On Jun 20, 1:06*pm, David Nebenzahl wrote:
On 6/20/2008 9:35 AM spake thus:

The front door of my house is out of square. The top of the door
slopes down from the hinge side to the lock side leaving a gap. Do I
need to shim from the bottom? TIA

Yes, but here's the deal on shimming the door: If you shim at the bottom
as you propose, you'll have to redrill the hinge holes to move the door
up towards the top. If the gap (and therefore the amount the door must
be moved) is at least 1/4", this *might* work, but it'll be difficult if
the distance is less, since the new holes will be right next to the old
holes. (In this case, you'll need to *completely* fill the screw holes,
by drilling them out and gluing in dowels, then drill the new holes.)

The alternative is to keep the hinges where they are and shim at the
top, which will be a lot easier but more noticeable.

Here's what I'd do:

1. Make sure hinges are fully tightened. If any screws are stripped in
their holes (very common), use the old toothpick-and-glue trick to make
them hold. You want to make sure that none of the misalignment is due to
loose hinges.

2. Measure the gap at the top on the lock side. This is the (approx.)
size of the shim you'll need, assuming the bottom of the door lines up OK..

3. Shim the door and re-plane the top to match the jamb.

--
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute
conversation with the average voter.

- Attributed to Winston Churchill

He said the door is out of square and that it sags to the lock--side,
most likely its tight in height, at the hinge side at top so it cant
and should not be raised your "at least 1/4". [ where you ever got
that figure from!] Now he may likely have the normal tolerance at the
hinge side. So sure he could push out the bottom hinge with a shim,
and do nothing more and get it square, [without plaining] maybe you
need another Chemist for a "primer" on door operation.