Expanding wooden shed door - sand down door or frame?

54and56

Hi all,

I had a replacement wooden shed door installed during the summer (carpenter since emigrated to Canada!) which fitted and worked fine until the weather turned cold and now although it still swings correctly and the hinges are still firmly screwed in place it won't close as the door seems to have expanded a little.

It looks to me like it's 1-2mm too big for the frame in certain places.

Is sanding down the door (or the frame?) a standard DIY type fix for this problem or is there something else entirely I should do?

Lumen

First check the hinges are properly tightened.

If so, and the door has swollen, you can either pull the door in at the hinges, if there's clearance on the hinge side, by chiseling out the hinge rebates in the door a mm or so, or trim the door where it's sticking, preferably at an angle. This can be done with a plane or a tracksaw, but will be hard work with sanding.

Hanging doors is not easy. There may be cursing.

The Continental Op

Shed doors where there are no weather seals and its as cold inside as outside most of the time need fitting with at least a quarter of an inch gap on the closure (side with the lock) and not much less on the hinge side.

I'd probably go to town on that and take a quarter of an inch off the door down the side in the picture with a circular saw.

Sanding or even planing little bits off will only mean your back on the job on a regular bases.

Calahonda52

As continental, and add a slip on the outside to cover the gap on the opening side

54and56

Lumen wrote: »

First check the hinges are properly tightened.

If so, and the door has swollen, you can either pull the door in at the hinges, if there's clearance on the hinge side, by chiseling out the hinge rebates in the door a mm or so, or trim the door where it's sticking, preferably at an angle. This can be done with a plane or a tracksaw, but will be hard work with sanding.

Yes, the hinges are properly tightened.

I don't have the skills to chisel out the hinge rebates so I think the best way to do this is by trimming the door.

I don't have either a sander, a circular saw or a planer but I guess an electric planer like this would be best for the job?

Lumen

You're probably better off getting a cheap corded circular saw as that's easier to operate on a door. Power planes can easily tear off material near the top and bottom where you tend to have endgrain, particularly on cheaper hollow doors.

Also, with a circular saw you can "shoot it in", i.e. set the angle on the circular saw to take more off the leading edge.

Obvs to do this straight you'll need to get the door off, have it well supported/clamped and use a straight edge as a guide.

Calahonda52

54and56 wrote: »

Yes, the hinges are properly tightened.

I don't have the skills to chisel out the hinge rebates so I think the best way to do this is by trimming the door.

I don't have either a sander, a circular saw or a planer but I guess an electric planer like this would be best for the job?

To be honest if you don't have the skills to do the hinges, I don't think that planer would be a safe option, they are incredibly dangerous if your concentration lapses or you don't know what you are about: thighs, fingers etc...
Likewise with the circular saw.
The other complication is that you may have to recess the lock further in the door, which will have to come out anyway for cutting off the strip.

54and56

Calahonda52 wrote: »

To be honest if you don't have the skills to do the hinges, I don't think that planer would be a safe option, they are incredibly dangerous if your concentration lapses or you don't know what you are about: thighs, fingers etc...
Likewise with the circular saw.
The other complication is that you may have to recess the lock further in the door, which will have to come out anyway for cutting off the strip.

Mmmm, good advice Lumen and Calahonda52, might just leave it be until I can get someone to do it for me. I don't like admitting defeat when something "should" be do-able but I also wouldn't like losing a chunk of flesh or making a complete balls of it and end up having to get another door installed. I may have reached my (fairly low hanging) DIY ceiling

54and56

By way of update I had my farming brother in law over last night to collect something and I showed him the problem with the door. Because it was night and the light was on in the shed it quickly became clear that the problem relates to a "bowing" of the door from above the lock to about 6 inches from the top.

When I asked him whether I should get a planer or a sander to fix it he just laughed at me and said to get a €15 rasp from Woodies and use it to pare down the bowed section then give the door another coat of pain to protect against water ingress.

Off to Woodies with me this morning, got the rasp and within 2 minutes of paring away it looks like the offending bow is (possibly) being caused by two knots in the wood one above the lock and the other just below the top of the door. Might be co-incidence of course.

Anyway, I only had a couple of minutes spare this morning so will tackle it properly in the next few days and hopefully get it back fitting the frame for good!!

The Continental Op

Hope thats fixed but past experience tells me you might need to keep that rasp handy

54and56

The Continental Op wrote: »

Hope thats fixed but past experience tells me you might need to keep that rasp handy

Will do. Hadn't even heard of a rasp until last night!!

At least the rasp won't remove a finger

The Continental Op

54and56 wrote: »

Will do. Hadn't even heard of a rasp until last night!!

At least the rasp won't remove a finger

While it is a rasp I'd actually call that a Surform, afaik it was a Stanley design of a cross between a rasp and a plane.

cheif kaiser

A spokeshave is also a decent tool to use for shaving a door in situ.