Pro Handyman Blog

At some point, you will have a cabinet door that will sag and look like it’s ready to fall off of the cabinet. You can lift it up and it will fall right back down. Here are a few ideas on how you can repair this.

Cabinets these days are not made with the finest of materials. For the most part, only the frames of the doors and boxes are solid…the rest of the material is fiberboard or a close cousin of it.

If a cabinet door is sagging, the reason will be at the hinges. Although the hinges may be damaged, the wood that the hinges are attached to are most likely the culprit. I would first look at the hinges just to make sure they are straight. If they are warped, remove them and either replace them or hammer them back into shape.

Now look at the wood. Most likely, the screw holes are reamed out and may no longer be able to hold a screw. There are a couple of things you can do here. Try using a larger screw. You want to get into some undamaged wood. You can use a longer screw (pre-drill it first to avoid splitting the wood), or you can use a fatter screw with larger threads. Either of these methods will allow the screw to bite into new wood.

Your other option is to fill the damaged hole and reinstall the same screw. You can use several toothpicks or a wood golf tee for this. Smaller holes like these are perfect for a few toothpicks. Slather up the toothpicks with glue and stuff them into the hole. Wait for the glue to dry and then reinstall the hinge and screws.