Sticking doors and windows as a sign of movement
A door that binds is one of the earliest things people notice and one of the last they think to report. Often it is humidity. Sometimes it is the building telling you an opening is no longer square.
My door only sticks in winter, is that a problem?
Almost certainly not. Timber absorbs moisture in damp months and swells. Binding that reverses with the seasons and occurs along a full edge is normal behaviour.
When it is just the timber
Timber takes up moisture in winter and gives it back in summer, and doors swell and shrink accordingly. A door that binds in damp months and eases in dry ones is behaving normally. The binding is usually along a whole edge rather than at one corner.
New heating, a new bathroom or a change in ventilation will do the same thing. So will a door that was hung tight in the first place, or one that has been painted repeatedly until the accumulated thickness closes the gap.
The pattern is the tell. Even contact along the full length of one edge suggests the door has grown. Contact concentrated at one corner, with a visible taper in the gap along the opposite edge, suggests the frame is no longer square.
When it means the opening has distorted
Doors and windows are the weak points in a wall, and when a wall moves the opening distorts first. A frame that has gone out of square binds at the corner that is closing and opens up a wedge shaped gap at the opposite corner. That taper is worth measuring, because it quantifies the distortion.
The direction of the taper points towards the movement. If the gap is widest at the top on the hinge side and the door catches at the bottom of the latch side, the frame has racked in a particular direction, and that direction is a clue to where the support has dropped or rotated.
The corroborating evidence is usually nearby. Diagonal cracking running away from the corners of the opening is the classic accompaniment, because those corners are where stress concentrates. A binding door with clean diagonal cracks from its corners is a much stronger signal than either on its own.
What to do about it
Resist the urge to plane the door immediately. Once it is planed to fit the distorted opening the evidence is gone, and if the movement continues the door binds again and has lost material it cannot get back. Record the gap around the frame first, with photographs and a few measurements.
Check whether more than one opening is affected and whether they are on the same wall or above one another. Several distorted openings in a line suggest something structural. A single sticking door in a bathroom generally suggests humidity.
Where the pattern suggests structural movement, the assessment is the same as for any movement: establish the mechanism, establish whether it is active, then decide on the remedy. The door itself is a symptom and not the thing to fix.
What we check.
The points our calculations resolve for a project like this.
- Whether binding is seasonal and reverses, which points to moisture rather than movement
- Whether contact is along a full edge or concentrated at one corner
- Taper in the gap around the frame, measured rather than judged by eye
- Whether diagonal cracks run from the corners of the opening
- Whether more than one opening on the same wall is affected
From enquiry to sign-off.
Enquiry
Send drawings or describe the problem. We confirm the scope, the deliverables and a target timescale.
Information
We agree the survey, drawings or data we need and any site access required.
Engineering
Design, calculation or assessment to the relevant Eurocodes and UK National Annex.
Issue
A clear, defensible report or set of calculations, with assumptions and limitations stated.
Common questions
My door only sticks in winter, is that a problem?
Almost certainly not. Timber absorbs moisture in damp months and swells. Binding that reverses with the seasons and occurs along a full edge is normal behaviour.
How can I tell if the frame has moved?
Look at the gap around the closed door. An even gap that has simply narrowed suggests the door has swollen. A tapered gap, wide at one corner and closed at the opposite one, suggests the opening is no longer square.
Should I plane the door to fit?
Not before recording the gaps. Planing removes the evidence of distortion, and if the movement is ongoing the door will bind again with less material left to remove.
Several doors upstairs are sticking. Does that matter?
It is more significant than a single one. Multiple openings distorting on the same wall or in a line suggests movement in the structure rather than humidity in one room, and is worth assessing.
Related in structural problems & symptoms.
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