In article ,
"Stormin Mormon" wrote:

At the church, there is a 45 minute rated fire door, with
closer and three hinges. Wood door. The hinges groan a bit,
make some kind of noise while the door is closing.

I tried opening and closing the door, with my fingers
lightly touchng the hinge, and can't tell which of the three
is making the noise. So, on principle, I dosed all three
hinges and the door closer pivots with WD-40, and that
didn't seem to help much.

Today, several days later, I return to the building. Spray
the hinges with brake cleaner, to flush out whatever old
lube was there. And then, spray the hinges with LPS-1,
leaving a non oily film. After the solvent flush, the hinges
got noisier. And then the spray, and they went back to about
the same noise level as when I started.

I havn't whacked the hinges with a hammer and screw driver
to check for removable pins. If they were, I'd pack in some
axle grease, and pound the pins back in.

What other ideas, for squeaky hinges? What works?


Do it right, and you won't need to do it again for many years.

Take the door down, clean out the hinge leaves and pins. There may be
some filthy particulate crud involved, so cover the floor/carpet. The
cleaning part is important, that dry powder residue is very abrasive.

Plain old white grease is a fantastic lube for this application (and
outdoor hinges as well). A small tube will do a lot of doors. Put a thin
coat on the pins and hinge leave bores.. a swab works well for the
bores. Don't neglect the top and bottom edges of the (thrust) load
bearing leaves. Don't over do it, or it'll be messy later. Put it back
together and thats it.

I once had a girlfriend who's front door hinges were so dry it was
physically hard to move her door... noisy too.

Anyway, I offered to lube the door, and she accepted. I pulled it down
and did the big number. There was probably a table spoon of dry rust
spooge that came out of those massive hinges...

Shortly after she called demanding the squeaks back... complained she
couldn't sleep fearing someone might now sneak in, and that light
breezes blew the door around when she left it open.

You can't win... solved the 'new' problems with a bell and doorstop.

Erik