ARGH! My door just broke
It's -4 outside right now, and my door won't close. GREAT! My warranty just expired, but they said maybe someone would come by if they are in the area. The number given to me was a cell, and I just got the answering machine. I hope I can get ahold of someone tomorrow. Sucks. In other news... I bought Yuki some doggie ice cream and a candle, so maybe we'll celebrate her b-day tonight. She ran in the snow all afternoon. Knocked over two little kids, but thankfully there parents weren't around to see how terrible I was about assuming no one was around (she was off leash). I just told them she was just giving them BIG HUGS because she liked them!!!! 
I think I'm pulling out the Christmas tree!!!! Oh, I LOVE THE HOLIDAYS!!!! I need to wrap lil J's birthday gifts. I've got candles burning, christmas songs playing.. I'm so HAPPYYYYYYYYYYYY .................and cold. Brrr... Does anything good come on tonight? I feel so happy!!!!!!!!!!!!! but I bet my electricity bill will suck this month. Woohoo!!!!!!!!!! Shopping rocks!!!! |
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| Oh NO!!! Is there a kind hearted neighbor that will perhaps lend a hand to try to sorta fix it until tomorrow?
My back sliding door sometimes sticks and I can't close it so I can understand the dilemna. Well least you still sound positive!! Lil J's birthday coming up soon? Ohhhh how fast time goes. Shopping will always cure many of the blahs..yeah go shopping tomorrow!~!! Marianne and the boys Hope you get your door fixed. |
| Leanne that sucks.
Maybe you can hang a blanket up over the doorway to help with the cold. Sounds like you are having a good time despite the door troubles. |
| A picture might help
Did the door have an automatic closing hinge so if it was open it would automatically swing shut? If it is, assuming your door has 3 hinges, you can remove the whole hinge by unscrewing it from the door and from the jamb, if you can access the screws. It's attached by screws, Booth to the door and to the frame. If it's a regular hinge, and assuming there are three hinges on the door, if only one hinge is broken, you can remove the whole broken hinge so that the door will close, or if one side has completely torn away from it's surface, you can separate the hinge at the pin so the broken piece will come off, leaving the good half in place. The pin is sort of like a nail, with a flat head on top and a smooth round dowel that goes between the halves of the hinge. You can remove the pin with a smallish flathead screwdriver. Being careful for your fingers, push/wiggle the corner of the screwdriver under that flat head just above the hinge piece. You may need to use a small hammer to gently tap the screwdriver to get under. If you have only 2 hinges, you can still do this, but you might (read: Probably will) need a second person to hold the door from flopping around as you do the work.  The good news is that modern steel firedoors (since it goes to the garage it MUST be a fire-rated door of some sort) will almost certainly have 3 hinges.
Good luck! |
| It does have 3 hinges. With the nails sticking out like that, I don't how to unscrew it.
Why the heck did that happen? Stupid house. stupid door. 
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| Where is the other side of the hinge attached?
Looks like it should be behind that piece that has the nails in it. If you can get to that you can remove the nails that are attached to the door jam and you should be able to take it off that way. If the other side is not behind when the piece where the nails are I don't know what to tell you. That is crazy the way it ripped out!! |
Are you sure a Polar Bear did not come a knocking at that door. 
Get some plastic and tape and tape up around the whole door frame, that should help keep the cold and chill out till you can get it repaired. 
Large garbage bags are a good source of plastic to cut into big strips. Worked for me with a broken window, till the repair man came, that was in winter too, BRRRRRRRR |
| It looks like an auto door closing hinge with a strong spring in it. The other screws are behind the ones that are sticking towards you.
There is probably an adjustment on the hinge that will reduce the amount of tension it puts on the door to close it, so that re-opening the hinge will be easier. I can't tell, is that a Phillips screw adjustment on the top of the hinge? There also may be a method of securing the hinge in the open position, perhaps a latch that can be flipped up once it has been opened. If you get a strong screwdriver behind that plate, you'll be able to pry the plate away from the jamb, and perhaps enough to be able to push the stripped screws out of the plate so that you can close the door. This will require due care and some strength to accomplish so that it doesn't snap back on you while you're attempting it. They pulled out of the door because it pulls really hard on the door to close it automagically; why it actually failed, I don't know. In any event, virtually any handyman should be able to help you get your door closed... |
| Murphy's Law says that the door will always break when it is COLD out and when there is no one around to fix it!!! |
| That just sucks, I hope someone was able to come and fix it. |
| Yikes...hopefully you can get it fixed today! |
| Ron, does it come naturally to men to know that kind of stuff?
Just wondering |
Bosley's mom wrote: Ron, does it come naturally to men to know that kind of stuff? No, not at all. I've worked on hinges and hanging doors, and I don't know why I guessed it might be a self-closing hinge, other than I couldn't imagine why a hinge would have ripped itself out of a door if it weren't a specialty hinge, like a self-closer.
I've worked with self closing hinges on outdoor gates, while slightly different in design, the concept is exactly the same. (By the way, the loud BANG or POP she heard was the self-closing hinge snapping itself tight to the jamb after it ripped itself out of the door.) There's a reason I was interested in The Repair Place Forum; I don't know nearly enough about fixing things, and was hoping it would be a fun place, but TheGuru seems not to want to post very much any more. |
| Ron, you were exactly right.
I got ahold of the guy 8 o'clock this mornign. I wasn't going to waste any time!! He came over, looked at it, said what you did, and then said he didn't have the tools or long enough nails to fix it, so he'd be back in a few hours. I remember this same guy saying this when he had to do touch-ups around our house, and then we had to re-schedule. So, I plan on calling. I just did and no one was answering. I have faith though. It's friday!! WEEEEEEEeeee! |
| Unless it's part of your local code requirements, I'd recommend that you just replace that hinge with a normal hinge.... I'd be concerned that the door doesn't have enough inside it for the screws to hold onto..
At the very least until hubby gets back, ask him to turn down the tension so that it's not pulling so hard so this won't happen again. You may find you don't need or want the self-closing feature anyway. He could have simply taken the old screws out so you could close the door, and let you operate on 2 hinges and keep warm today -- or until next July. Sheeeesh. |
| Sorry to hear about your door!! I was complaining because I had a flooded barn but it was warm out !! Not below 0. Hopefully you can get it fixed. My husband worked for the DOD and traveled for 6 months at a time and something always fell apert in the house or with the car or the lawnmower... Was there a full moon last night? Stay warm!!! |
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