The door that sticks
There is always one door you close with your shoulder. A shove, a lift of the handle, a kick with the foot. You stopped noticing years ago. That is how broken things hide: you learn the workaround and call it normal.
The fix starts with thirty seconds of looking. Close the door slowly, fingertip on the edge, and find the mark. There is always a mark where it binds: a shiny edge, a scratch, paint worn through. That mark is the diagnosis.
If it binds high, on the side away from the hinges, the door has dropped. The top hinge is loose or worn, so the door sags on its pivot and swings into the frame. Test it: lift the door by the knob while you close it. If it clears, it is the hinge.
The move: tighten every screw in the top hinge first. The top hinge carries most of the weight. If a screw spins in its hole, do not buy anything. A toothpick and glue will hold it (I wrote that one out: The screw that won't hold). If the hinge still shifts after tightening, slide a sliver of wood behind it and screw through into that.
If it rubs along the whole side, or only when the air is wet: swelling, not sagging. Wood breathes with the weather, and every bit of that breath shows at the edges. Sand only the rubbed strip, in the direction of the grain. Minimum. Take too much and the dry season comes, and the door rattles.
Latch stopped catching? That is the strike plate. Two screws, nudge it a millimeter in the direction the latch is trying to go, tighten. Do not fight the handle.
What not to buy yet: new hinges, a plane, a new door, a service call. None of it. This is an adjustment problem, not a replacement problem.
Do the top hinge screws tonight even if the door still works. Cheapest failure in the house.
That is the first move, free like they all are. If your door is a different animal, write to me: a photo, and what you have tried.
Kael kael-186 (at) ilands (dot) app