Currently, to protect their home, people are increasingly installing metal entrance doors that have an aesthetic appearance and a fairly long service life. But since the front door is the most frequently used element of modern housing, the loads on it are quite large. Even the highest quality modern models begin to creak and close poorly over time.
That is why it is necessary to periodically lubricate and adjust the entrance doors. It is not very difficult to master the technique of performing step-by-step instructions on the basis of the advice and recommendations of specialists. It is enough to purchase the necessary materials and tools, and you can begin to carry out adjustment operations with your own hands.
Signs of the need for door adjustment
Entrance door adjustment is necessary if the following symptoms appear:
- characteristic creak when opening and closing doors;
- loose fit of the door leaf to the box;
- the occurrence of friction of the door on the jamb;
- a rather heavy stroke of the door leaf, because of which it is sometimes even impossible to close it;
- the occurrence of drafts.
Drafts can appear if the door is not seasonally adjusted, which should be done twice a year, when changing the winter and summer periods.
Before you start adjusting the entrance metal doors yourself, make sure that the warranty period for the operation of the product has not yet expired. If the warranty has not yet expired, feel free to call the wizard. All work will be performed by an experienced specialist for free.
Simple door fault detection methods
In addition to visual mechanical failures, which indicate that there is a need to adjust the input metal doors, there are some simple diagnostic methods.
If you put a sheet of plain paper between the door frame and the canvas and hold it with your hand, then with the door closed, the sheet should remain clamped. Carrying out such an operation around the entire perimeter of the box, we make sure that if the paper is pulled out with the same effort, it means that the adjustment of the entrance doors is not necessary. If in some places a sheet of paper is pulled out without effort, it means that the door does not fit snugly on the box, therefore, you need to think about carrying out this operation.
You can also learn about the correct operation of the front door with a simple pencil. To do this, closing the door, you need to draw a pencil around the perimeter of the box. The installation is indicated by the parallelism of the line and the edge of the door. Otherwise, you need to adjust the entrance doors.
Causes of defects
In the construction market, most of the products are represented by manufacturers from China. But the fact of the Chinese assembly can not be judged on the poor quality of the front doors.
There are main reasons that can lead to a malfunction of the doorway:
- the large weight of the canvas is the main factor in the occurrence of the defect;
- errors of inexperienced masters during the installation process;
- possible defects that occurred during the manufacture of the door, as well as defects in the material;
- wear of the main elements of the door during operation.
Tool required for adjustment
To reduce the complexity of the adjustment work, you must have special tools:
- pliers or pliers;
- set of hexagonal keys of the L-shaped form;
- a screwdriver with a set of bits or a screwdriver;
To lubricate the door hinges, it is necessary to purchase an aerosol of technical grade WD-40 or machine oil.
Set of operations for door adjustment
The process of adjusting the front door with your own hands includes not only work to eliminate the problems that have arisen, but also a number of measures that can prevent their occurrence during further operation.
These procedures include:
- cleaning from various contaminants and dust of the main active parts of the structure;
- carrying out the lubrication process and the necessary lock settings;
- checking and, if necessary, replacing the rubber gasket;
- clamp of the accessories shaken over time;
- carrying out adjustment operations of the door finishing mechanism;
- adjustment of canopies and hinges of a door leaf.
All this complex of work is easy to carry out independently, following the advice and recommendations of specialists.
Door adjustment mechanism adjustment
Modern metal door designs do not use open springs for automatic closing. Instead of such a simple device, a special door finishing system is used. Structurally, the closer is a metal spring installed in a housing that is filled with oil. This solution provides a smooth movement and closing the door. Therefore, a complex door closer system needs to be serviced and adjusted periodically.
Adjustment of the debugging system is necessarily done when the doors are installed, but over time, the oil in the housing thickens and needs to be replaced.
The first adjustment of the finishing system is to change the closing speed of the front doors. This is achieved by turning one of the adjustment valves in the required direction. In this way, a certain tension of the inner spring occurs.
The closer is also equipped with a special lock, which makes it possible in necessary life situations to leave the door open. To perform this task, you need to open the door 90 ° and tighten the lock.
To smoothly open the door, the valve adjustment nut rotates counterclockwise. Turning the nut clockwise greatly speeds up the opening mode.
Setting door hinges
The appearance of a characteristic creak often indicates that the time has come to adjust the hinges of the front door. If such a problem arose, it is first necessary to clean the loops from dust and dirt, as well as lubricating the rubbing surfaces. For lubricating operations, it is best to use simple machine oil.
An important step when installing the door is the correct adjustment of the gap between the upper platband and the door leaf. To make adjustments easier later, the clearance on the side of the awnings should be less than on the side of the door. This will eliminate the friction of the door leaf on the platband and extend the life of the parts.
Step-by-step instructions for adjusting loops
According to the instructions, the adjustment of the entrance doors can be carried out several times, until the friction of the surfaces and, as a result, the creak disappear completely.
The main stages of adjustment work:
- Using the socket wrench, you must first loosen the hinge, starting in the middle.
- After loosening the hinges, gently pull the door leaf closer to the box. Then slightly tighten the end nut.
- Shaking the door slightly, return the hinges to their place. Then squeeze them carefully, being careful not to knock down the position.
- You can control the settings made several times by opening and closing the doors.
If after adjusting operations it was not possible to achieve a positive result, then, probably, the loops have already worn out. It is better to entrust the replacement of this element to specialists, since for hidden loops a special tool may be needed.
Features of adjusting plastic doors
Modern technologies make it possible to produce plastic entrance doors, which are becoming more and more popular every day. Unlike metal doors, the plastic structure is lightweight, which allows it to be used both as interior and exterior doors.
Installing plastic doors does not cause much trouble, but the adjustment methods cause many difficulties, since manufacturers do not submit instructions for adjusting.
Despite the low weight, the same problems can arise during the operation of plastic entrance doors as in metal structures.
Adjusting the plastic entrance doors has three standard types:
- vertical adjustment;
- horizontal adjustment;
- door clamp adjustment.
The characteristic features by which the need for adjustment is determined are similar to those of metal entrance doors.
Adjustable vertically
This type of adjustment of the plastic entrance doors is carried out independently when it becomes necessary to raise or lower the entire canvas. For these purposes, you need to find a special adjusting screw. It is located on the lower end of the loop and is directed along its axis.
The adjustment process consists in rotating the screw using a five millimeter hexagon. When turned clockwise, the door leaf will rise slightly. Turning the screw in the opposite direction helps lower the doors.
Horizontal adjustment
Adjusting operations in the horizontal plane must be carried out if there is a slight sagging of the front door.
In this case:
- First of all, it is necessary to get to the screws holding the door linings of a decorative type. Further, having completely opened the door, unscrew the screws from the upper hinges.
- Closing the door, remove the lining. A long screw located in a horizontal plane will carry out adjusting actions.
- By tightening the adjustment screw in the upper and middle loops, we eliminate the distortion of the web.
- To evenly move the door leaf, it is necessary to press the screw in the lower hinge.
Next, install the decorative pads in the reverse order.
Adjustment of a clip of a plastic door
When changing the season, it is necessary to adjust the clamping force of the front door. For the summer season, the clamp must be loosened, but for the winter - a little strengthened.
To change the clamping force, you need to determine where the special locking pin is located on the door. The trunnion has a defined notch that indicates the current state of the clamp. When switching to the winter season, the pin must be turned by a notch from the frame of the doorway, which will correspond to the strengthening of the clip. Doing so in the opposite direction will weaken the clamping force.
As you can see, adjusting the entrance doors is not a very difficult job. The main thing is to timely determine the presence of a malfunction in order to prevent breakage of door parts. Adjustment can be done independently, while replacing elements that fail, will lead to monetary losses.