What it costs
| Job | Typical cost |
|---|---|
| Tighten or replace hinge screws Fixes most sagging doors | $75–$180 |
| Plane or adjust a sticking door | $120–$280 |
| Latch or strike plate alignment | $90–$200 |
| Repair a split or cracked door | $150–$400 |
| Rehang a door | $150–$350 |
| Replace the door | $350–$1,250 |
Diagnose it in thirty seconds
Door sags or drags on the floor. Open it and look at the top hinge. If there is any gap between the hinge leaf and the jamb, or the screws sit proud, the screws have stripped out of the soft jamb material. One three-inch screw through the top hinge into the stud behind usually pulls the whole door back into square. This is the single most common door fault in houses and it is nearly free to fix.
Door will not latch. Look at the strike plate for a shiny scrape mark. That shows you exactly where the latch is hitting and how far off it is.
Door binds at one corner. Usually settlement putting the frame out of square. See door frame repair.
Door swings open or closed by itself. Frame out of plumb. Fixable permanently by resetting the frame, or temporarily and effectively by bending a hinge pin.
When to replace instead
Damage to the door itself on a hollow-core door, water damage, or a door that has been planed repeatedly and now has uneven gaps. At that point replacement costs about the same as a good repair and gives you a better result — especially if you do several at once.
Common questions
My door will not latch. What is wrong?
The latch is no longer meeting the strike plate, almost always because the door has dropped. Look at the strike plate — you will usually see a shiny scrape just above or below the hole showing you exactly where the latch is hitting.
If the drop is small, filing the strike or moving it a few millimeters fixes it. If it is bigger, the hinges have loosened and that is the real repair.
Is it worth repairing a hollow-core door?
For hinge, latch and alignment problems, yes — those are frame and hardware issues and the door type is irrelevant. For damage to the door itself, usually not. A hollow-core door is a cardboard honeycomb between two thin skins and a hole in it cannot be repaired invisibly. Replacement is often cheaper than a good repair.
Why do doors stick in summer?
Humidity. Wood absorbs moisture and swells. A door that sticks only in the humid months and works fine in winter does not need planing — plane it in summer and you will have a gap all winter. Wait it out.
The door swings open or shut on its own.
The frame is out of plumb, so the door is running downhill. The proper fix is resetting the frame. The cheap fix is tapping a hinge pin slightly out of true to add friction, which works and holds for years.