How to Fit a Door in a Door Frame

Doors stop fitting for many reasons: the door frame gets out of square, the door warps, or the house's foundation subsides. Eventually, the door doesn't fit well within the door frame. But there are a few subtle alterations you can make to the door, the door frame, or to both, to help the door swing and close properly again.

Door Doesn't Close in the Frame

The door doesn't close since it's too big for its frame around most of its edges.

The Fix

Cutting down parts of the door takes off more material than paring back the door frame. Most slab doors have between 1 and 4 inches of solid material that run around the perimeter of the door. This material can be cut down with a radial saw, table saw, or circular saw.

The tops and bottoms of the door afford more room to cut than the sides. On the hinge side, mortises will need to be recut. The latch side is more difficult because of the position of the door knob.

Door Rubs Against Door Frame

When opening and closing, the door rubs against the door frame on the entire latch side of the door.

The Fix

If you only need a little bit more space, sand or plane down the door jambs without removing them. Sanding the door jambs with an electric or manual sander gives you better control than shaving off wood with a plane.

Door Rubs Against Top of Frame

The door opens and closes, but it rubs against the side of the door frame on the top.

The Fix

It's common for doors to scuff just at the top latch-side edge. The fix for this is to adjust the top hinge screws slightly to pull the door tighter back toward the door frame.

Often, existing screws have stripped out the holes in the door casing, and that's why they aren't holding. So, an effective and simple way to pull hinges tighter is to remove the existing screws and replace them with slightly longer screws. Screw these in as tight as possible if the door is scuffing at the opposite end of the frame.

Door Doesn't Hang Square in Door Frame

The door will close, but the door and the frame do not match: they are out of square.

The Fix

One way to bring a door and frame back into square is to reconfigure the casing and trim around the door. The door remains as it is and everything around it is slightly rebuilt to fit around that door. This is a more involved project that may require the assistance of a professional.

1. Remove the trim around the door, except for the hinge side. In many cases, it is possible to remove trim without breaking it. In other cases, you may need to break up the trim.
2. With those three sides of the trim removed, hang the new door as you normally would.
3. Build a casing that follows the configuration of the door. The inner door casing can be moved incrementally inward (towards the door) by adding wood shims. Tack into place with an electric nailer rather than hand-nailing.
4. Once the casing is in place, the trim follows the lines of that inner casing. With trim, use an electric nailer, which drives thinner nails than traditional finish nails.
5. Paint the trim and casing to complete the project.

Door Doesn't Hang Level

When you lay a level across the top of the door, the door is out of level, even if it does open and close properly.

The Fix

In many cases, you can correct door level at the hinges, by tightening or loosening the screws that hold the hinges to the casing. 

Another option is to remove the current hinges and install special adjustable hinges that give you more room to work with. While they are pricey, these hinges can be adjusted up to 1/4 inch vertically—a significant distance when it comes to hinges. By adjusting one hinge in one direction and the other hinge in a different direction, you can make major changes in the door's level.