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I have installed some new standard 3" door hinges with a small corner radius on a 32" door. The doors are sold core oak doors. The hinges appear to look fine and fit perfectly flush in the existing grooves in both the frame and door. But now when I close the door, the door hits the opposite side of the door frame (handle side), and overlaps about 1/16" - 1/8" so it wil not shut. The top of the door is fine. It appears to be pretty evenly overlapping, so its not like the top of the adjacent side is ok and the bottom ovelaps.

I assume this is because the hinges must be slightly thicker, or in the closed position they are a bit wider. How do I go about fixing this? I guess I could take them off again, and chisel away a little on the door grooves or in the frame, but how would I keep that consistant? I have 5 more doors to do after this one, sure hope they are not all this way.

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So, now there is a larger gap between the door and jamb on the hinge side? Which then causes the door to hit the jamb on the latch side? Are the hinges really completely flush on door and jamb? – dotjoe Oct 21 '10 at 20:53
Also, any reason you are bothering to replace the hinges? – dotjoe Oct 21 '10 at 20:59
@dotjoe - The doors came with gold (brass) hinges and we are changing them out to a black hinge to match the rest of the fixtures in the room. – mohlsen Oct 22 '10 at 15:18

3 Answers

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I'm not sure about ChrisF's suggestion since I've never had that particular problem (with the door rubbing on the hinge side) - is the issue that it's hitting the frame on the hinge side or the doorknob side?

If it's hitting the jamb on the doorknob side (as if the door is now too wide) then the usual solution is to trim down the door. Usually I would run it through a table saw, but you could do it with a circular saw as well if you are really careful.

Just make sure to trim off the knob side rather than the hinge side so you don't have to worry about mortising out new spots for the hinges (and then risk being off on the top of the door)

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It's an old house and a couple of the doors have twisted slightly - hence the problem! – ChrisF♦ Oct 20 '10 at 21:36
it's hitting on the handle side, i edited my question to clarify. I would hate to have to trim the door, they are already sanded, stained and varnished. But that may be easier than trimming out the hinge spots. hmm. – mohlsen Oct 21 '10 at 11:39
no way...it's way easier to add depth to the hinge mortise. Get a nice chisel...it's kind of fun. – dotjoe Oct 21 '10 at 20:50
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@dotjoe - it probably is easier, the problem is that you need to chisel them all out to a consistent depth or the door will be crooked. Also, if you take too much out, the hinge will sit too deep and the door won't close. With a router and a little bit of jig-building, you should be OK, but it would be difficult to get it right with just a chisel (well, it would be difficult for me anyways) – Eric Petroelje Oct 22 '10 at 13:06
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Use a little sand paper to smooth it out...if you go to far you can shim it back out with a strip of heavy duty cardboard. But, yes a router probably be the best. To cut a door that used to fit seems like admitting defeat...I'd rather put the old hinges back on... – dotjoe Oct 22 '10 at 14:04
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How do I go about fixing this? I guess I could take them off again, and chisel away a little on the door grooves or in the frame,

That's pretty much the only way - but take a good look and work out which side (door or frame) needs to move and in which direction. I've done this in the past and gone the wrong way at first which isn't good.

In some cases I've even had to resort to shaving a bit from the edge of the frame:

Shave the hinge side

This shows the hinge side, but the same applies if the problem is occurring on the handle side. You only need to shave that part of the frame where the door and frame interfere. This might be the only solution if the door is warped or twisted at all as moving the entire door by repositioning the hinges would leave gaps between the door and the frame.

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it's hitting on the handle side, i edited my question to clarify. I dont think this solution will work as it is not hitting here you have it marked. – mohlsen Oct 21 '10 at 11:38
@mohlsen - I'll update my answer, however you might need to do the same on the handle side – ChrisF♦ Oct 21 '10 at 11:39
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What I would do if it is hitting on the latch side is to remove a screw on each hinge in the middle of the hinge and replace it with a screw that is about 3½" to 4" long. Tightening these screws will pull the jamb in on the hinge side giving your door room to close on the latch side. Try it.

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