# Warped Door



## avkid (Sep 22, 2004)

I can't lock my booth door anymore because it has warped in such a way that it just won't open or close without tremendous force being applied to it! is there any quick and fairly inexpensive way to remedy the situation?


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## ccfan213 (Sep 22, 2004)

unless your door is part of a set of doors that all look the same, you could simply replace it with a cheap door or a piece of plywood on hinges or something, depending on how cheap your talkin about. you could also try to fix ur current door, but u didnt say what its made out of so i have no ideas on that. or you could lock it with a chain and padlock with it still not fully closed if that makes sense


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## Mayhem (Sep 22, 2004)

Is it a wooden door? If so, look to see where it is sticking and use a plane or sanding block on that area.


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## wolf825 (Sep 22, 2004)

avkid said:


> I can't lock my booth door anymore because it has warped in such a way that it just won't open or close without tremendous force being applied to it! is there any quick and fairly inexpensive way to remedy the situation?




Without seeing the door, there are several things you can try. But first--is the door warped or is the lock/catch broken? Is the door physically hitting the jam or some part and where? What is the door made of, metal or wood)? Do you have an idea what cause the door to jam up (air conditioning too cold, or humidity too high?) Couple of things to try--if the door has swelled you can do what Mayhem suggested and plane or sand down the edge that is catching. If the Jam has swelled and it is wood, you can try powder or wax along the edge to ease the sliding together, or you can try planing it, or if you have moisture probs try rubbing baking soda on the wood to help "dry" the jam and absorb some of the excess moisture. If the whole room is too moist--a de-humidifier in the room may help. Other thing to try--check the hinges and the catch (the little brass hole the lock fits into) and see if they need tightening or adjusting--sometimes if you fiddle or move the hinges a bit, or just simply tighten a hinge that is loose, it can help a lot... 

thats about all I can think of without more info... 

-w


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## ship (Sep 25, 2004)

Another question about the door is if it's hollow core or solid core, and if solid core, if it's a fire door?

If hollow core as probably not the case in a professionally built booth than it warping should be sufficient grounds to replace it either with a real door that will both block sound and delay the spread of fire especiall if a fire door with at least a 30 minute rating - long enough to clear the audience. Otherwise, if hollow core and warped it is probably thirty bucks for a new one.

If solid core and expensive, assuming the door opens inward into the booth and the bow is in the middle and towards the booth thus, and assuming the outside face is decorative or shows, you don't have much of a choice for straightening it. If not too sivere you could shave some off of the stop molding above and below so it conforms better to the door's shape. Otherwise if not seen by the audience or if it can be done in a way that won't be noted much, you could add either some steel channel, L' steel or I beam to the face in thru bolting and screwing that door back to straight. Better yet, Unistrut is more ridgid and light weight. At this point, I assume that the entire door warped in the center and you might want to add a middle hinge after the door is straight. This will help prevent further warping. Perhaps a air conditioning thing, is the booth really cool and not well ventilated? 

Given the door opens outward, bolting unistrut to it should be a safe bet but one might ask the management before hand. 

Still easier to on a middle of the door warp to just take some of the stop molding off at the top and bottom and live with the warp thus. You can also look into adjusting your strike plate outward some to recieve the new position of the door.


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## avkid (Sep 25, 2004)

well believe or it not since the rain stopped it has almost fixed itself. our climate control system lets air in even when turned off which screws with the humidity!


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## nate (Nov 22, 2005)

it depends on whether or not the door is wood. if it is then you might be able to shave off some of it with a saw to make it fit. that would look kind of bad, but would be easy and inexpensive.


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