One common problem with doors is loose hinge screws…Screws that have over time torn up the wood that originally held them in place. If your door snags on the latch side it is common to find several loose screws on the hinge side. If you have this problem, this is what you can do. Remove the screws from the wood. Remove the hinge from the mortise (or any other item reset in the wood). Get a small dowel approximately the size of the screw hole, just a little larger is better. Fill the hole with glue and cover the dowel with glue. Hammer the dowel into the hole. Cut off the excess dowel with a small pull saw, or crosscut saw. If you do not have a dowel, find some match sticks or BBQ skewer sticks (hammer as many will fit in the hole…don’t forget the glue). Wait for the glue to dry if at all possible…use 5 min epoxy if you need a really quick fix. When everything is dry, cut off any extra dowel that may have been missed in the first pass. The reinsert the hinge into the mortise. Use a 1/16″ drill bit to start a small hole in the dowel, then reinsert the screw.

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