Sign 02
Sticking doors and windows that no longer latch
Think of a door opening as a picture frame standing on the floor. Let the floor sink under one jamb and the frame goes crooked, while the door hanging in it keeps the shape it always had. That mismatch often shows months before any crack does.
What it looks like
Look at the gap, not the door
Close the door and study the gap between its top edge and the frame. On a square frame the gap is even from hinge to latch. On a frame that has racked, it tapers: tight at one corner, open at the other. That taper tells you which way the opening has leaned.
- The upper corner on the handle side catches the frame, or the bottom edge scrapes the flooring as it swings.
- The latch tongue lands high or low of its slot in the jamb, and the door pops back open.
- A door left ajar swings on its own until it rests fully open or fully shut.
- A window that used to slide now jams, or its lock no longer lines up.
- Several doors along one side of the house all lean the same way.
Other causes
Sticking that is not the slab
Timber doors take up moisture from damp air. One that is tight down its full length in a rainy spring and eases by October is responding to humidity.
The top hinge carries most of the weight. Loose or stripped screws there make the door droop on the handle side, which looks a lot like a racked frame until you tighten them.
Paint build-up, a new thicker floor covering, or a door hung carelessly in the first place all produce a rub with no movement behind it.
At the inspection
What a company checks
Which openings have gone crooked, and toward which side, sketched on a floor plan.
Whether that direction agrees with the floor elevation readings and with any cracks in the walls around the opening.
Texas engineers' evaluation guidelines name poor door alignment and racked door and window frames among the things to read alongside a floor level survey, not instead of one.
If it is the foundation
What repair might involve
If the frames lean because one edge of the slab has dropped, piers under that edge are the usual proposal, and lifting the slab tends to bring the openings back toward square.
Those same guidelines accept that an owner may reasonably choose to adjust doors and touch up cracks from time to time instead of underpinning. Ask the company or engineer whether your house is one where that is a sensible choice.
In the meantime
Hold off planing the door
Shaving the top of a door makes it close today. If the slab is lifted later, the frame squares up and the shaved door shows a wedge of daylight.
Tighten the hinge screws, write down which doors stick and in which month, and bring that list to the inspection.
Foundation repair in Frisco and nearby
Describe the problem, book the inspection
This number is for foundation repair on houses. Say where the cracks are, which doors stick and how long it has been going on. If part of the house shifted all at once, there is a gas smell, or brickwork seems about to come down, clear the house and dial 911 or the gas utility before anything else.
Ready to have someone look at it?
Phone and say what you have noticed. The foundation repair company on the other end is independent of this site and takes on houses in your part of Collin or Denton County. Ask it for a time to come and inspect.
Call (972) 430-3959Your call may be recorded. Read how referrals are paid for and what happens to call details.