Stuck

All the exterior doors in our house have the same problem. They stick and the new paint has only made the problem worse.

The painter said he had tried tightening the screws in the hinges to no avail. Maybe stuck doors are not in his job description.

Take a careful look at the above picture and you will see that it sticks at the top left. You will also see light at the bottom left and a sliver on top, which shows the door is not hanging straight.

I had a theory that the top hinges may have become slightly bent over the past 10 years. The problem has been gradually getting worse and it’s much more obvious when the weather is hot and muggy. That would make sense since wood expands with heat.

This morning I decided to take matters into my own hands and I headed off to Home Depot (God-awful hardware store that it is) to try to replace the hinges on the side door as a test of my theory. I went there because the contractor had inevitably bought the cheapest thing he could find there.

But Therma-Tru hinges were not to be found anywhere, so I bought another brand of 4” hinges assuming they were all pretty standard.

I decided to replace the middle hinge as a start. After getting out the power drill and removing the 8 screws, I realized the holes in the new hinges were not quite in the same places. But they were close enough that I was afraid to just start drilling new holes.

So I put the original hinge back on while I consider what to do next. I wish Merle Sneed lived here. I’m sure that hardware expert would know exactly what to do. But in his absence, who do I call? We typically need help with home repairs unless they are really simple.

On another note, I wholeheartedly agree with this post that music helps to unstick body, mind, and soul. As does a good therapeutic massage like the 90 minutes of nirvana I experienced this afternoon. At this point my body is much more unstuck than those three doors that need some higher form of intervention.