Even the best doors can begin to creak or sag over time: no one can cancel the force of gravity and friction. And if you have heavy steel ones, then even metal will get tired of holding them. After the summer, plastic ones also “sag” – they almost always remain open in the heat, which leads to such results. There is no need to endure these “outrages”, as well as spend money on their elimination. Adjusting the front doors is a delicate matter, but in most cases you can do it on your own. Once you adjust the loops and the porch with your own hands, you can then easily repeat.
Adjustment of a metal entrance door
If you have a steel front door, the following problems may arise with it:
- creak;
- draft – blowing from under the canvas (slits around the perimeter or top / bottom);
- hard to close.
The solution to all these problems is called “adjusting the front door”, but this includes very different measures – from banal lubrication and replacement of the seal, to the actual adjustments and mechanical influences.
Sometimes, to fix the problem, you need to go through all the methods, and sometimes the problem that has arisen can only be fixed radically – by replacement. Most often, this situation occurs with cheap Chinese products. Adjustment of entrance doors made in China is almost impossible. Of course, you can try to do something with your own hands: firms and craftsmen do not undertake them.
Eliminate the creak
Doors can creak for two reasons: the hinge grease is clogged or the door leaf touches the frame. Although both are called “creaking”, the nature of the sound is different. It is easier to cope with the clogging of the loops, therefore they usually start with this procedure.
Hinge lubrication
First, remove the old grease, at the same time removing the dirt adhering to it. The procedure is standard: wipe with a soft cloth wherever traces are visible. If this procedure has not been done for several years, and the loops are of the standard classical type, and even detachable, the canvas can be removed. Better to clean when removed.
If the hinges are rusty and won’t come off as they should, don’t try to knock them down with a hammer or sledgehammer. Do more harm than help. Better buy a rust remover. It is usually sold in the form of sprays. Apply to a rusted hinge and wait for the set time. Then remove the fabric from the hinges and clean. But this time it is necessary to remove all the rust. To bare metal, then coat with a rust converter and only then with grease.
After the old grease is removed, take the “fresh” one and apply it to the hinges. If the canvas is removed, there will be no problems – lubricate the pin and ring. If any other rubbing mechanisms are visible on the frame, lubricate them as well.
In traditional type hinges, squeaking may occur due to the fact that the washer on the stem has worn off. You inspect it after you have removed the door leaf. If it shows signs of wear, replace it. Install a new hard metal washer. Instead, you can put an engraver. He will also compensate for the load.
If the hinges are one-piece, find a liquid lubricant in a spray can (WD40 is the most common) or machine oil, which can be applied with a large syringe. Handle all moving parts carefully.
There is another method, but it is destructive. A hole is drilled in the upper part of the hinge, which is then filled with grease. The whole trick is not to damage the mechanism that is inside.
If the hinges are hidden, find all the turning parts and lubricate them. Often in such models there are holes into which oil is applied.
After applying the lubricant, swing the doors several times from side to side, distributing the lubricant. If this was the reason, the creak goes away. The final touch is to wipe off excess oil.
How to lubricate front door hinges
It is necessary to choose a lubricant, first of all, according to the temperatures at which the loop is operated. If the hinges go outside, a composition is needed that does not thicken at low temperatures. There is not much choice here:
- Litol. Reliably works at temperatures from -40°C to +120°C.
- Solidol. The temperature range is slightly lower, but also sufficient: from -35°C to +65°C.
For entrance doors facing the entrance and operated at positive temperatures, a few more items can be added to this list:
- machine oil;
- universal grease WD40;
- machine lubricants.
Popular lubricant “for everything”
Eliminate friction on the box
If, after processing the hinges, the creak remains, most likely it is caused by the friction of the door leaf on the box. Inspect the door frame for wear. If you find any signs of abrasion, see which of the loops is closer. It will need to be regulated, if possible.
The difficulty lies in the fact that there are a lot of types and models of loops and it is impossible to say unambiguously what needs to be done. All that is possible is to list the main points that can be. Based on these, you may be able to determine how to “heal” your door.
Standard hinges are not adjustable. In this case, the adjustment of the entrance doors consists in replacing the washer. They are selected with greater or lesser thickness, adjusting the position of the door leaf. Some hinges with a ball at the top have an adjustment screw. By unscrewing it, we raise the door a little, twisting it – we lower it. You can try to correct the situation with it.
If standard hinges on a steel door are welded, we can assume that this has exhausted the possibilities. If they are seated on screws, the fixing screws are loosened, moving the sash in the desired direction as far as possible. Then the screws are tightened. Check if the problem is gone. If not, try with another loop. Sometimes it is required to loosen all the loops, and pull the canvas in this position. In general, decide on the place where to press, and where to press.
There are models of hinges in which the adjustment holes are hidden under a protective cap. But it’s impossible to remove it just like that: it is fixed with a bolt, which is unscrewed from the inside of the room. An example of adjusting such a loop in the video.
If the hinges on the front door are screwed, you can eliminate the friction of the door leaf on the frame with their help. First, loosen the screws near where the wear is. Try to move the door leaf a little. To begin with, you can knock with your palm or fist, moving it in the right direction. Try opening/closing a couple of times. Did it help? Screw the clamping screws back. And try opening/closing again.
If it doesn’t help, you can use some kind of leverage, hit with a rubber mallet or hammer through the board. But don’t overdo it. Especially gently should be handled with Chinese products: they are very flimsy.
If these manipulations also did not give anything, you will have to loosen the screws on all the hinges and try to move the canvas over the entire area. Take hold of the edge of the canvas with your hands and sway it. In this case, the loops should fall into place. Try to open close. If there is no squeak, tighten the bolts. That’s all, adjusting the hinges of the front door cannot give more. The next thing to try is to change the geometry of the door frame. More on this in the next paragraph.
The photo above (right picture) shows a hinge with the ability to adjust. By loosening the screws, you can turn the adjusting screw. It does not help – we are trying to move the canvas, as described above.
Eliminate a loose porch (blowing from under the door)
Sometimes there is a noticeable breeze from under the front door. If you examine the perimeter, you will most likely find that in some place the fit of the door leaf to the door frame is loose. There may be a decent size gap. You can check your suspicions with a piece of paper. Open the doors, insert a piece of paper between the canvas and the jamb and close the doors. If the porch is normal, the paper is either pulled with a lot of effort, or it is pinched so that it cannot be removed. Just break. If the sheet is removed freely, then the fit is insufficient.
The simplest explanation is that the seal has lost its elasticity. If the doors are several years old, it is possible. And the first step is to change the seal. Did it help or only partially solve the problem? We move on.
If the canvas is displaced relative to the door in a horizontal plane, we try to eliminate the draft from under the front door first by shifting the door leaf. This is written above: loosen the fastening screws on the hinges, then try to move the canvas in the right direction. Check the result – the gap has disappeared – tighten all the screws to their original position.
Sometimes gaps under the front door occur due to the distortion of the door frame. This is checked with a level. Most likely, it skewed in the place where the sheet of paper is freely removed. The second option, on the contrary, the box is stuck out in the place where the sheet is pressed, due to the fact that the “normal” part cannot be pressed. All this is determined with the help of an eye and a level. Having determined what the problem is, we are trying to return the geometry to normal. Measures depend on how the box is installed:
- On the anchor. We loosen the anchor on the side where the box needs to be adjusted. To do this, remove the decorative trim. A through hole is hidden under them, through which it was attached to the wall. Inside you can see the head of the anchor. Loosen with a screwdriver a few turns. Having unscrewed, we straighten the position of the box. We close the doors and check. Everything is fine – we tighten the anchor.
Two types of mounting holes - On the eyelets. There is very little chance of correcting the situation with little bloodshed. Especially if the slopes are already completed. You can try with a hammer and a board, knocking on the curved places. If the box is made of normal metal, it may straighten out. If this is a product from China, most likely the box will bend. In this case, sadly, only reinstallation can help. Doors will have to be cut off and then reinstalled.
See the video for the option to correct the gap in the porch. After front door installation it turned out that it was blowing strongly from under it. The owner corrected the warp with a hammer.
We eliminate the sagging of the door (shuffling on the threshold)
If, after several years of operation, the doors began to open with difficulty, while rubbing against the threshold, most likely the fact is that the ball or bearings have worn out. If possible, there are adjustments, you don’t even have to remove them. Just unscrew one of the bolts and lift it up slightly.
If there is no adjustment, there are several options:
- hinge replacement;
- replacement of bearings with new ones;
- installation instead of bearing washers.
All this is determined based on the situation and the design of the loop.
Adjustment of plastic entrance doors
Problems can be the same: friction, creaking hinges and a loose connection to the frame, which can blow. But adjusting PVC doors is easier – hinges and mechanisms are standardized, there are not so many types. So there is hope that you can handle the problems with your own hands, without calling the master.
Balcony door adjustment
After the summer, the plastic doors to the balcony sag: in the summer they often remain open for a long time, which is why such a nuisance happens. Then they touch the threshold, an unpleasant sound is heard, the plastic is erased. In this case, you need to lift the canvas up. This is done using the adjustment, which is located at the top of the lower loop.
They do this with the lock open, but the door is closed. Take a hex wrench (usually 4 or 5) and insert it into the hole, turn it a few turns. It is not necessary to immediately lift it strongly, as this can cause other problems. Raise only until the problem is fixed.
Sometimes, when closing, the doors rub from the side, touching the metal latches. It turns out that you need to move the canvas towards the hinged part. To do this, there is another adjustment on the same loop. It is located below, visible when the door is open.
This adjustment is also carried out with a couple of turns clockwise or counterclockwise. If you need to keep the doors from rubbing against the post, turn counterclockwise. Take a couple turns and check. Once the problem is gone, stop. Otherwise, you can move so much that the lock will no longer “cling” to the counterpart.
If the upper left corner “clings”, you need to adjust the loop that is at the top. The principle is the same: one or two turns, until the trouble is eliminated.
Clamp adjustment (so as not to see through)
Sometimes a weak pressure is observed from the side of the castle part. It seems that the canvas adjoins exactly, but it pulls noticeably from under the door. In summer this is not a problem, but with the onset of cold weather, it significantly reduces the temperature. There are two ways. The first is to adjust the clamping pins. These are metal protrusions on the sash.
They are of two kinds. as in the photo above – oval, and round, but with an eccentric in the middle. The position of this element determines the degree of pressure of the sash against the frame. The way to change the position depends on the shape of the trunnion. If it is the same as in the photo, take the pliers, clamp and turn slightly. Maximum pressure if the long side is turned horizontally, minimum – if it is directed vertically upwards. There are also all intermediate options.
If there is an eccentric in the center of the pin, then there is also a hole for the hexagon. Insert it and turn, achieving the desired degree of pressure.
It is not recommended to set the maximum value to the stasis: the seals will quickly lose their elasticity. Also make sure that all eccentrics are rotated the same way. This guarantees the normal operation of the fittings.
But sometimes there is a situation that the sash of the balcony door is not tightly pressed from the side of the hinges. This is also eliminated by adjusting the loops. Below it is under a protective cap. Take it off (pull up). Take the key (hexagon) and adjust the pressure of the lower right corner of the plastic balcony door with a couple of turns.
There are also hidden loops on the frame, which also have the ability to adjust the pressure. They are located on the frame from the side of the hinges. Adjustment with the same hex wrench. Turns “clockwise” and “counterclockwise”.
Adjustment of plastic doors
There are different hinges on the plastic entrance doors, and there is no lock-and-tilt fittings. They have closed overhead loops. They have three settings:
- the height of the door leaf relative to the frame – from the bottom of the hinge;
- the density of pressing the canvas to the frame – on top of the loop;
- sash movement horizontally – sideways
They are enough if the doors were initially set correctly: the limits of change in positions are significant, which makes it possible to compensate for the changes that occurred during operation.
If a creak occurs in the hinges, they must be lubricated. To do this, remove the top cap and into the opened hole, into which grease is placed. Since plastic doors are installed as entrance doors mainly in private houses and they go out into the street or into an unheated vestibule, then you select a lubricant that does not thicken at low temperatures (Litol and Solidol).
In some models of hinges, the cap is simply pushed on, in others, you need to unscrew it, and then pull it out. Decide on a place.
Sometimes a situation arises when intervention is required: the lock is poorly fixed. If the sash pressure is normal, the striker needs to be corrected. She is mobile in such doors. Loosen the mounting screws, use a screwdriver to move the bar a little in the right direction and tighten the screws back. You check. Should help.