How to temporarily remove one hinge on a door with two hinges

Question

I have several interior doors with two hinges, where some of the screw holes are stripped. Using longer screws or toothpicks and glue didn’t work, and I would like to fill the holes with epoxy and drill new holes in the epoxy. But I don’t want to take the door off the frame. Is it possible to place shims under the door to support it while I remove one hinge at a time? Details on how to support the door would be helpful.

Answer 1

Your best bet is to simply remove both hinge pins and remove the door from the frame. Attempting to swing it and prop it open on only one of two hinges will carry a not insignificant risk of the door falling and ripping the other hinge out of the door (most likely for standard, hollow-core interior doors) or frame.

On the rare occasions that the hinge pin isn't removable (for any reason), remove the screws from both hinges and take the door off while repairing the holes in the jamb.

Answer 2

Yes, it is possible to hold the weight of the door on shims. Door wedges would be ideal. Otherwise, open the door then jam under whatever will fit.

If you're removing the top hinge, the door will want to fall over sideways. Make sure it's propped up on something sturdy, such as a heavy bit of furniture.

Then avoid doing anything to the door until your filler has dried, and both hinges are back on again.

Answer 3

I agree with the answers suggesting wedging the door and propping it from the side so it can't tip over. Only if the door is particularly heavy might this be unacceptably risky to you.

But definitely use glued dowels rather than epoxy. Obviously, drill out the stripped screw holes in the wood to clean them up and make the dowels fit snugly - don't just hammer a slim dowel into the damaged screw hole! If they are a sufficiently tight fit then you can drill and refit the hinge straightaway without waiting for the glue to dry, though it wouldn't hurt to keep the wedge and prop in place for 24 hours just in case.

I've actually done this without even removing the hinge - one screw at a time - by finding a dowel that was small enough to push through the hinge holes, yet large enough to be a very tight fit in the wood. (The hinge had somewhat large holes.)

Answer 4

Is it possible to place shims under the door to support it while I remove one hinge at a time?

Yes. Should you? Probably not with shims alone.

Epoxy usually has a 24 hour cure time and the risk of you knocking the door over in the meantime is not negligible.

If you have several of these doors then you could fashion some sort of wide-stanced brace to prevent the door from falling forward or backwards while you do your work. Make the bottom plate thin enough to go under all of your doors and shim for the ones further off the ground.

Answer 5

There are a few possible solutions:

1. Use a Winbag Air Wedge. This is a bag that can be pumped up with air to support the door. This will not hold the door in place however so the door could still tilt and fall. You would need to combine it with something to hold the door upright
2. Build a simple jig that fits around and under the door. You would slide this into the open door and it would support it from tipping or drooping. I imagine something similar to a bike rack where the tire is supported