Most sticking internal doors are caused by loose hinge screws, not a warped door. When the top hinge loosens, the door drops on the handle side and catches the frame or the floor. Tightening or replacing those screws fixes a surprising number of doors in minutes. When the problem is seasonal swelling, a new floor or a frame that has moved, the answer is a careful plane, a hinge adjustment or a proper rehang.
Read the marks before touching a tool
Close the door slowly and watch where it first makes contact. Rub marks on the paint of the frame or on the top edge of the door tell you exactly where it is catching. A door that catches at the top corner on the lock side has almost always dropped. A door that catches along the whole of the lock edge has usually swollen or been painted too thickly.
Look at the gap around the door as well. On a door that hangs properly, the gap is roughly even along the top and down the lock side. A gap that closes up towards one corner points straight at the hinges.
Check the hinges first
Open the door halfway, hold the handle and lift gently. If there is movement at the top hinge, the screws have lost their grip. Tightening them may be enough. If they spin without biting, the holes have worn oversize, and the fix is to plug the holes with glued timber and refix with fresh screws, or use longer screws that reach solid timber in the frame behind the lining.
Worn hinge knuckles also let a door sag. Hinges are inexpensive, and swapping a tired pair for a matched new pair often cures a door that has been planed repeatedly without success.
- Top hinge loose: the door drops on the handle side
- Screws spinning: the holes need plugging and refixing
- Hinge recess too deep: the door binds on the hinge side
- Worn knuckles: the door sags even with tight screws
Swelling, paint and new floors
Timber doors take up moisture, so a door that is fine in summer can stick through a damp winter, particularly on a bathroom or kitchen door. Many years of paint on the edges can have the same effect. Here a light plane of the tight edge is the right fix, followed by sealing the bare timber so it does not simply swell again. Leaving a planed edge unpainted is the most common reason the problem returns.
A new floor is the other classic culprit. Carpet with a thicker underlay, or a new hard floor laid over the old one, raises the floor level and leaves the door scraping. Trimming the bottom of the door cleanly, with the door off its hinges, is the tidy solution.
When the frame is the real problem
Sometimes the door is fine and the lining it hangs in has moved. Settlement, a lining that was never fixed firmly, or building work nearby can all pull a frame out of square. Signs include a latch that no longer lines up with its keep and a gap that is wide at the top and tight at the bottom on the same side. Moving the keep plate helps a latch, but a frame that is badly out needs refixing, and at that point rehanging the door or fitting a new one is worth considering.
Doors you should not plane yourself
Fire doors should not be trimmed beyond the manufacturer's limits, and their gaps and seals matter. Hollow core doors have only a thin solid edge, so heavy planing or trimming can break through into the hollow centre. If you are unsure what kind of door you have, it is worth asking before taking anything off it.
What a carpenter will do on the visit
A typical visit starts with the hinges and works outwards: screws, hinge recesses, then the edges, then the frame. Doors are only taken off when they genuinely need planing or trimming. Several sticking doors are usually best dealt with in one visit, alongside other small carpentry jobs, which keeps the cost per door sensible.