Pro Handyman Blog

Door Adjustment With A Plane

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A door can give you problems if it not closing or opening easily. If you have tried adjusting it and still have not met with success, you might have to resort to planing the door.

Generally, I use planing as a last resort, but a hand plane does come in handy in certain situations. For example, if you have already adjusted a door and have a sliver of wood to remove to get the door to open and close, a plane is the ticket.

Use a well-tuned plane and plane from the edge inward. If, for example, the top edge of your door is hitting the jamb when you try to close it, plane from the edge toward the middle of the door. You will likely have to remove the door for good control of the plane. Adjust the plane so that it takes slivers of wood with each pass. Place the plane squarely on the edge of the door and push it gently and evenly along the edge of the door. It's a good idea to use a piece of scrap wood to guage the thickness of the shavings to make sure you have the thickness right.

When the thickness is thin enough, then you can apply uniform pressure with both hands in removing the small amount of wood. You can actually get a shaving of wood thin enough where you can hold it up to a newspaper and read the printing through it.

After you have removed the shavings, you can paint the exposed surface to blend in with the rest of the door.