Why Won’t My Door Close? 5 Common Causes

If a door in your house has started sticking, dragging, or refusing to latch, you’re not imagining it and you’re not alone. This is one of the most common calls we get, and in almost every case the cause is one of five things. None of them require replacing the door.

Here’s what’s usually going on, and what it takes to fix each one.

1. The house has settled and the frame shifted

Homes move. Foundations settle, framing lumber dries out and contracts, and over years that shifts the door frame just enough to throw off the alignment between the door and the strike plate. This is by far the most common cause of a door that used to close fine and suddenly doesn’t.

You’ll usually see this show up as a door that rubs along the top corner or won’t latch unless you lift the handle slightly while pushing. The fix depends on how far out of alignment things are. Sometimes it’s a matter of adjusting or shimming the hinges. Sometimes the strike plate itself needs to move. Either way, this is a hinge and alignment job, not a new door.

2. Loose or worn hinges

Hinges take a beating. Every open and close cycle puts stress on the screws holding them into the frame, and over years those screws work themselves loose in the wood. A door with loose hinges will often sag on the latch side, drag against the frame or floor, or feel like it’s closing at a slight angle instead of straight.

This one’s usually a quick fix. Tightening the screws sometimes solves it. If the screw holes have worn out and won’t hold anymore, packing them with wood glue and a dowel or golf tee before redriving the screw is a standard, reliable repair. If the hinges themselves are worn out or bent, replacing them typically resolves it.

3. Humidity and seasonal wood movement

Wood doors and wood door frames both expand and contract with humidity. In the Triangle, that means a door that closes fine in the dry winter months can start sticking along the top or side in the middle of a humid Durham summer, and then go back to normal once the weather changes.

If your door’s behavior seems to change with the seasons, this is often the cause. The typical fix is a small amount of material removed from the sticking edge, planed and sanded smooth, sized with the swollen-season dimensions in mind so it fits reasonably well once things dry back out. Results can vary depending on the door and how much the wood is moving.

4. A warped door

This one’s less common but does happen, especially with older or lower-quality hollow-core doors, or doors that have been exposed to moisture from a leak, high humidity, or direct sun on one side. A warped door won’t sit flat against the frame anymore, and no amount of hinge adjustment fully fixes it, because the door itself isn’t straight.

Mild warping can sometimes be improved with adjustment work around the warp. Significant warping usually means the door itself needs to be replaced, though the frame and hardware can typically stay as they are.

5. A misaligned or damaged strike plate

Sometimes the door itself is fine and the problem is the strike plate, the metal plate on the frame that the latch clicks into. If it’s slightly out of position, bent, or the opening is too small, the latch won’t seat and the door will feel like it’s not quite closing even though everything else lines up.

This is often a simple fix: adjusting the plate’s position, filing the opening slightly larger, or replacing a bent or worn plate.

What this actually costs to fix

Most of the causes above are hinge, alignment, and hardware issues rather than anything structural, which is why door repair is usually a same-visit job rather than a big project. We quote flat, upfront pricing based on the number of doors, not an hourly guess, and in most cases we can get a good sense of what’s going on from a couple of photos and a quick description before we ever show up.

If your door won’t close, won’t latch, or has started dragging, take a couple of photos of where it’s sticking or gapping and send them over. In many cases we can give you a good general sense of what’s going on and a price estimate before scheduling a visit, though every door and frame is different, and a final diagnosis and price is confirmed once we’re actually looking at it in person. Get a Door Repair quote →

This article is general information based on common causes we see in the field. It isn’t a diagnosis of your specific door or frame, and it isn’t a substitute for an in-person look. Actual cause, scope, and cost can only be confirmed after inspection.