Keep Your Doors Properly Working

When doors are not working properly, it can cause angst and frustration. There are a few things, however, that you can do to maintain the quality of your doors. Whether you have sliding doors, car doors, or regular swinging doors, you will find this article helpful.

The first thing you can do to keep your doors working properly is to maintain the quality of your hinges. Hinges get a lot of wear and tear and need to be replaced more frequently than any other part of the door. Maintenance of door hinges is the same whether you have steel hinges or brass hinges. Apply a lubricating product like WD-40 (found in your local hardware store) a couple times a year (or as needed) to limit how much the metal rubs against itself.

Once a year, tighten the screws in your door hinges. Screws that tighten easily do not need to be replaced. If you find that the screws do not tighten and simply swivel in place, cover the end of a matchstick or toothpick in wood glue (available in your local hardware store) and twist into the hole. The idea is to fill the hole with glue, all the way to the bottom, and then allow the glue to dry fully. The glue will properly fill in the hole so that the screws can securely hold the hinge in place.

Sometimes when traditional swinging doors are installed the frame of the door is not quite the right size. If you find your door sticking to the frame, you may need to sand the top of the door slightly to fit it properly to the size of the doorframe. Use traditional sandpaper for this project; avoid using a sander.

Sliding doors have a tendency to stick or get off their tracks. When sliding doors get off their tracks, it is usually because the base of the door is stuck. Taking regular beeswax bars (found at your local farmer's market or in the auto aisle in your local grocery store) and rubbing them on the track of the door every month will help your door slide easily and stay on track.