Wood – How to repair a wooden door’s hinge binding

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In a rented flat, I saw the that a door wasn't closing properly, and noticed that the hinge screws were loose and not centered.

So I decided to unscrew them, and set them back in properly.

Sadly, by unscrewing them, the screw bases which were probably already broken just came out in pieces (I think they are called anchors, or dowels, by googling, not sure though).

The door is wooden, and it has a crack along the holes, which was most likely formed after the door was set in place.

Below are 3 images that show exactly what I'm talking about:

  1. How the hinge looks
  2. How the holes look, also, the crack
  3. What I found when I unscrewed the hinge

What should I do?

Q1: What exactly are the plastic things called, the yellow thing in image 3? I'm asking so I know what to ask for in a hardware store.

Q2: Should I just buy and replace the anchors?

Q3: Concerning the crack, it seems pretty stable. I'm sure for long-term it's probably a good idea to replace the door altogether. Meanwhile, while googling I've found there's some clays which I could pour in the crack to stabilize it. Should I consider this as well?

How the hinge looks
How the holes look
What was in there

Best Answer

While Chris Cudmore is right about the real fix, you could work out a temporary fix as follows:

Brace the door

  • Get two screws per hinge that are about the same thickness as the ones shown in the picture and about 1/4 shorther than the thickness of the door.
  • drill a pilot hole on the inside face of the door toward the outside spaced midway between the current screw holes. (Note that these are not on the same face of the door as the hinge screws). The hole should be thinner than the screws selected and stop about halfway through the door.
  • force some carpenters glue or white glue in the cracks at the edge of the door that is under the hinges. (you can force it in all the cracks if you have several clamps).
  • clamp the door to pull the crack together.
  • set the screws in the pilot holes.

Rebuild the hinge holes

  • lightly coat dowels or other thin wooden rods (you can use chopsticks) with glue
  • force those rods into the screw holes for the hinges. Add slivers of wood to fill any gaps.
  • after the glues have dried (next day), remove the clamps and trim the dowels flush with the recessed hinge area.

Reset the hinge screws

  • drill new pilot holes for the hinge screws
  • screw the hinge screws into the new pilot holes.

Quite a bit of fuss, but the only real cost is a few decent clamps. You need screw types, not spring clamps.

Or you could ask your landlord to fix /replace the door.

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