Why Are My Interior Doors Sticking? Common Causes and Fixes

Have your interior doors begun to stick when you open or close them? Perhaps they aren’t sticking at all, and the doors swing open after you close them. The causes of sticky and loose doors is typically the same: the shape of the wood has changed. 

While pre-hung interior doors generally don’t have this problem, many doors do. Just because we know that changing shape is the main cause of doors sticking or becoming loose, the reasons why this happens are varied.

The number one reason a door begins to stick is humidity. An excess of moisture in the air for an extended period of time can cause wood to swell. In modern doors with thin gaps, this means a door or its frame can easily swell enough to cause a door to stick or even become completely unusable. 

One way to know if humidity is the cause of this change is to see if the change happens seasonally. In seasons when the air is dryer, your doors may swing freely. As soon as the spring rains come, your door may become an immovable object. 

If humidity is the cause of your problems, your number one goal should be prevention. Keeping entrances to your home sealed properly will help to prevent moisture from making its way inside. Another way to keep humidity down is to make sure there are no large temperature swings in your home that can cause condensation to form; a well-maintained air conditioning unit will also help to dehumidify the air. 

Once the rainy season is over, wait for the door to dry out, then seal it with a fresh coat of water sealant paint.

Be careful not to use too much paint. This issue is seen in older homes that have been repeatedly remodeled, and the layers of paint have built up over the years to the point where they’ve sealed gaps in doors.

While paint may not be the primary cause of your problems, it can exacerbate issues caused by humidity. If you live in an older home and are looking to remodel, you might consider researching how much it costs to paint interior doors and have a professional strip the existing paint before putting on a fresh coat. 

This issue can occur in any type of home. Sometimes, the weight of a home physically causes the soil to shift. Other times, soil dries out in the hot season and pulls at the home’s foundation. 

Those living in a pier and beam foundation house–elevated off the ground with no concrete slab–may find that their primary piers or floor joists have begun to sag. This can easily cause doors to stick. 

One way to know if your floors and foundation are shifting is to place a ball in various places throughout your house and see if it rolls. If it does, there is an angle to the floor. You may also see that doors may fit their frames just fine, but catch on the floor before they are fully open. This is a sure sign that the issue is most likely foundational. 

At 27EStore, we believe in making interior home elements that won’t swell when the weather is hot. We also have doors that are pre-hung inside their frames, meaning you can spend more time focusing on making your home beautiful. 

We have an enormous selection of colors and styles to choose from, all made from the finest engineered wood that will stand up to the harshest elements. This selection allows you to make complex design choices, such as whether you want your interior doors to match the trim. Take a look and see what we can do to brighten up your home!