How to Fix a Tight Interior Door
- 1). Open the door to expose the hinge screws. Use a Phillips screwdriver to tighten each of the hinges' screws. Tighten the screws in the door edge as well as the screws in the door jamb. Close the door to see if that solves the problem.
- 2). Remove the hinges' middle screws, or the screw closest to the door stop, which is the thin piece of wood running down the jamb. Drive a 3-inch wood screw through the hinges' screw holes and into the door frame. This longer screw sucks the hinge tighter to the jamb. Close the door to see if it is still tight.
- 3). Open and close the door to see whether the door is tight along the top or bottom edge. Drill a 1/8-inch pilot hole through the knob-side jamb either 8 inches up from the floor or 8 inches down from the upper corner, depending on where the door is rubbing. Drive a 3-inch wood screw through the pilot hole to suck the door jamb tighter to the rough opening. Test the door to see if it is tight.
- 4). Close the door. Open a scribe to the widest gap between the door edge and the door jamb. Use the scribe to trace along the door's door-knob edge, indicating how much to remove from the door's tighter portion.
- 5). Apply a strip of painter's tape to the door, with the edge lined up with the line you scribed in Step 4. Use a belt sander and coarse-grit sandpaper to sand down the door until you reach the painter's tape. Open and close the door to test it.
Source...