Spent three hours fixing a single cabinet door hinge in a 1920s house

The old mortise was completely off and the screw holes were stripped out. I had to plug the old holes with dowels and recut the whole hinge pocket by hand. Has anyone else run into this on really old cabinets and found a faster fix?

3 comments

3 Comments

averywright2mo agoMost Upvoted

Spent three hours on one hinge last month. The mortise was fine, but the real problem was the door frame itself had dropped. Shimmed the top hinge with a sliver of cardboard and it closed perfectly. Sometimes the fix isn't in the hinge pocket.

patking2mo agoMost Upvoted

Cardboard's a classic quick fix, but how long do you figure that'll hold? The frame dropping means the weight isn't supported right. Did you check the screws in the top hinge going into the framing? Sometimes they get stripped or pull out, and you need longer screws to bite into the stud.

finley_wells661mo ago

Spent two hours on a door last weekend trying to fix a sag, only to realize I'd been shimming the wrong hinge the whole time. My wife walked by and handed me a leftover pizza box piece, watched me wedge it in, and the door closed perfectly. Now I've got a new reputation as the "cardboard door whisperer," which is not a title I'm putting on my resume anytime soon. What's the most humbling quick fix you've had to rely on?