Door out of square

[tomtheelder2020]

The front door to my mother-in-law's house has moved out of square, apparently rotated clockwise:

The top left (hinge side) has roughly uniform gap to side and top


The top lock side has a much larger gap on the top than on the side


The latch and bolt strike plates suggest that the bolts have always been low on the plates. Now you have to lift up on the door handle to lock the door.

Your can see that the previous owner (house purchased less than 2 yrs ago) moved the strike plates out - maybe because of adding weather stripping?

I cannot figure out why the door is moving. Hinge screws are tight. There is no cracking in walls around the door and ceramic floor tile inside the door is perfect so there is no hint of structural distress.
Does anyone have any ideas what might be causing this?

More importantly, how do I go about fixing it? The only idea I have is to remove the screws of the jamb side of the lower hinge, slip a couple of playing cards behind it, and reinstall the hinge. If that is the way to go, does it matter if I shim out the door-side or the jamb-side of the hinge, or should I shim both?

Will shimming just the lower hinge throw them out of alignment so they start to squeak?

Is there a different approach to fixing this?

 

[oldognewtrick]

What does the gap look like all the way down the hinge side? You can try running a 4" deck screw in the top hinge and see if that plus the door square.

 

[bud16415]

We often ask people to include a full picture along with the close up shots.



I would start with measuring the door corner to corner diagonally to see if the door itself is racking.



Then with measurements and a level try and see if the opening is racked.



If everything is square and plumb then start adding longer screws if it looks like the hinges are lose and or shimming. You will know if you shim too much and get the hinges too far out of alignment.

As a side note when I was about 8 my family went to a catholic wedding and I asked my dad why the priest kept moving his hand up and down and side to side? He told me he just was letting us know everything was square and plumb.

 

[tomtheelder2020]

What does the gap look like all the way down the hinge side? You can try running a 4" deck screw in the top hinge and see if that plus the door square.

I will check the gap, along with following Oldogs suggestions to better analyze what is happening. A couple of long screws sounds like a good first step if analyzing the movement doesn't present a better starting point - which I suspect it won't.

 

[tomtheelder2020]

We often ask people to include a full picture along with the close up shots.

The full-door shot I took doesn't show me much because I had to take it from a 45-degree angle (close quarters). For what its worth:

 

[tomtheelder2020]

... he just was letting us know everything was square and plumb.

Hilarious!

 

[tomtheelder2020]

You can try running a 4" deck screw in the top hinge and see if that plus the door square.

That did the trick - thanks for the tip. It is still out of square but at least my mother-in-law can open and close it. Might still shim the bottom hinge.