of the 5 doors onto the hallway is the same distance out as the shop door, and I never would have noticed it if I hadn't specifically looked.

I'll check the door.  It's not so far out of flat that it's visible while it's installed, that's for sure.  

I was trying to think if there was any likely flaw in the way the door is hung that would lead to this.  It seats perfectly against the hinge-side stop, which seems like it absolves the hinges.

Unless I made some sort of a measurement error, not sure what I could do to the frame without making it look like a Penrose triangle
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#16
There are a few factors at work: the walls, the jamb and the door.

If you try to match a jamb to an unlevel wall you have a problem. If the two walls are not perfectly in line, you also have a problem.

Stretching a couple strings diagonally across the edge of jamb will tell you if the jamb is planar but it won't really help you in this case.

Realistically, the only way to handle this is to adjust the jamb to the door and fix the discrepancies with trim.

If the door is severely warped, you need a new door.
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#17
LIL...sometimes it is easier to move the stops! Hammer and a 2x4. 



Al
I turn, therefore I am!
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#18
I think the door is ugly, and I wouldn't mind replacing it.  But it makes sense to see if it really is the door first.  And if I replaced the door, I would probably feel compelled to replace the other two doors in the basement to match.

The wall isn't quite plumb, but I really just ignored that as I placed the jamb.
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