I have several old solid wood doors. I want to refinish them and use new hinges and doorknobs. How is the best way to repair existing hinge cutouts and holes and door cutout and holes? Thank you. Jean
Wood – How to fill hinge mortises and latch bores so I can reuse old doors
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I'm not sure about ChrisF's suggestion since I've never had that particular problem (with the door rubbing on the hinge side) - is the issue that it's hitting the frame on the hinge side or the doorknob side?
If it's hitting the jamb on the doorknob side (as if the door is now too wide) then the usual solution is to trim down the door. Usually I would run it through a table saw, but you could do it with a circular saw as well if you are really careful.
Just make sure to trim off the knob side rather than the hinge side so you don't have to worry about mortising out new spots for the hinges (and then risk being off on the top of the door)
If the door resists being closed just as it is almost closed, then you certainly have a hinge problem. I've seen a lot of this particular problem in old houses I've lived in, where it is usually caused by excessive paint thickness on the frame and door edges at the hinge side. These faces meet before the hinges are closed, so when you force the door shut you are actually levering the hinge screws out of the wood. (Don't do that!)
You can see whether this is the problem by looking at the side of the door where the hinges are — if the door and the frame touch before the door is shut, then you have this problem. (Since you mention that there is no clearance on the hinge side, I assume this is the case.) In extreme cases, you will see the hinges lift away from the wood as you force the door shut.
You will need to fix things so that the meeting faces of the hinge plates are flush with (or above) the surface of the door and frame, rather than set below the surface (as depicted in the drawing on the right).
Planing the frame (or door) is certainly one way to do that, but I'm not a real DIYer (I just pay attention to the spaces I live in) so I don't have any experience with which to say which is the right solution. I hope I have helped illustrate the problem.
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Best Answer
1/8th" Luaun plywood from the big box store and a good chisel should let you cut out very tight fitting patch pieces with some practice. That'll get it into paint shape. For a stain finish, you would have to try to match the grain and color, which would be a bit harder.