A Quick Tutorial on How to Tighten Door Hinges

A door hinge basically works as a pivot to move your door in order to open or close it. It is one of the essential hardware of a functional door. That is why I will be providing a tutorial on how to tighten door hinges for you. 

When your door hinge is loose, what happens is that the door either moves on its own or gets stuck when it is opened. Simply said, it does not stay steady or normal. 

Now, you may want to install a new door hinge, change the previous one or tighten it. Whatever the case may be, we have got you covered.  

You can tighten a door hinge in several ways such as by using a longer screw, golf tee, zip-tie, a toothpick covered in wood glue, and many more. You will mostly need a hammer and a screwdriver for this.

Let’s describe the things elaborately. 

Types of Door Hinges

There are different types of door hinges although essentially and functionally they are the same. The varieties come in shape and material. 

I will be mentioning three types of popular door hinges for you to get an idea.

1. Ball-Bearing Hinge
2. Butt Hinge
3. Knife Hinge

Structure of A Door Hinge 

The main three components of a door hinge are:

Leaf

The door hinge leaf carries the knuckles and the pin in the middle. The leaf’s surface is used to attach the hinge with things like cabinets and door frames, and to drive the screws into the door. 

Pin 

The pin is a piece of metal positioned vertically inside the knuckles. It supports the hinge and allows it to swing open and close. 

Knuckles 

Knuckles are the small little metal rings that wrap around the pin of the hinge. Usually, they are three to five in number and used for preventing friction. 

How Do You Tighten Door Hinges? – Two Different Methods

You can follow different procedures for it. I will enlighten you with the best ways.

Method 1: Zipping Method

Firstly what you need to do is to take out the pin situated inside the hinge. To remove the pin, you will require a hammer and a nail. 

Usually, a door uses multiple hinges for its proper function. You can remove the pin from any of the hinges and that shall do the trick. 

Take the hammer and nail to use them to tap up the bottom of the hinge for the pin to pop up. When it comes at an easily removable height, pull it out. 

What you need to do now is take a zip tie and insert it halfway inside the hinge. Place the pin on top of it, and hammer down the pin along with the zip tie. When the pin is all in, cut out any extra zip tie hanging out the hinge. 

You might wanna check the guide on How to Put Pin Back In Door Hinge?

This process shall add some resistance between the pin and the hinge and ultimately give your loose door the necessary tightness for its proper function. 

Here is a simple tutorial for you to understand the process better. 

Method 2: Dowelling Method 

Still wondering how do you tighten a door hinge screw? You can solve this problem by tightening it following a few simple steps. 

First, open the door wide enough to find all the screws to fix a loose door hinge. It might be a case where either all the screws are loose or a few. 

Now to fix it, you will need to remove the existing screws and widen out the screw holes with a ⅜-inch drill bit. 

In the next step, you will need small pieces of ⅜ wooden dowel covered in wood glue. Insert the dowels into the screwed-out holes by tapping them in with a hammer. 

If the ends stick out, use a chisel to even them out once the glue dries down. Now, put the hinge back in its place and draw circles around the holes, with a small pilot bit drill holes in the marked circles. 

Now drive the screws back in the newly screwed holes. And there you have it. A tight door hinge! 

FAQs

How Do You Make a Door Tighter?

In order to make a door tighter, you have to tighten its hinges manually. You can start by examining the door. 

First, inspect the top corner of your door. If the top corner catches on the frame or there is a big gap between the door and the frame, the hinges need to be tightened. 

Begin with securing the upper hinge screws to each hinge. If the screws do not tighten, you should use new screws. Tightening the hinges will do the magic and make your door tighter.

You might check out the guide on fix cabinet door ripped off hinges.

Final Words

A door hinge is like the pillar of the door. Hinges are what keep the door smoothly working and in place. If your door is loose or stuck, fixing the hinge is what solves the problem. 

So if you have been wondering how to tighten door hinges, this blog targets to help you in answering this query of yours with proper demonstration. With simple tools like a screwdriver and a hammer, you can easily fix it.