When installing my doors in a new home I like to put good decking screws
under the door jam trim to avoid filling and painting, especially if stained
doors.

I also like to put screws beside each other at the bottoms of jams and/or
the latch area. You have to fill and paint a few then but reinforces it at
strategic spots.

I sold my previous home a while back and while gone for a weeks at a time
thought I would save heating money by turning temps down to 50F degrees.
When I returned each weekend to check house I would stay overnight and turn
heat back up. I dried the house out badly doing this!!! I had a 15 year old
jam warped so bad it tore up the vinyl flooring next to it. When I got a
block of wood and cracked it back in the door jam broke! This door had never
moved before in 15 years from new.

While living there (normal temps) about 6 doors in that house started to
move and I found by kicking in the jam at the bottom it cured the problem
for another month or so. A well placed deck screw always solved the problem
permanently. One matching plated screw in each hinge through into the
framing stabilized them well. I see now many hinges are supplied with one
long screw.

The level can help but the square door is the best measuring stick after
seeing if the hinge jam is vertical by the door closing or opening by
itself.

Best of luck!


"Uno" wrote in message
...
Thx, Josepi, the trim is such that if I want to remove it, I can, and
re-attach it with the brad nailer better than the original.

The nailing pattern on the original really shows lapses in
craftsmanship, in particular, when I can see the damn craters from
across the room as something not even brown.

I'll throw my 4-foot level on the latch-side jamb before I move it.
--
Uno


Josepi wrote:

Less than a year? Obviously some wood is moving.

Try this. Curl your toes back and give the bottom of the jam a good kick
towards the studs to widen it. Close door. If this works unscrew the
middle
screw on the jam part of each hinge. Get a good 2.5 - 3.5" plated ,
matching
screw,like a deck screw and drive the sucker to pull back tight to the
shims
the carpenter put in. Most doors are only hinged to the jam and it pulls
the
jam from the framing.

This can be done with the latch plate also. If the tight spot is somewhere
else you may have to a small pilot hole and drive a long screw in the
studs
through the jam to pull it back, then patch and repaint.

Carpenters use power nailers and the nails typically don't have much grip
to
hold things tight.

OTOH: A house 1 year old would still be under warranty, here. Call the
builder and bitch. The trim carpenter will come and do some small fixes,
for
nothing, usually.