Got a client who has a set of double doors in a room that has settled,
causing the doors to no longer line up well. Looking at them, it's
pretty apparent that if a guy could only lower one of the doors by a
skosh (let's say 1/2" or less), they'd look a lot better.

I'm leery of trying this, as it would involve drilling a new set of
holes for the hinge screws very close to the existing ones. (I'd also
have to extend the mortises a little.) Is there some trick to make this
work? It just occurred to me that I could use the old trick of filling
the old holes with toothpicks and glue, then drilling new holes; would
this work OK? And would it be better to move the hinges on the door or
the jamb?


--
"In 1964 Barry Goldwater declared: 'Elect me president, and I
will bomb the cities of Vietnam, defoliate the jungles, herd the
population into concentration camps and turn the country into a
wasteland.' But Lyndon Johnson said: 'No! No! No! Don't you dare do
that. Let ME do it.'"

- Characterization (paraphrased) of the 1964 Goldwater/Johnson
presidential race by Professor Irwin Corey, "The World's Foremost
Authority."

Neither one. I think you should look really hard at what settled,
why it settled, and what you could do to get back to where it
belongs.

Consider looking into raising the jamb on the low side. A 1/2
inch is huge, far beyond my definition of a skosh. Hardwood
floors? Carpet? If it is carpet, you might try using a heavy crow
bar under the bottom of the jamb to pressure that side up. Have
some wedges already prepared to hold the jamb. Watch carefully at
the jamb trim, etc for movement. How is the gap between the
doors? Tight at the top and bigger at the bottom? How is the
reveal at the top of the door? You can move doors quite a bit
with shims behind hinges, subtle movement of jambs. Think about
steel doors in steel jambs - you don't get to move the hinges on
them.
______________________________
Keep the whole world singing . . . .
DanG (remove the sevens)




"David Nebenzahl" wrote in message
.com...
Got a client who has a set of double doors in a room that has
settled, causing the doors to no longer line up well. Looking at
them, it's pretty apparent that if a guy could only lower one of
the doors by a skosh (let's say 1/2" or less), they'd look a lot
better.

I'm leery of trying this, as it would involve drilling a new set
of holes for the hinge screws very close to the existing ones.
(I'd also have to extend the mortises a little.) Is there some
trick to make this work? It just occurred to me that I could use
the old trick of filling the old holes with toothpicks and glue,
then drilling new holes; would this work OK? And would it be
better to move the hinges on the door or the jamb?


--
"In 1964 Barry Goldwater declared: 'Elect me president, and I
will bomb the cities of Vietnam, defoliate the jungles, herd
the
population into concentration camps and turn the country into a
wasteland.' But Lyndon Johnson said: 'No! No! No! Don't you
dare do
that. Let ME do it.'"

- Characterization (paraphrased) of the 1964 Goldwater/Johnson
presidential race by Professor Irwin Corey, "The World's
Foremost
Authority."

DanG spake thus:

Neither one. I think you should look really hard at what settled,
why it settled, and what you could do to get back to where it
belongs.

What's settled is the *whole house*. Believe me, I'm not about to (nor
does my client wish me to) jack up the house just to get the doors level.

It's very apparent by looking at the doors that the wall the doors are
in has become somewhat of a parallelogram. There's a large gap at the
top of one door and almost none above the other.

Consider looking into raising the jamb on the low side. A 1/2
inch is huge, far beyond my definition of a skosh. Hardwood
floors? Carpet? If it is carpet, you might try using a heavy crow
bar under the bottom of the jamb to pressure that side up. Have
some wedges already prepared to hold the jamb. Watch carefully at
the jamb trim, etc for movement. How is the gap between the
doors? Tight at the top and bigger at the bottom? How is the
reveal at the top of the door? You can move doors quite a bit
with shims behind hinges, subtle movement of jambs. Think about
steel doors in steel jambs - you don't get to move the hinges on
them.

I don't see how you can move a door jamb up or down, independent of the
rest of the house structure. To me, just moving the doors within the
doorway makes much more sense.

And the floors are hardwood, in very good shape.


--
"In 1964 Barry Goldwater declared: 'Elect me president, and I
will bomb the cities of Vietnam, defoliate the jungles, herd the
population into concentration camps and turn the country into a
wasteland.' But Lyndon Johnson said: 'No! No! No! Don't you dare do
that. Let ME do it.'"

- Characterization (paraphrased) of the 1964 Goldwater/Johnson
presidential race by Professor Irwin Corey, "The World's Foremost
Authority."

Ever hung a door?
______________________________
Keep the whole world singing . . . .
DanG (remove the sevens)




"David Nebenzahl" wrote in message
.com...
DanG spake thus:

Neither one. I think you should look really hard at what
settled, why it settled, and what you could do to get back to
where it belongs.

What's settled is the *whole house*. Believe me, I'm not about
to (nor does my client wish me to) jack up the house just to get
the doors level.

It's very apparent by looking at the doors that the wall the
doors are in has become somewhat of a parallelogram. There's a
large gap at the top of one door and almost none above the
other.

Consider looking into raising the jamb on the low side. A 1/2
inch is huge, far beyond my definition of a skosh. Hardwood
floors? Carpet? If it is carpet, you might try using a heavy
crow bar under the bottom of the jamb to pressure that side up.
Have some wedges already prepared to hold the jamb. Watch
carefully at the jamb trim, etc for movement. How is the gap
between the doors? Tight at the top and bigger at the bottom?
How is the reveal at the top of the door? You can move doors
quite a bit with shims behind hinges, subtle movement of jambs.
Think about steel doors in steel jambs - you don't get to move
the hinges on them.

I don't see how you can move a door jamb up or down, independent
of the rest of the house structure. To me, just moving the doors
within the doorway makes much more sense.

And the floors are hardwood, in very good shape.


--
"In 1964 Barry Goldwater declared: 'Elect me president, and I
will bomb the cities of Vietnam, defoliate the jungles, herd
the
population into concentration camps and turn the country into a
wasteland.' But Lyndon Johnson said: 'No! No! No! Don't you
dare do
that. Let ME do it.'"

- Characterization (paraphrased) of the 1964 Goldwater/Johnson
presidential race by Professor Irwin Corey, "The World's
Foremost
Authority."

DanG spake thus:

Ever hung a door?

Yes, a few times. Why do you ask?

"David Nebenzahl" wrote in message
.com...

DanG spake thus:

Neither one. I think you should look really hard at what
settled, why it settled, and what you could do to get back to
where it belongs.

What's settled is the *whole house*. Believe me, I'm not about
to (nor does my client wish me to) jack up the house just to get
the doors level.

It's very apparent by looking at the doors that the wall the
doors are in has become somewhat of a parallelogram. There's a
large gap at the top of one door and almost none above the
other.

Consider looking into raising the jamb on the low side. A 1/2
inch is huge, far beyond my definition of a skosh. Hardwood
floors? Carpet? If it is carpet, you might try using a heavy
crow bar under the bottom of the jamb to pressure that side up.
Have some wedges already prepared to hold the jamb. Watch
carefully at the jamb trim, etc for movement. How is the gap
between the doors? Tight at the top and bigger at the bottom?
How is the reveal at the top of the door? You can move doors
quite a bit with shims behind hinges, subtle movement of jambs.
Think about steel doors in steel jambs - you don't get to move
the hinges on them.

I don't see how you can move a door jamb up or down, independent
of the rest of the house structure. To me, just moving the doors
within the doorway makes much more sense.

And the floors are hardwood, in very good shape.


--
"In 1964 Barry Goldwater declared: 'Elect me president, and I
will bomb the cities of Vietnam, defoliate the jungles, herd the
population into concentration camps and turn the country into a
wasteland.' But Lyndon Johnson said: 'No! No! No! Don't you dare do
that. Let ME do it.'"

- Characterization (paraphrased) of the 1964 Goldwater/Johnson
presidential race by Professor Irwin Corey, "The World's Foremost
Authority."