Tightening a Door Hinge

One of the more common items to find on someone's "honey do" list is needing to repair some doors around the home. After all, it's actually pretty common to find your doors just a little off kilter, or not sitting just right. Usually this is do to the door hinge being just a tad loose. Tightening a door hinge is something that anyone can do, and is something that everyone should do to avoid more costly and time consuming repairs later on. Here are a few simple ways that you can go about tightening the door hinges in your home.

• Tighten existing screws. If your door hinges look to be a little loose in the frame, the simplest solution is to tighten the screws in their existing holes. Usually this is all that will be needed to ensure that your door hinges are tightened properly. All you need to do is open your door, and use a screw driver to tighten the screws. If this does not work then you will need to try other methods.
• Stripped holes. When you try tightening your screws, and you find that the screw is simply turning around and around, with out getting any tighter, you have a slight problem. What this problem is, is the holes have become stripped and the screws will no longer work. One of the ways that you can fix this problem is to remove your door hinges from the wall, and in the holes that have been stripped is place some wood glue, and stick a golf tee into that hole. Cut the tee off so that it is flush against the wall, and then have your door hung back up by the remaining holes. Allow the glue to dry completely overnight, and then remove the door again. Using a drill and a small wood bit, drill a pilot hole and then reattach the door. Use a drill to help you insert the new screw into the pilot hole and you have now fixed the problem.
• Longer screws. An easier way to get around the problem of stripped holes, is to use a longer screw. You will want to use a screw that is at least an inch longer than your current one, and simply tighten the screws until the door hangs firm.
• Change opening. One of the more time consuming methods for fixing a stripped hole is to change the opening. What this means is to change the side of the door that the hinges are on. This will entail a little cutting of the frame (to allow the hinges freedom of movement), a little wood glue and paint (to fill the old holes and blank patch of the hinges) and some sweat work.