Step 1 close shave photo by craig raine.
Sticking french door.
If the doors cannot open at all use a flashlight to check the gap between the doors and the frame for anything amiss.
In this article we ll go over how you can fix a sliding door that sticks so you can enjoy your patio.
Tom s rule of thumb for keeping a door from sticking in the jamb is that the reveal the space between the door and jamb should be 1 8 to 3 16 inch wide or about the thickness of a nickel.
Like single doors french doors are prone to sticking along the door jambs or to each other if not installed properly.
In other cases it may be the wood door edge itself scuffing on the door frame.
A sticking sliding door may seem like a minor inconvenience but it gets to be a real big pain sooner rather than later.
Can really throw things off square.
Fortunately fixing french doors is a relatively simple do it yourself project that doesn t require professional help.
Each time you open it there is a little grab before it releases.
Also wood expands over time so even french doors that were installed properly can still fail to close.
Plus if you let the problem proceed it could damage other parts of your patio door which can end up being costly to repair or you might have to replace the whole door.
Yes it s that sticking door of yours.
Follow along as tom fixes a swelled door in his own home with just a few simple tools.
In some instances you have a door that sticks along the strike area the metal part of the door frame where it meets the outermost edge of the door.
French doors occasionally are in need of alignment soon.
Double doors like that french double doors or any type of double door is really double the trouble when it comes to door adjustments because you know without having a solid center jamb any movement in the hinge jambs leslie.
Whether the french doors are completely unable to open only stick intermittently or simply feel rather stiff you must examine them thoroughly to determine the cause of the problem.
3 drive a 3 inch screw into the middle of the upper jamb to draw the jamb upward if either door doesn t clear it.