how to fix a sagging door

[PoorOwner]

a couple years ago I installed a prehung exterior door in my garage. It is outswing and kind of close to the slab.. after this many months the house or the frame moved enough now it is rubbing a spot on the slab everytime I open it.. it also made the deadbolt very hard to use and I have enlarged the deadbolt plate a little.

What can I do beside trimming the door. It's an somewhat expensive fiberglass door, I don't really want to cut it up. The gap between door and the frame is visibly different, from top to bottom maybe 1/8"

Thanks in advance...

 

[rgarling]

I had some luck with sagging doors by removing the top hinge plate and driving a couple of 3" screws to try to pull the hinge side back.

You can also cut some shims out of 3x5 cards or similar material and put them under the lower hinge plate.

 

[64merc]

You can also cut some shims out of 3x5 cards or similar material and put them under the lower hinge plate.

This is what I would try first.

 

[flesburg]

All Doors, especially ones designed to be exterior doors are heavy.

The pre-hung ones are installed to the split-jam with 3/4" screws, and the jam is soft (pine) wood and only "supported" by the trim boards, which are probably only nailed up with little finishing nails. The weight of the door is causing the jam to pull itself out of plumb.

On ANY door but especially on pre-hung doors, once they are installed and trammed ALWAYS remove one or more screws from the top hinge (one at a time) and install screws that are long enough to penetrate 1 1/2" into the wall stud which is nearest to the hinge side of the door. This screw or screws will pull the door back to the proper location and hold it there.

Never fails. I once had a heavy 32" wide exterior door that had sagged 1/2 inch, AND one screw in the upper hinge all the way into the wall stud solved it in a heartbeat. 10 years later it is still fine.

 

[PoorOwner]

I did put longer screws on each hinge per instructions, I think 2 long screws per hinge.

OK so I am going try to shim the hinge, does it matter I apply the shim on the door side or the frame side?

 

[64merc]

Honestly, I can't say for sure, but if it were me I would try shimming the frame side first. This is one of those situations where trial and error shouldn't get in in too much trouble.

 

[flesburg]

I think that the long screws did not penetrate into the wall stud, or missed it to the hinge pin side of the door jam. The jam extends past the stud by a full 1/2 inch or more. Sometimes the long screws just penetrate into the drywall, or the very edge of the stud.

The other possibility is that they are not long enough to penetrate into the stud because who ever installed the door shimmed it a long way away from the stud on the hinge side of the door.

I'd first remove the trim on the hinge side of the door and inspect what happened.

The long screws will be the right fix if they penetrate the stud.

 

[rodnok1]

It could be crappy hinges, pry up on the door edge and see if there is any play in hinges.

 

[Junkman]

If you opt for longer screws, use Stainless Steel screws, because the iron screws will rust out over time, and you will then be dealing with how to remove a broken screw to fix it in 5 years. This is what happened with my garage door when the carpenter used a 3" long sheet rock type screw in the upper hinge. Even if you have to buy a box of a 100 screws to only use one, it is still worth the cost vs. the time to fix it again 5 years from now. This is especially true, if your door framing is pressure treated wood, as mine is.

 

[64merc]

I certainly agree with the longer screw theory, but what if the foundation shifted enough to be causing this alignment problem? In this case no amount of screws in the hinges will fix the problem. Short of re-shimming the door frame or cutting the door, the only thing I can think of is shimming the hinge a bit. Maybe I'm wrong, but without being there it's hard to say right.