Planing a door

Over time, the doors in your home may begin to stick and bind. Sometimes simply tightening the hinge screws will solve the problem, but occasionally it is necessary to resize the door. After planing the intended amount, rehang the door and give it a swing. If it’s still sticking, remove it and shave a little more. Once it opens and closes perfectly, remove it to san prime.

I recently installed a french door in my basement, and it was hitting the door frame as I closed it. I used a manual planer to trim off some wood from the side of the door , and it fit perfectly. Unsubscribe from Home Repair Tutor?

Unlike other planing needs, using a power door planer should be classified as delicate trim woodworking. Therefore, making several passes removing small amounts of wood each time is a better method than removing too much an thus, ruining the door. Planing wooden doors is one option for fixing a door that sticks.

For minor adjustments you can sand the edge of the door. You can usually tell from the scuff marks on the edge of the door where it is sticking at. Planing a door is really easy if you have a power planer like this one. With a little patience and the supplies listed above you can solve any sticking door problem. You don’t need the help of a handyman, you can do it yourself!

Planing the door ’s edge may be the best solution for this sticky problem. Planing removes a small amount of woo just enough to make the door clear the jamb and close properly. This Old House general contractor Tom Silva confronts a stubborn summertime door with a jack plane and a little restraint. You want to take off the minimum amount of wood necessary because the door is going to shrink again in the winter, says Tom.

The best tool for “ planing ” the door isn’t a plane , but a belt sander (Photo 2). You could also do the job with a hand plane or an electric planer. Belt sander prices start at about $50. Plane the top or bottom rail or hinge stile if that’s where the door binds.

Avoid planing the lock stile—not only is the lock side usually beveled to allow for a tight fit, but planing it can also compromise the way the lock set fits. Hold the plane at a slight angle and flat against the surface. Get some clamps and secure the door to the trestles (use packing to protect the face orf the door from marking by the clamps).

The door more than likely will be sticking at a couple of areas not the full length. Removing it from lock edge you can see where it is sticking and plane at these points,then give it a try. If it still sticks take a bit more off.

A door buck is a jig that holds the door securely on edge and prevents it from moving while you are planing , routing for hinge mortises or lock installation preparation. At inches or longer, the jointer is the largest bench plane and the best choice for trimming, squaring, and straightening the edges of doors or long boards. Jack Before power planers, a jack plane smoothed and squared rough lumber.

Photo 3: Plane a door edge so it’ll close easily. Bevel a door edge to a precise 5-degree angle using an adjustable fence on the hand planer. Bevel on the hingeless door edge so the door closes smoothly and the leading edge doesn’t “click” on the jamb. The tool of choice would be a portable power plane. Standing on edge on the floor.

If the difference isn’t too big you may be able to get away with planing or sanding a little material off the bottom of the door. A plane is an indispensable tool for smoothing and shaping wood. Planes are used to shave thin, uniform strips from a piece of woo creating a smooth, level surface by removing high spots. Knowing how to plane wood is a vital skill for all woodworkers.

But it should be easy enough to pick up the existing screw holes again. Just my opinion having done a few in my hoose over the summer. A difficult door can quickly turn into a binding door if not fixed promptly. Doors that are hard to open and close can result from a number of different mechanical and environmental factors. The right fix depends on both the cause and the precise location of the problem on your door.

The cardboard webbing that they use inside the door to stiffen it may be in the way, but you can just push that back up into the door a bit. If it’s only a small amount to take off, I’d use a plane. I would score where I wanted the cut to end up with a utility knife then just use the score mark as a guide, planing up to the score line. Everything else has failed and you’re still don’t want to plane a door that has been sticking for years. It didn’t dry out and shrink in the summer.

The sandpaper was a waste of time and the chisel you got for Christmas was useless. When the door is dropped in, the weight pushes down and causes the blocks to grip the door. Beveling a door is the process of shaping the leading edge of the door at an angle. The reason for beveling is to allow for a tighter fit of the door to the jamb when in the closed position (see illustration below). Remodelers often need to trim the bottom of a door when the floor rises because of added carpeting, new tile, or extra layers of subflooring.

Learn the basics of marking, scoring, and cutting a door so it swings with ease and looks clean.