How to Fix a Dropped Door

A dropped door is one that has sunk out of position: it catches on the floor or the frame, will not close cleanly, or leaves a widening gap along the top. On an internal door the cause is nearly always the hinges, and most of the time the fix is quick and needs no more than a screwdriver. This guide runs through the checks in order, from the thirty-second fix to the jobs that take a little more.

Why an Internal Door Drops

A door hangs on its hinges, so when it drops the hinges are the first place to look. The commonest cause is simply loose screws: the weight of the door works them loose over time until the top hinge can no longer hold the door square, and the door sags on that corner. Worn hinges do the same, where the knuckle or the hinge plate has worn enough to let the door drop.

Two other things move a door out of position. As a house settles, the frame can shift a little and change how the door sits. And oak, like any timber, moves with the seasons, taking up moisture in a damp spell and shrinking again in a dry one, which can be enough to make an internal door bind or drop at certain times of year. Working out which of these you are dealing with tells you how far you need to go.

How to Fix a Dropped Door, Step by Step

Work through these in order and stop as soon as the door hangs true; most doors never get past the first step.

1. Tighten the hinge screws. Take the weight off the door with a wedge under the outer edge, then tighten every screw on both the door and the frame side of each hinge. Pay most attention to the top hinge, which carries the most load. If the door lifts back level, you are done.
2. Deal with any screw that spins. A screw that turns without biting has lost its grip in the wood; the fix for that is in the next section. Sort it before you go on, because a hinge is only as good as the screws holding it.
3. Replace a worn hinge. If the screws are tight but the door still sags, look at the hinges for a worn knuckle or a bent plate. Swap a worn hinge for a new one of the same size and type so it drops straight into the existing recess; you will find matching door hinges in the range. Change them as a pair so the door hangs evenly.
4. Shim the hinge to reposition the door. To lift or nudge the door back from the frame, slip a thin card or metal shim behind a hinge plate. A shim behind the bottom hinge lifts a dropped leading edge; one behind the top hinge brings the top of the door back. Work in thin layers and test as you go.
5. Ease where it still catches. If the drop has rubbed a mark into the frame or floor, take the door off, plane or sand the high spot back a little, and seal any bare oak you expose with a coat of clear hardwax oil before you rehang it. This is a last resort, once the hinges are right.

When the Screws Will Not Bite

If a hinge screw just spins, the hole has worn too wide for the thread to grip. The quick, lasting fix is to pack the hole back out with wood: take the screw out, dip a few wooden matchsticks or a thin dowel in wood glue, tap them into the hole, snap them off flush and let the glue set.

Drive the screw back into the fresh wood and it bites as if the hole were new. A slightly longer screw into the frame side of the top hinge is another good move, since it reaches past the lining into the more solid timber behind and takes a firmer hold.

If the Door Is uPVC

A uPVC door drops in a different way and is fixed at the hinge itself, not with screws into wood. Its hinges are adjustable, with a small grub screw or cap that lets you raise, lower or move the leaf sideways with an Allen key, so a dropped uPVC door is usually a matter of turning the right screw a little rather than any woodwork.

The mechanism varies by hinge type, so find the make of your hinge before you start and follow its adjustment guide. The principle is the same as a timber door, though: reposition the leaf until it sits level in the frame and closes cleanly without catching.

Frequently Asked Questions

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