My basement door is stuck shut.

[atommom]

It's stuck at the top, and it's stuck very, very tightly. I've tried everything I can think of (mostly various kinds of yanking and swearing), and I cannot budge the damn thing. I even tried setting my A/C to a lower temperature, to reduce the humidity in here a bit, but I still can't open the door. Any suggestions?

[Stinky The Clown]

1. Can you get to the other side of it by another route?

Get to the side where the hinge pins are visible. Remove the hinge pins and then you should be able to get the door out. Shave it down and the part where it sticks and put it back on the hinges.

[Jersey Devil]

2. 2 recommendations

1 - Wait until the humidity outside is low for a few days and then try again.

2 - take the hinges off and then give it a good shove from the outside.

[atommom]

3. Apparently there's a precise angle at which the door has to be

yanked. It is now open, and I'm looking for tools to shave the top of it down. :eyes:

[Stinky The Clown]

4. I don't know how well equipped your 'shop' is ..... but ......

There are several ways to 'shave' the door.

The most basic way is to use a plane. A couple of cautions ...... the grain of the door's internal 'frame' at the top and bottom runs perpendicular to the grain of the door's skin. The natural inclinatin is to shave the the door from one end to the other and just run the plane off the far end. This could cause the door's skin to splinter and chip. It is better to plane in toward the center starting at each end. This is less likely to splinter your door's skin.

An easier way to do it is to use a power saw. A table saw is the best way. Lay the door on the saw and run it past the blade. If you're shaving the top or bottom, just cut it off with the blade set to 90°. If you have to shave the side of the door, only do it on the side **opposite** the hinges so as to not screw up the hinge mortises. It is best to trim this at an 85° angle. Let the angle run ion the same direction as the tongue of the door lock. In other words, look at the door lock tongue that sticks out from the side of the door. See how the tongue angles toward the strike plate? You want the 85° angle to run in the same direction. (Obviously, you need to remove the door hardware before you do the cutting!) (If this is unclear, please ask me and I'll try to explain it differently.)

Man .... a picture's worth a thousand words in this case!

[atommom]

5. Thanks for the tips! Don't have a power saw, so will probably be

using the plane instead (and maybe even correctly, now that I know about the woodgrain issue!) ;)