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I'm preparing to dismantle a conservatory without breaking stuff, and I can't figure out how to take the doors off. Yes, I did put it up, but that was years ago, and I've forgotten. It must be simple - I did after all manage to put them there; so how do I take them off?

I've attached some pictures; there is a small screw on one side - that's for horizontal adjustment - and two on the top that I'm entirely sure about. The one near the frame comes out easily and doesn't really seem to have a purpose, the other one is very hard to turn and there is a small screw on the side of the hinge, that seems to be for locking it in place, but losening it doesn't make the top screw want to move. I'm worried about forcing it, so what is the secret here?

Side view Top view Opposite side

Two picures of the Philips screws. They are unfortunately not accessible, because the gap is too small:

inside 1 inside 2

Edit

I have tried out @FreeMan's suggestion, but as it turns out, the top-screw that appears to be the hinge-pin is not; instead it adjusts the position of the door as in this illustration:

The action of the top screw

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  • Can't you open the door and pull those two screws we see going into the door edge? They look like #2 or #3 Phillips. – isherwood Dec 17 '20 at 16:03
  • @isherwood I've added two pictures - I don't know if you can see it, but the gap is too small to get a screwdirver into. – j4nd3r53n Dec 17 '20 at 16:15
  • You can't open the door past 90 degrees? – isherwood Dec 17 '20 at 16:18
  • I can, but the devilish thing is, the screws stay hidden no matter which angle. – j4nd3r53n Dec 17 '20 at 16:19
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    Ok. I'd be loosening the small set screw and pulling the pins (the outer vertical Allen-heads). They may be stuck a bit due to corrosion, but a large enough tool should pop them loose. – isherwood Dec 17 '20 at 16:21
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As isherwood noted in a comment, you need to remove the hinge pins. To get them out, it's likely that you'll also need to loosen the set screw.

enter image description here

Loosen the set screw by backing it off a turn or two. There shouldn't be any need to fully remove it, but if you do, that's not the end of the world, just put it back in enough to keep it from falling out.

Then remove the hinge pin which seems to bolt in. It occurs to me that the hinge pin may actually be a 2 part device, with a bolt up top that we can see and a separate one down below that's not as obvious. Without a 2nd set screw, it's not as likely, but it's possible. There may be a nut of some sort on the bottom that has to be held with another tool while backing off the bolt we can see.

Once you've got the door removed from the hinges, you can take a Phillips to the screws holding the hinges to the door jamb.

Note that the years of accumulated crud & corrosion may require a fair bit of force to loosen these bolts. You may want to put a penetrating oil on and let it soak in for a while if you're meeting resistance. You should be good with the Allen head screws - those generally get a pretty good bite and don't strip often, but the Phillips screw heads will be very easy to strip out if you're not careful.

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  • Hi, thank you for your suggestion - however, the screw doesn't come out. I can turn it freely a bit back and forth, but it seems to push the hinge away from the frame. I have added an illustration in my OP. – j4nd3r53n Dec 18 '20 at 9:10
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I finally managed to get the doors off in the end - I though it might be of interest here. Inspired by the help in comments and the other answer, I realised the answer was much simpler than the apparent screw suggested. I cut the sharp end off a nail and used it to knock the pin out from the bottom of the hinge - note the bit near the top, which is an off-centre cylinder; this off-sets the hinge when you turn the pin:

Hinge pin

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  • Funny enough, that's exactly how one goes about removing the hinge pin from most every door. I guess we all assumed that you'd tried that already... – FreeMan Dec 18 '20 at 11:41
  • Well, I think when you see a hexagonal hole like that, then it MUST be a screw.... – j4nd3r53n Dec 18 '20 at 13:49
  • Yes, yes indeed. – FreeMan Dec 18 '20 at 14:11

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