DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

Hi,
please forgive the newbie question.
We have two doors in our house that work fine in cold/wet weather but stick when the weather gets good.
I'm a bit worried that the house is reacting that much to temp/humidity.. but maybe its normal..

The doors though, are quite a tight fit .. so I was thinkin I might shave a coupla mils off the bottom of one to see if it would cure the sticking.

Now , cutting an inch off would be easy.. just my circular saw and edge guide.. But just to take 2 or 3 mm off.. I'm not sure whats the best/easiest approach... such a small amount..

I presume it'd be a planing job? but not sure how I'd keep the edge even...

Is there a tried and tested technique at all?
Thanks

vidapura wrote:Hi,
please forgive the newbie question.
We have two doors in our house that work fine in cold/wet weather but stick when the weather gets good.
I'm a bit worried that the house is reacting that much to temp/humidity.. but maybe its normal..

First point, wood will expand when it gets more humid and shrink when it gets less humid, that is entirely normal.

However unless you haven't given the whole story it should be the other way round. Did you forget to say that the house gets heated when the weather is cold and wet?

vidapura wrote:The doors though, are quite a tight fit .. so I was thinkin I might shave a coupla mils off the bottom of one to see if it would cure the sticking.

You need to be sure where the doors are sticking before doing that, are they dragging on the floor?

Check to see if the gap around the door is the same. If the gap at the top is a bit bigger then you should be able to adjust the swing of the doors at the hinges, probably packing the bottom one with some paper or thin cardboard.

Try that before cutting the door

vidapura wrote:Now , cutting an inch off would be easy.. just my circular saw and edge guide.. But just to take 2 or 3 mm off.. I'm not sure whats the best/easiest approach... such a small amount..

If you have a reasonably good circular saw, experience using it and a good edge guide then that is the best way.

FWIW I've just been talking less than that off some door jams and that's what I've been doing using a Festool track saw and guide rails.

vidapura wrote:I presume it'd be a planing job? but not sure how I'd keep the edge even...

Is there a tried and tested technique at all?

Someone who has experience with hand tools and is using the correct plane for the job would be able to do it. Probably putting a pencil line on the door and planning down to it.

If you aren't sure how to keep the edge even, then you don't have the experience or tools for the job, stay with the circular saw.

Thanks

If its 3mm Id use the circular saw. Poss without a guide but clamp a piece of 2x1 or similar along the door to run the saw along. Quick sand an hey presto!

Good luck

Oh and remember you can always take more off but its very hard to put it back on!

If its 3mm Id use the circular saw. Poss without a guide but clamp a piece of 2x1 or similar along the door to run the saw along. Quick sand an hey presto!

Hiya,
thanks for replying even tho its been a while since I posted the original question.
Yep thats what I did in the end. I actually had a really crappy Rok circular saw and had read somewhere else about Squaring the saw..
Well it took me about an hour to get the saw right.. it was sooo off.. Had to dismantle the guide and straighten it and then the adjusters to get the blade 90 degrees were next to useless... kept loosening.. so I had to replace them with locknuts ..
Just goes to show.. a decent tool is worth the money...

I got a fairly decent edge on the door in the end... took it very slow with the saw.. but one side of the door got a little bit ripped.. which I suppose is to be expected with a circular saw.. should have clamped something sacrificial on that side to keep it from happening..
(I see good tracksaws have a rubber lip on the track that prevents this)

But yeah, a bit of a sand and its all outta sight on the bottom of the door anyway..

Job done, lessons learned. !!