Hi all, We had our interior doors painted white gloss. As a result of this some of the doors no longer close, i.e. the latches cannot reach the latch hole, and spring back open when you let go of them. I think it is because of excess paint on the hinge side (it makes contact with the paint on the frame) The second annoyance is that they all make loud 'unsticking' noises when you open them. I think this is because the door touches the frame, and the gloss is kind of sticky/frictiony. It is pretty irritating! I tried sanding the areas where they stick, but that is making a mess of the paint and has not made any noticeable difference to the door. I am now getting door envy when I see other people's doors shut with a tidy *click*. Is this common and how should this be fixed? Cheers, Mike
The painters need a good slap. Its a classic error. The painters see the paint crack because the door is tight, they carry on painting over the crack; the problem gets worse. The doors will need to be carefully trimmed down and repainted.
To solve the hinge side problem, the door stop (if removable) needs to be set back and re-position further away. If the door stop is part of the frame they may need to be rebated in further using a plane. May be many layers of paint build up.
Thanks for the replies. The doors are pretty poor quality (wooden frame plus two sheets of hardboard) so I'm wondering if it's worth replacing them rather than altering the stop and spending lots of time planing and repainting.
Nah. Pack behind the frame hinges with 1mm cardboard. Really! Wedge the door up when open and do one hinge at a time. Mr. HandyAndy - Really
I can see that helping the hinge side Mr H, but won't it have a knock on effect on the opening side?.
Depend on the gap of course, but likely that if door is touching at hinge side, then opening side has too much gap(otherwise door was cut-in wrong originally). Mr. HandyAndy - Really
Now that you mention it, the hinges are nowhere near flush. One is sunk nearly 4 mm into the frame and there is only ~1mm clearance on the other side of that particular door! Not sure what to do with that one... I'll try the packing trick on some of the other doors tomorrow. Thanks for your suggestions
As HandyAndy said plus: You can also move the receiver (latch hole plate) forward a little so they re-engage. Remove the receiver, plug the screw holes with a sharpened stake of wood (just whittle down a suitable off-cut so it will fit then hammer it in, breaking it off flush). Then cut the rebate on the opening side a millimetre or two wider, enlarge the hole if needed then put the receiver back on drilling two new holes to hold it in its new position. Saves having to remove the door stop which will ruin the new paint finish.
Just make sure any newly exposed edges are primed and painted before you rehang the doors to extend their life - but take these layers into account when you sand and trim the door, accuracy is key to getting the door to shut properly and tightly without sticking.
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