Adjusting New Bathroom Door

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Bones032

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I own a home that is 98 years old, which means things are not perfectly made. I am trying to put a new door in the bathroom. I noticed the door frame is off a bit, causing the new door not to fit properly. The door frame is a quarter inch higher on the handle side than on the hinge side.

When the door closes, the bottom half of the door, up to about the handle is perfectly flush to the frame. But, from the handle up, the door starts to slant away from the frame, allowing a gap. Also the top of the door has a slanting gap as well, from the hinge side being pretty good, to a big gap on the handle side.

Since I know the frame is off, causing these issues, what can I do to adjust the door. I tried adding a skinny shim underneath the bottom hinge, hoping that would push the top right of the door over more, but it did not really help. Should I try cutting a door an angle to match the frame being off?

Any Ideas are appreciated. Pics below. The 1st pic shows how the door is flush to the frame at the bottom. 2nd pic you can see the gap starting, and then the 3rd pic the full gap to the top of the door. 4th pic if the gap on the top of the door.

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I would think about making the frame square again. It's not as hard as you might think. Pull the trim off and shim it where it needs it
 
Your alternatives range from a lot of work to relatively easy.

The really difficult involves jacking the house up to level.

The relatively easy is to cut the top of the door, raise the hinges on the jamb or lower them on the door, adjust the lock strike plate and adjusting the door stop on the latch side.
 
You've got a couple things going on. First, either the frame is twisted or the door itself is not flat. This causes the gap at the stop trim at the top. You can set that top hinge in further (not deeper) and/or move that trim stop to allow the door to fully close. Or a combination of both of those; move hinge in a bit and move stop a bit (which is what I do to make it less conspicuous). But make sure it isn't a warped door first.
Now for he gap at the top header. I would probably just cut a wedge to glue to the top of the door to fill that gap. Make it slightly wider that the thickness of the door and sand it flush after installation. Paint it all and it will blend in.

Dave Mason
 

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