Door Repair near you

The gap around the slab is the diagnosis. Close the door and read the reveal along the top and both sides: where it closes to nothing, the door is binding, and where it opens into a wedge, something has moved. A door rubbing at the upper latch corner with a widening gap at the lower hinge corner has dropped on its hinges, which is the single most common cause and the easiest to correct.

A good technician works from reversible fixes toward permanent ones. Planing is permanent, and a door planed while it is swollen in August can leave a visible gap and a draft by January. Removing wood is the last move, not the first.

A door that will not stay shut is usually a door that has moved rather than a lock that has broken. The latch bolt has to arrive square in the strike opening; if the slab has dropped or the jamb has shifted, it lands on the plate instead and either bounces back or needs a shove.

An exterior door announces its condition in the first cold snap and the first heat wave: a cold ribbon of air along the floor, daylight at a corner, or a hot draft in a southern summer when the air conditioning is fighting the gap. Before renewing seals, confirm the slab sits correctly, because a sagging or bowed door leaves gaps that no weatherstrip can bridge.

Repair and replacement diverge sharply once you are in a hurricane-prone region. Exterior doors are specifically named in Florida's product approval statute: section 553.842 lists exterior doors alongside panel walls, roofing, skylights, windows, shutters, impact protective systems and structural components among the products that must be approved through testing, certification or an evaluation report. The same statute bars marketing anything as hurricane, windstorm or impact protection from wind-borne debris unless it has been approved under that section.

The practical effect is that in a wind-borne debris region you are not simply choosing a door you like. The unit, its frame, its glazing and its anchoring pattern form a tested assembly, and installing an approved door with the wrong fasteners or without the specified anchors leaves you with a door that no longer matches its approval. Ask for the approval number for the exact size and configuration, and keep the paperwork.

This is the rule most homeowners have never heard of and most door work in older housing touches. Under the EPA's Renovation, Repair and Painting rule, firms cannot advertise or perform covered renovation work in houses, apartments and child-occupied facilities built before 1978 without firm certification, and their workers must be trained in lead-safe practices. Doors are squarely in scope: the EPA points to surfaces under constant friction, such as doors and window sills, as exactly where lead hazards develop.

There is a narrow exemption for minor repair and maintenance that disturbs six square feet or less of paint per room inside, or twenty square feet or less on the exterior, but the EPA notes that window replacement and demolition of painted surfaces are always covered regardless of area. Sanding a painted jamb, cutting into a frame or taking out a painted door in a pre-1978 house can cross that line quickly, so ask any contractor whether they are Lead-Safe Certified before work starts.

Permits and licensing are local and state matters on top of that. Florida, for example, makes it unlawful to alter, modify or repair a building without first obtaining a permit, and routine door adjustment is generally not what that is aimed at while structural or exterior-opening work can be. Licensing varies: California covers door work through the C-61 limited specialty license and its D-28 subclassification, Doors, Gates and Activating Devices, while other states handle it under a general building or home improvement license.