Let's fix that cabinet door!
One of the primary rules of home improvement is simple: conservation. If something is broken, you'll want to fix it instead of replace it. This is true for most of your household items, whether you're talking about an old bed or a faulty cabinet door. Rather than go through the trouble to replace a broken down cabinet door, it's important to see if you can fix it first. You might be surprised how often you can.
When you're working with a cabinet door - or a door of any kind, for that matter - you'll be focusing on hinges. A door hinge essentially joins two structures of wood together to form the opening and closing we recognize as a door. If there is simply a problem with the wood itself, your woodworking skills will come in handy, but you won't have to worry about the hinges. If the problem in your cabinet door rests in how it actually swings, you'll be focusing on the hinges.
Take a look at the hinges first: what appears to be the problem? If there are loose screws, you can tighten them right away. Once you test-swing the door a couple of more times, you should be able to tell if this fixed the problem. Many broken hinges will continue to remain loose even after the screws are tightened. This implies a problem with the hinge itself. For example, if the screws are tightly locked into the wood, but the hinge is not tightly locked to the screws, you'll need to repair the hinge holes that the screws are attached to.
How can you do this? You can try to take out the screws and fill in the holes with glue, reinforcing them with small pieces of wood like toothpicks. This essentially helps re-build the loose area of the hinge so that you can re-insert the screws after the glue has dried. If there is still a problem, it might be with the quality of the wood itself. You might need to move the hinge up or down to a stronger area of the wood, though you may also want to consider the possibility of replacing the doors altogether.
Of course, since one of the primary rules of home improvement is to conserve, make sure you properly diagnose the real problem with your hinges by exploring the various possibilities first. If at first you don't succeed, try again.
Photo Credits: Greg_e
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Posted by Fix Handyman on August 18, 2009 in
Furniture, Handyman, How to Fix
Squeeeeeeeaaaak no more.
It's usually the stuff of horror movies: a door opening slowly always seems to produce an eerie creaking sound. It's enough to make one wonder why every haunted house seems to have rusty hinges. In real life, a squeaking door isn't always scary, but it can be downright annoying after a while. If you want to know how to fix your squeaking door, you've come to the right place.
First, you'll want to understand exactly what causes a squeaking door. It's not very complicated: sound vibrations are caused when two parts rub against each other. When it comes to doors, most hinges are designed to be as silent as possible, so the squeaking noise indicates a problem with alignment, usually with the door hinge.
Lubricant eases this friction, but only on a temporary basis. This means that a household item like WD-40 will be able to handle the job, but that doesn't mean your door will permanently stop squeaking.
For a long-term solution, you'll have to take a good look at your door hinges and really determine what's causing things to rub against each other contrary to their design. One of the easiest ways to do this is to simply re-tighten and re-attach a hinge by tightening loose screws. Be sure to check the top hinge on your door first, since much of your door's weight actually hangs on that area.
Most long-term fixes usually require a bit of tearing down before you build back up: this is the case if your door itself is actually out of alignment. You can use a balance to check your door's alignment, and if it needs adjusting, you can loosen your hinges and make the necessary changes. Oftentimes, simply undergoing this process will fix whichever point on the door was causing the squeak, even if you can't pinpoint it directly.
After you've tightened everything back again and the hinges seem in proper alignment, you can give your door a test swing. Swing it back and forth with your hand, and also try a "slow" movement to see how your door handles it. If your door is now silent, you've fixed the problem. Be sure to listen to it occasionally in order to be sure that the treatment has stuck.
Remember that everything can be repaired - or at least replaced. Don't assume that a squeaking door is out of your league even if you've never fixed anything in your life. You might surprise yourself.
Photo Credits: ocean yamaha
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Posted by Fix Handyman on August 11, 2009 in
Handyman, How to Fix, doors
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