How To Repair Loose Door Hinges

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If yous take a loose hinge and you can't tighten it because the screws simply spin in place, the screw holes are probably stripped. If the loose holes are in a solid slice of wood similar a door frame, drill them out and fill up them with wooden dowels to create a new surface for the screws to go into. If you desire a quicker method that doesn't require boring out the holes, effort filling the stripped holes with golf game tees, matchsticks or toothpicks, woods anchors, or cyanoacrylate mucilage. Apply longer screws in the loose holes if they are merely starting to get stripped.

1. ane

   Remove the loose screws and the hinge plate with a drill or screwdriver. Utilise a screwdriver or electric drill to unscrew the loose screws all the manner. Set the screws aside and swing the swivel plate away and then information technology's not covering the loose holes.^[1]

   • If y'all are fixing only a few loose screw holes for something that has multiple hinges, like a door, yous can put a wedge underneath it to support it while you unscrew the loose hinge and fix the stripped holes. If all the hinges have loose screws, it will be easier to just completely remove the door.
   • If at that place is paint over the hinge, you can slice around it carefully with a utility knife or box cutter to free it so you tin swing the plate away.

   Tip: This method works best for hinges that are fastened to a thick, solid piece of wood, such equally a solid wooden door or door frame.

2. 2

   Drill out the loose holes with a ³⁄_eight  in (0.95 cm) drill scrap. Attach a ³⁄₈  in (0.95 cm) drill chip to an electric drill. Drill direct into each of the stripped holes, going at least one in (two.5 cm) deep, to bore them out.^[two]

   • This volition make all the stripped holes a compatible size that you lot tin can fit a piece of wooden dowel into perfectly.

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3. 3

   Saw a ³⁄₈  in (0.95 cm) bore wooden dowel into 1 in (2.5 cm) long pieces. Measure out and mark 1 in (2.5 cm) long sections along an entire piece of dowel. Utilise a manus saw or any blazon of power saw you have bachelor to cut the pieces.^[iii]

   • You will need a 1 in (two.5 cm) long piece of dowel for each loose hole you need to fix.
   • If you utilise a handheld saw, clench the wooden dowel to a workbench or put it in a vise to hold information technology steady while you cutting the pieces.
   • A wooden dowel is a round slice of forest that comes in rods of varying diameters and lengths. It is bachelor at home improvement centers, woodworking supply and craft shops, or online. If you don't have the tools to cut the dowel yourself, yous can purchase pre-cutting wooden dowels.

4. 4

   Glaze a 1 in (2.5 cm) long, ³⁄₈  in (0.95 cm) diameter dowel in carpenter's glue. Clasp a driblet of carpenter'southward glue out onto the side of the slice of wooden dowel. Use your fingers or a scrap piece of dowel to spread the carpenter's glue upwards and down the sides.^[4]

   • The carpenter's glue volition hold the dowel in place within a stripped pigsty.
   • You lot could besides dip the dowel well-nigh halfway into a bottle of carpenter's gum, then spread out the mucilage forth the sides.

5. 5

   Tap the wooden dowel into 1 of the holes gently using a hammer. Push 1 stop of the piece of wooden dowel into 1 of the stripped holes. Advisedly tap it in with a hammer until it is affluent with the surrounding wood.^[5]

   • The wooden dowel volition plug the stripped hole, essentially giving you a fresh surface to reattach the hinge to.

6. six

   Echo the process for the balance of the stripped holes. Glaze 1-inch-long, 3/8-inch-diameter pieces of wooden dowel in carpenter'due south glue, 1 at a time, for each stripped hole. Use your hammer to tap each wooden dowel into each loose hole.^[vi]

   • Brand certain y'all go all the dowels flush with the surrounding wood, then the surface is totally flat.

7. seven

   Wait for i hr to allow the gum dry. Let the wooden dowels dry out in the holes for at to the lowest degree 1 hour. This will ensure they are securely held in identify when you reattach the hinge.^[7]

   • If there is whatsoever excess gum that oozed out of the holes, wipe information technology away with a rag so information technology doesn't dry and make the surface uneven.

8. eight

   Drill a ^one⁄₈  in (0.32 cm) pilot pigsty into each wooden dowel using an electrical drill. Adhere a ¹⁄₈  in (0.32 cm) drill bit to your electric drill. Drill straight into each wooden dowel that you lot plugged a loose hole with to create pilot holes for the hinge's screws.^[8]

   • This volition brand information technology easier to reattach the hinge and become the screws in perfectly straight.

9. nine

   Reattach the hinge using its screws. Position the hinge plate back over the reinforced holes. Put the screws back in through the holes in the hinge into the pilot holes in the dowel.^[9]

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1. 1

   Plug holes with golf tees if the holes are big enough. Remove the loose screws and the hinge. Dip the tip of a golf tee into carpenter'southward glue, tap it into a loose hole using a hammer, and then snap off the backlog wood sticking out of the pigsty. Reattach the hinge by driving screws through its holes into the golf game tees later on the glue is dry.^[10]

   • The golf tees will provide extra wood inside the stripped holes for the screws to take hold of onto.
   • This method is a quick alternative to using wooden dowels that doesn't require you to bore the holes out.

   Tip: To make the tee perfectly flush with the surrounding wood, you can score the side of it with a utility knife correct against the wood surface. This volition get in easier to snap off the excess more than evenly.

2. two

   Fill holes with toothpicks or matches to provide added grip for screws. Unscrew the loose screws and remove the swivel from on acme of the stripped holes. Squeeze a driblet of carpenter'due south glue into each loose hole, then push nigh 3 wooden matches or toothpicks into the hole, or plenty to make full it, and snap the excess woods off. Screw the swivel back into place later on the glue is dry.^[11]

   • The extra wood from the matches or toothpicks helps the screws fit tightly into the stripped holes. You tin can use multiple matches or toothpicks in each hole if you need to fill the hole more than.
   • Brand sure to snap off the match heads if you use wooden matches.
   • This method works well for smaller holes that you don't want to drill out to fill and risk dissentious the forest. For instance, you could apply this to ready stripped holes on thin chiffonier doors.

3. iii

   Put wood anchors into stripped holes so the screws fit tightly. Buy some plastic, cone-shaped forest anchors that match the diameter of the swivel screws. Remove the swivel from on top of the loose holes. Spiral a wood anchor into each loose hole until information technology won't go any further, and then bend it to snap it. Reattach the hinge by driving the original screws into the woods anchors and other holes.^[12]

   • Plastic, cone-shaped wood anchors work best because they fit into stripped holes of whatsoever diameter with no drilling required. In that location are as well metal, cylindrical wood anchors available, just yous would take to bore out each loose pigsty to the bore of the anchors in order to employ them.

4. four

   Fill loose holes with cyanoacrylate mucilage and reinsert the screws for a quick fix. Remove the screws and hinge, and then clasp enough cyanoacrylate mucilage into each loose hole to fill information technology. Permit the gum cure for virtually 2 minutes, then spiral the swivel dorsum into place.^[13]

   • Cyanoacrylate glue is a fast-drying, ultra-stiff glue that basically turns into a polymer resin when it is cured. It will concur the screws deeply in place in the stripped holes.
   • Super gum is a mutual name that unlike brands give to cyanoacrylate gum.

5. 5

   Employ longer screws to secure a hinge to loose holes. Remove any loose screws from the hinge using a screwdriver or drill. Supersede them with a longer spiral of the same diameter.^[14]

   • This works best for holes that are only starting to get stripped to prevent them from getting worse. The longer screw will bite into the deeper, unstrapped woods to concord the swivel more than securely in place.
   • Keep in mind that it may be difficult to find a longer spiral that matches the original screws and the cease of the hinge. If this is important to you, you might exist better off using a different method that allows you to continue the original screws.

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Add New Question

• Question

  What can I use if I don't take a wooden dowel?

  

  Ryaan Tuttle is a Domicile Improvement Specialist and the CEO of Best Handyman Boston. With over fifteen years of experience, Ryaan specializes in home improvement and belongings maintenance by leveraging technology and craftsmanship. Ryaan holds his Construction Supervisor and Dwelling house Improvement Contractor Licenses. Unlike most handyman contractors, Best Handyman Boston is licensed and insured. Boston Magazine and LocalBest.com take named All-time Handyman Boston the Best Handyman in Boston.

  

  Abode Improvement Specialist

  Expert Answer

  Use a golf tee and some wood glue. Squeeze a little bit of woods glue into the screw hole and onto the stop of the golf tee. Then, hammer the golf tee into the screw so it's squeamish and tight. Snap off the part of the golf tee that's still sticking out, and let the wood mucilage dry. In a few hours, you can reinstall your spiral.

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Things You'll Need

• Electric drill
• Wooden dowels
• Carpenter's glue
• Saw
• Hammer

• Golf tees
• Carpenter'south glue
• Hammer
• Wooden toothpicks or matches
• Long woods screws
• Wood anchors
• Cyanoacrylate mucilage
• Screwdriver

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Commodity Summary X

You can repair a loose forest spiral hole for a hinge by inserting a dowel to reinstall the screw or by relocating the hinge so it holds stronger. To remove the loose woods screw, drill out the stripped hole and mucilage in a dowel the same bore as your drill bit. Then, glue and cutting the dowel and so information technology's flush with the border of the door or hinge. You can then bulldoze the screw into the dowel to secure it. To relocate the hinge, remove the screws from the swivel and slide it up or down a few inches. You may need to re-chisel a pock in the frame then the hinge sits flush. So, you tin bulldoze the screws into the screw holes on the hinge to secure information technology. To larn how to use a shim to repair a loose forest screw hole for a hinge, go on reading!

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Source: https://www.wikihow.com/Repair-a-Loose-Wood-Screw-Hole-for-a-Hinge

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