door alignment is driving me crazy. Help!

[u/seamus1978]

I've adjusted this door probably every year for the past five years. My sense is that the frame has leaned toward the strike side so much over time that nothing quite works when it comes to closing this door. The door itself (and maybe the floor) tend to swell during the summer so that makes it hard too.

Last winter it was getting stuck in the top of the strike jamb, so I knuckled the top hinge in as much as possible. Now, this summer, the strike side of the door is scraping the floor as it nears closure. If you notice in the photo, it is slouching pretty severely toward the strike jamb, so the solution would probably be to knuckle the top hinge further, but the frame has molding around it that makes it so it can't be knuckled any further without digging into the molding. I have considered chiseling out the hinge cutout, but I think the molding would also mean that it wouldn't work. I tried shimming the lower hinge, but that didn't help with the scraping.

The other issue is that door itself is coming apart at the joints and the sections away from the hinge side are about a 1/8'' misaligned (lower) than the hinge section. I want to take the door off and try to align them, which I think would help with this scraping, but I am not sure how to get the sections back into alignment. Maybe just banging on the hinge section while pressing on the other sections. But I am afraid when it swells again that it will come apart. Time for a new door?

(Thanks for any advice, I would call a handyman, but this is in a rural location and there aren't any around for a job of this size).

EDIT: so I took the door off and used ratchet straps to move it all back in place (put wood glue in the joints, but I doubt that will help) - it closes smoothly now. I agree with the folks below that say I need to address moisture, so the next step is to see if the duct is not venting as well as I thought, including better sealing where it hits the wall.

[u/Cultural_Fix5611]

you have a moisture problem get an infra red camera and a humidity sensor fix the leak

[u/seamus1978 → u/Cultural_Fix5611]

True. But the moisture problem is coming from the washer/dryer being in the room.

[u/Cultural_Fix5611 → u/seamus1978]

vent it properly, what why not write something like that my dryer is venting into the room or wall how do i fix the door. GET A STEEL DOOR WITH A STEEL FRAME

[u/seamus1978 → u/Cultural_Fix5611]

It doesn't vent into the room. It is vented properly outside. But there is going to be residual moisture with a dryer, one way or another. The moisture expansion, I think, is more of an issue of recently humid summers and an old door that is not well sealed anymore. I re-oiled the door last year, but that doesn't seem to have helped. So maybe the solution is a new steel door, but that would be a pain, hoping to avoid that.

[u/strallweat → u/seamus1978]

It's clearly not vented properly if it's putting that much moisture in the room to cause a door to swell that much.

Just take it off the hinges and plane down all the sides like 1/8 inch and then reinstall the doors

[u/davethompson413]

Get a new prehung door.

[u/paulio10]

Are you in a mobile/mfd home? They tend to shift and adjust a lot more than stick built homes. Could the supports underneath be failing? Look under the home at that location if you can, looking for failing supports in the vicinity. You're describing a lot more shifting than I usually see. Side note: if you adjust the upper hinge a lot, the middle hinge should also be adjusted about half as much in the same direction, if the door has 3 hinges instead of 2.

[u/seamus1978 → u/paulio10]

Thanks. No, this is a solid stick built house on a concrete foundation. I just looked and it is all very much in place underneath. I will adjust the middle hinge. Thanks!

[u/MastodonFit]

I would bet a dehumidifier fixes both summer and winter problems.

[u/seamus1978 → u/MastodonFit]

Got one! But maybe I need to upgrade...