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10 Signs Your Summerville Home Needs Door Repair or Replacement
Whether they're on the exterior or interior of your Summerville home, doors are important. They give us protection from harsh weather, wildlife attacks and more. They also provide privacy, reduce noise and contribute in no small part to the curb appeal and design aesthetic of your home or commercial property. But when your entryways are in rough shape and slowly deteriorating, they lose their ability to provide all those benefits and become an aggravating part of your house that you have to struggle with on a regular basis.
If your doors are in poor condition and have suffered damage from insects, wood rot, warping, wear and tear over time or dozens of other potential problems, you need door repair or replacement services from a talented Summerville handyman. But what are the warning signs that indicate your interior or exterior entries are crying out for help? This guide explains 10 telltale symptoms of a door that is making your home or business property less comfortable, efficient and attractive.
Noticed some of the following door repair problems on your Summerville property? The team of service professionals at Mr. Handyman of Charleston and Summerville can get your doors in excellent shape, quickly and efficiently. We have ample experience providing door repair and replacement services in Summerville and nearby areas, and we have the skill to get your entryways back in beautiful, perfectly functioning condition.
1. Air Drafts or Visible Light Around Edges
Do you shiver every time you walk past a certain exterior door in winter because there's always a cold draft coming from it, even when it's shut? Or even worse, can you actually see visible light coming in around the edges of your door? That's a big problem. It's obviously decreasing comfort levels in your home by letting in chilly air drafts, and it's also letting in excess noise from outside. But possibly even worse, it's costing you way more than necessary on your monthly utility bill.
Under any circumstances, your HVAC system needs to use a lot of energy to keep your house at the temperature you have set on your thermostat. That's why heating and cooling are probably your biggest expenses by far on your energy bill. But when your exterior entries are in bad shape and letting in air drafts, it's actually causing your energy costs to skyrocket. Gaps or lack of insulating weather strip around your door lets warm or cool air from your HVAC system escape outside, meaning you're basically paying to heat the outdoors! Your HVAC has to operate for much longer periods of time to compensate for the energy loss, which increases those already significant energy charges. Our Summerville door repair experts can replace both the frame and door to restore energy efficiency to your house and save you a considerable amount of money.
2. Difficult to Open and Close
You shouldn't have to push and pull and heave to get a door open or closed. That's a clear indication that something is seriously wrong and you need professional door repair. Your entryways should swing open and shut with just a light touch, or glide smoothly on rails if it's a sliding entry. It definitely should not be grinding against your floor or jamb, and you shouldn't need to put both hands on it and push as hard as you can to get it all the way shut.
This can happen for a number of reasons. It may be that your door wasn't installed correctly to begin with and has always been a pain to operate. But this particular issue is a lot more common in older homes. Sometimes your door, floor or jamb (or all three) have been painted so many times, paint build-up has gotten too thick and is rubbing against other parts. It could also be happening because your door or jamb has taken on moisture and the wood is swollen so it doesn't fit properly. Or, it could be that your house has settled and shifted over time, warping the jamb or heaving the floor upward and causing your door to get stuck.
3. Rotting Wood
Rotten wood isn't usually a big problem on interior entries, but it's a common issue that calls for exterior door repair in Summerville. That's because only damp timber will begin to rot, and exterior entryways are, of course, far more likely to be exposed to moisture on a regular basis from rain or leaky gutters. Any wood on the outside of your house is vulnerable to rotting, while wood that remains dry can stay solid and strong for hundreds of years with proper care and maintenance.
Wood rot causes timber to soften and crumble apart, which is why it's one of the biggest causes of energy loss and cold air drafts through a weakened, deteriorated frame. There's no way to restore rotted wood to it's former condition, so repair usually involves replacing the decayed timber altogether. However, if you find just a couple tiny patches where it's getting started, our experienced technicians may be able to carry out door repair by scraping out the rotted parts and filling the holes with epoxy wood filler, then painting over top so the repair is invisible.
4. Foggy Window
Do you have a window in your exterior door that has become foggy because there's condensation trapped between the panes of glass? A foggy window needs to be replaced, and if it happens to be in a door, the whole entry needs to be replaced. The space between two panes of glass is typically filled with argon gas to prevent the condensation problem from happening, but sometimes the seal can become compromised and the argon gas leaks out, leaving the window susceptible to trapped moisture. There actually is a service to put the argon gas back between the panes, but it's a temporary fix at best. The gas will eventually seep out and you'll need service again and again until you give up and just get the whole thing replaced. It's less expensive, time-consuming and stressful to just get a replacement right away.
5. Doesn't Latch Shut
When you shut your entryway, your latch should click into place smoothly and easily without any additional effort on your part like jiggling the knob or giving it an extra-hard push. But if the latch on your door is jammed in a pushed-in position, it's not going to latch properly and a light touch or even a breeze will cause it to swing right open again. Or, the latch may be broken and locked in a sticking-out position so your door doesn't even swing all the way into the frame before it's stopped by a busted latch.
This can be caused by broken tumblers inside your latch or lock mechanism, or your latch could have been knocked out of alignment so it can't go in or out of the door properly. It may also be related to a problem with the latch-side jamb if the entry has fallen out of square or become warped and the latch doesn't line up correctly with the latch hole anymore. Your Summerville handyman will be able to determine the cause of the issue and get it repaired or replace the latch mechanism.
6. Insect or Pet Damage
If you have a dog or cat who likes to gnaw or scratch at doors, you know exactly how much damage they can cause in a short amount of time. Whether it's surface damage or they have actually managed to dig a hole in your entryway, it needs door repair or replacement to get back to a secure condition and look its very best. Insect damage can be less obvious, though. It may look like a maze of holes or channels on the surface of a wooden slab, or the entryway may feel lighter than it used to when you move it because it has been partially hollowed out on the inside. If that's the case, replacement is definitely going to be the best course of action, and you may need to speak with an exterminator as well to make sure pests aren't going to come right back and damage your new installation.
7. Loose Hinges
Does your entryway shift and wobble when you move it because the hinges are loose? This is an annoying issue, but fortunately it's usually a pretty easy fix. Your Summerville handyman may just need to tighten up the screws, or take your slab down and rehang it. If it's loose because the wood that the hinge plate is screwed on to has rotted, your jamb or entry slab itself will need to be replaced. If the material under the hinge plate is damaged in some other way, your handyman may be able to salvage it by repositioning the hinges, but replacement may actually be the most cost-effective option because it's less time-consuming and you'll get better results.
8. Knob Doesn't Turn
If you have to struggle to turn the knob on your entry—or it never turns, regardless of how hard you twist—there's clearly a problem. This issue can make it very difficult to get a door open once it has latched, or that may not be a problem at all if you can't get it to latch in the first place. A knob that won't turn is most commonly related to a broken locking mechanism that is keeping the knob in a locked position, but it could be something simple like a build-up of carelessly-applied paint that has frozen the knob in position. Your handyman can attempt door repair by seeing if they can get the lock mechanism to spring open and work properly again, but if not, the whole knob may need to be replaced.
9. Sliding or Double Doors are Misaligned
Many Summerville homes have a set of double doors leading to the patio, or interior French doors that lead to a study or dining room. They let natural light into or through the house and give the entire space an elegant, sophisticated touch. But they can also be an irritating problem if the two sides are misaligned and the latch in the middle doesn't meet up properly. Or you may have a patio entry made of sliding glass panels that is always coming off it's tracks, or is too heavy to move all the way because of damage to the sliding mechanism. Our Summerville handyman team is experienced with double and sliding glass door repair, so we know what to do to get your entryway back in perfect shape and functioning properly. We can also add double or French entries if you don't already have them. Check out our tips on what to do before home remodeling.
10. Appearance is Outdated
Maybe there's nothing technically wrong with your entryway—you just don't like how it looks. It may be an outdated style, or a style that is mismatched with the rest of your house. If you want to give your Summerville home a big boost in curb appeal, we can remove your old entry and replace it with a new style that will increase property value and your own satisfaction with your home.
Or maybe the style is just fine, but the color is not right. We can paint your exterior doors and trim any color you like and resolve that situation quickly and easily. You may want to choose a color that is very similar to or matching with the rest of the house, but a contrasting color can also look really sharp on your entryway and surrounding trim.
Time for Door Repair or Replacement Services? Call Your Local Summerville Handyman!
Whether you are in Summerville, SC or another community in the Charleston area such as Johns Island, Mount Pleasant or Goose Creek, you can count on expert workmanship and excellent customer service from the team of Summerville handyman professionals at Mr. Handyman of Charleston and Summerville.
Pick up the phone and give us a call today at 843-940-7525 to schedule a convenient appointment time or to speak with our friendly customer service representatives and find out more about our reliable handyman services.
