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Good morning, AT!

The pre-war building is aging and settling, and our floors slope a little and our plaster walls are cracking and disintegrating. We have been very busy patching and painting since we moved in and are making some progress, albiet not as fast as we'd hope.

One thing I'm not sure how to deal with is our doors which, because of the slope, tend to smack into the wall when opened. We patched the soft plaster that was behind the doorknob, but of course it's a losing battle and our patch is now cracked.

Does anyone know of a good solution for this? I'd love to put something on the wall to protect it from the doorknob, but am not sure what I'm looking for or where to start my search. Thanks!

Dear Eliza,

Would a door stop help? Maybe one that can be screwed on the floor. Look under Ives Hardware to see if any of their stuff will help.

emma

Oh, I'm not sure why I didn't think of that! Somehow since the problem is on the wall I was thinking of a wall solution, but a doorstop would work perfectly.

Thank you!

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In most cases it's not the floor that's the problem really, it's the hinge and the jamb. These things swell and shift with age, humidity and the building settling. Even metal doors need a little love.

Take care with the hinges; They're like that coat button - if one is loose or missing the others take more strain and soon they are all hangin' off.

Imagine a line running through the pins in the hinges. They should all line up and that line should be straight up and down. Use a string with a weight or a plumb bob. This will give you an idea of how uneven it is.

- Start by gently tightening the screws where the center hinge attaches to the door.
- Don't over tax the wood.
- Then tighten the screws in the top hinge, gently.
- If this doesn't correct it...gently loosen them to the starting position and try tightening the bottom ones.

You'll get with fiddling by degrees. Keep that plumb line in mind. If it's WAY off, you might not be able to fix it totally. But it won't annoy the hell out of you quite so much and you won't need a door stop that will crack your bare little piggies.

whoo hoo!

Great advice, Jonathan!

I will try that. It sounds a little like the fiddling I've done with my Ikea kitchen cabinet doors, only bigger. I think the first step is to see how far askew my doors are and go from there!

Thanks!!