The wooden door swells and stops closing. What to do?

The door swells from moisture. This means indoors increased level humidity. In this case, you need to adjust ventilation in the room. It is even possible to dry the door with a fan heater. If this is the front door, then you need a porch or canopy over the door to keep rain and snow out.

To prevent the door from periodically swelling, it is necessary to ensure that moisture, which does this, does not get on the door. But you can still protect the door from moisture. But first we need to wait until it returns to normal and begins to close. If you don’t have time to wait, then run a plane along the ends so that the door begins to close normally, and then cover it with two layers of yacht varnish. It will definitely not allow moisture to penetrate the door, but at the same time it will give it a hard and quite beautiful coating.

In the village, parents had a similar problem. During prolonged rains, when air humidity increased greatly, the wood of the door swelled and it was very difficult to close. I had to use a plane to remove anything that interfered with the closing. Such a cosmetic operation is almost invisible and does not greatly harm the appearance of the doors.

But it is better, of course, in the summer, in dry weather, to apply a few words of drying oil or varnish to the surface of the door. A lot depends on the material, for example, oak, alder and cedar swell less than trees with soft wood. You can also install a door made of MDF, which does not absorb moisture.

Try removing the door from its hinges, putting washers on the hinge pins, and hanging the door back on its hinges. Perhaps raising it higher due to the height of the washers will solve your problem and you won’t have to saw anything off. But if the top starts to catch, then you will definitely have to cut.

To prevent a wooden door from swelling, which then stops closing, you need to soak it in the hot summer season, when the door has dried thoroughly special composition.

Such substances are sold in stores and prevent the wood from absorbing moisture.

In extreme cases, you need to dry it several times.

It's bad if the door is painted. You should try to remove the paint from the area where the door is swelling in order to treat the wood with drying oil or other moisture-proofing substance.

This is all due to the humidity in the house - you will have to remove it first. Next, dry the doors and adjust them to the size of the door frame. It’s better to replace it altogether, since it’s probably already received a lot of damage and won’t last long.

To begin with, if possible, try to remove the doors and dry them as best as possible. Then apply several layers of varnish. However, this will not completely prevent swelling. Well, to be safe, it’s better to comb the door a little from the very bottom. Everything should work out. Well, if another problem arises, then comb it again, try to adjust the curtains, twist them to another place (move them a little).

A wooden door swells and stops closing due to the fact that it absorbs moisture. Since wet wood tends to increase in size and shrink when dry.

Therefore, this should be dealt with in two ways. The door should be protected from moisture. For example, making a rain canopy. And protect the door itself from moisture absorption. Paint it with a thick layer of paint.

And before that, in order for the door to close normally, you should walk along its ends with a plane. Just no frills. Since the door dries out, it can significantly decrease in size.

Of course, the best thing to do is to do this in a house (apartment) so that there is no excess humidity, but there are a lot of problems there. Otherwise, there is only one way out: when the swollen door is swollen with a plane, walk along the end of the door; when it swells, the gaps will increase, but if you are constantly swelling, then If it shrinks, it will be so, you will have to deal with the humidity in the room..

At present interior doors and street entrances made of wood are one of the most popular solutions in both residential and public buildings. They have such advantages as environmental safety, visual appeal, relatively low cost and long service life. However, there is one “but”: they do not tolerate changes in humidity very well.

If moisture condensation is periodically or constantly observed in the room, if water directly gets on the canvas or frame, for example, jets from a shower or precipitation, then sooner or later the homeowner will face difficulties or even the impossibility of closing or opening the door. And it is not always possible to cope with this problem on your own - you may need to call a professional carpenter.

Why does a wooden door swell?

Undesirable changes in the geometry of a wooden interior door may be associated with the following violations of production technology:

• poorly or incorrectly (too quickly) dried wood;
• poorly glued elements;
• poor treatment with moisture-proof coatings.

If you purchased a door with such defects, then it is possible optimal solution will replace it. But first, you can try to eliminate the existing problem, then try to normalize the humidity in the room, coat the canvas with a good varnish and hope for the best.

What can you do about a swollen door?

First of all, you need to check whether your wooden interior door has failed or whether the problem is in the frame. If there is a problem with the box, carefully handle it a little with a plane in the protruding places; if everything is fine, then you can try the following:

What not to do when restoring a swollen door

1. Under no circumstances should you dry the door itself and the rooms it connects with powerful hair dryers or heaters.
2. If the door is planed with a plane or other tool, you need to treat parts of the entrance or interior wooden door with a moisture-proof compound, even if you plan to repaint everything in the near future.
3. Don’t leave things to chance: over time, the door will swell even more.

If it is obvious that it is difficult to cope on your own, it is better to immediately call a specialist who can quickly and efficiently restore your door.

03.09.2016 104460

The accumulation of condensation on the surface is a common phenomenon that often overtakes owners country houses. This negative manifestation must be eliminated as soon as possible after detection. A sweaty design will not be able to protect properly interior spaces from the cold and becomes unusable due to deformation and getting wet. Why do front doors sweat so often and how to deal with it?

Causes of fogging

Metal structures are subject to fogging more often than others. The reason is the high thermal conductivity of metal (300 times higher than that of wood). The metal itself, not equipped with thermal insulation, does not retain heat in any way - it spreads through the thickness of the material and goes outside from the premises (or vice versa in the summer).

As soon as a difference in temperature appears outside and inside the room, the latter cools down, releasing the “excess” temperature to the street. When air comes into contact with the first, moisture falls out, which is condensation from the entrance metal door.

Three reasons why the front door sweats:

1. Poor thermal insulation of the structure or its complete absence.
2. Incorrectly installed internal slopes.
3. Excessive indoor humidity levels.

Formation of condensation on metal structure– one of the main problems encountered during operation. It must be resolved quickly and calmly.

What are the consequences of the phenomenon?

Some people don't consider fogging front door problem, they don’t care about the reasons why the metal entrance door sweats. However, this phenomenon spoils comfort and seriously harms the structure itself. List of negative effects:

• Increased risk of freezing, which poses an even greater danger.
• Increased energy losses during the heating process (a fogging door gives off heat).
• , boxes and the canvas itself until it fails.

If you do not eliminate the causes of fogging in time, you will be left without it, you will have to purchase a new one. This will be a lesson for life, but you can go the easy and economical route.

Troubleshooting

There are five proven ways to get rid of condensation. It is recommended to resort to all of the above at the same time:

1. Start making insulation. Since metal itself is a poor barrier for retaining heat, care must be taken to insulate it. The metal parts of the structure that face the inside of the room should be insulated - they can be filled with polyurethane foam and then covered with cladding. Another option is to install rubber seal along the entire perimeter of the box and canvas.
2. Insulate. Ideal option- cover it with plasticine, but in this case it is impossible. We discard this option and purchase a special overlay for the keyhole. When idle, it closes the lock tightly, and in order to insert the key, you need to move it to the side.
3. We seal the gaps. The gap between the box and the opening must be sealed. Check if this is true? Otherwise, you will have to fill the holes again with polyurethane foam.
4. We paint the door. It's about about special “energy-saving” paint, which is popularly called. Once on the surface, it creates a thin film that does not allow heat to pass through, thereby preventing the surface from fogging.
5. We install the vestibule. This is the most effective way of all those named here. Even an uninsulated external door with a vestibule will not be subject to fogging. The advantage of the method is overshadowed by the complexity of execution - it is necessary to establish input , and this is another cost and construction waste in the house.

It is not recommended to install the second metal doors into the vestibule, since they will carry heat into the vestibule - the same situation will result as before. To avoid repetition, you should put as additional wooden panels, since they do not conduct heat and leave the vestibule cold, which in turn prevents fogging of the entrance.

How to prevent fogging?

There are three reliable ways to eliminate fogging, but it is best to prevent it in advance. The following recommendations will allow you to forget about problems with condensation forever:

• Check the quality of installation of the structure during its installation. Gaps should not be left between the frame and the opening - even a small gap of 1 mm can lead to partial fogging and further freezing of the entire structure. Metal parts should face outwards. It is easier to prevent errors during installation than to disassemble the door after a while (sometimes you have to do this in winter) and eliminate the causes of fogging.
• Avoid installing a peephole and insulate the keyhole.
• Make sure you have a vestibule. As mentioned earlier, a vestibule is a 100% way to prevent the formation of condensation on the surface of the door even in severe frost.

It is also recommended to place it near the door heating devices. They will warm up the canvas and the box, preventing the formation of condensation. But do not neglect this method and furnish the door with heaters - follow the measure.

Eliminate the causes of door sweating immediately after it appears, and then you will not be faced with the need to replace the structure due to its failure.

Many people sooner or later face the problem of swelling interior doors. Such troubles especially often happen with curtains blocking access to the bathroom and toilet. Those people who have never encountered such problems are wondering why this is happening. This is especially annoying if the door is new and has only recently been installed. Immediately all the reproaches are directed at the installers, saying that amateurs did their best. But you shouldn’t immediately blame them for this, since the problem is not always the installation.

The first step should always be to determine the cause of poor closing of interior doors. If the linen in the bathroom is swollen, it is solely due to dampness in the room and poor ventilation. If the door is made of natural wood or MDF, then sooner or later it will swell or become deformed due to dampness.

How to deal with door swelling

Interior doors leading to the bathroom, toilet, or those between an unheated corridor and a heated room are mainly susceptible to swelling.

If the front door has a weak seal, then cold air penetrates into the room through the cracks from the outside. The interaction of two different temperatures occurs, resulting in the formation of moisture. This, in turn, has a detrimental effect on the door.

If there are no cracks in the front door, but it is not insulated, then the result will be the same. Many people simply do not understand the importance of insulating metal door designs. Nothing will happen to a painted door, but there may be problems with interior doors.

To eliminate the problem of swelling, all door seams should be hermetically and efficiently sealed, and, if necessary, the entrance door leaf should be insulated and sheathed.

When the door swells in the bathroom or between rooms, the reason is faulty or incorrectly functioning ventilation.

First you need to remove the grill and clean it thoroughly. Over time, it could simply become clogged with elements of dust or soot. Next, you should check the ventilation shaft for draft. This can be done by holding a lit match to the window. If the flame is drawn inward, then everything is in order, there is a draft. Otherwise, you will have to clean out the mine.

Checking the draft in the ventilation shaft

If ventilation shaft is not clogged, then for reliability you should install a forced fan, which will ensure the exhaust of moist air outside. Currently, there are many varieties of them that have attractive appearance and excellent technical characteristics.

Installing a forced fan

Now you should pay attention to the windows in the room. If cold air leaks through them, this will also cause the doors to swell. When the windows are ordinary, wooden, you should carefully cover all the joints of the glass with the frame, and also install seals between window block and separate doors. In this case, swelling will occur not only of the interior doors, but also of the windows themselves. In the future, they simply will not be able to close normally.

The best option The solution to this problem will be to replace old windows with plastic ones, however, this will be quite expensive.

Another reason why the bathroom door could swell is incorrectly set gaps between the door frame and the leaf itself. The best option would be to stick to four millimeters. True, many do not pay attention to this, which is why they suffer. Inspect the bathroom door from all sides. Perhaps it does not close due to swelling, or perhaps due to jamming at the bottom of the canvas. Then you should raise the door a little by placing a washer the right size under the hinge pin.

Setting the door gap

Well, the most serious problem due to which the bathroom door will not close is damp housing. This often happens in corner apartments and in private homes. To get out of this situation, you will need a considerable amount of money, since you will have to deal with external insulation of the entire perimeter of the home. When the craftsmen do quality work, the result is immediately noticeable. The apartment or house becomes much warmer and the air is much drier.

Lining the washer on the hinge rod

You can do external insulation yourself only in your own home, but for work at heights it is advisable to hire specialists.

Step by step solution to the problem

When the bathroom door swells, the question of what to do comes first. The first step is to determine what exactly changed the shape: door frame or canvas.

To determine the deformation of the door frame in the bathroom, it is necessary to measure its height, diagonally and, using the rule, determine the bulges on the vertical edges.

If it is the frame that has been opened, then the following steps should be followed:

• remove the damaged casing;
• remove dried polyurethane foam under it;
• install the platband in its original place.

After free space appears in a few days, the door frame will return to its original state and there will be no problems with it.

When the cause of swelling lies in the door leaf, then there will be much more work:

• the door lock is removed;
• Use sandpaper to sand the end of the door. This removes a small layer of material. Care should be taken not to remove excess, otherwise large gaps may form;
• so that the lock can fit clearly into its grooves, you should go a little deeper, since some layer of wood has been removed;
• After this, the lock is installed back. And the entire canvas is covered with a layer of stain or varnish. If it is possible to find a suitable color to match the previous one, it is not necessary to paint the entire door; it is enough to update only the end after cleaning.

How to prevent a bathroom door from swelling

One of the most acceptable ways to resist swelling would be a banal coating door block moisture-resistant varnish. Such a coating will perform several functions at once:

• firstly, it will prevent moisture from affecting the surface of the door;
• secondly, the door block will not dry out due to exposure to low humidity in the bathroom;
• thirdly, the varnish coating gives the door an aesthetic appearance.

Varnishing the door

You should also ensure proper ventilation of the room. Installing forced-air fans in the bathroom or special dehumidifiers will help get rid of humidity in the room.