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Hinges

Door Catches On Sloping Floor

Question: I have an older home that has settled and left the kitchen floor with a slope. The slope really doesn’t bother me and I do not have the finances available to put the floor back into a level position. The problem I have is that the kitchen door catches on the slope when it is opened.

If I trim the bottom to allow for the slope, I will end up with a large gap under the door when it is in the closed position. Do you have any suggestions?

Answer: You can try to use "rising butt hinges", as shown in Figure 1. A rising butt hinge will raise the door 1/2 to 5/8 inch as it opens. They are primarily designed to raise doors so that they clear thick carpeting.

rising butt hinge

Figure 1 - Rising butt hinge

However, using raising butt hinges can cause other problems.

  • Doors hung on raised butt hinges, due to the hinge design, tend to close all by themselves.
  • It may be necessary to trim the top of the door to give it clearance to rise as the door is opened.

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