A door that does not close properly is one of those faults you notice every single day. It drags on the carpet, rattles in the wind, swings open on its own or needs a shoulder to latch. Doors are also some of the hardest-working parts of a house, opened and closed thousands of times a year, and the hinges, latches and frames all wear. Our door repair and installation service covers everything from a five-minute hinge adjustment to hanging a complete set of new doors through a renovated home.

We repair and install doors across Dandenong, Noble Park, Springvale, Keysborough, Endeavour Hills, Doveton and the surrounding suburbs. Door problems in this part of Melbourne have some familiar local causes, and understanding them is the difference between a fix that lasts and one that needs redoing in six months.

Why doors stop working properly

Ground movement on reactive clay

Much of the land around Dandenong, Noble Park and Keysborough sits on reactive clay that swells when wet and shrinks when dry. As the slab or stumps move slightly with the seasons, door frames go out of square. A door that closed perfectly in March may bind at the top corner by August. In most homes this is normal seasonal movement and can be managed by adjusting hinges, easing the door edge or repositioning the strike plate. A door that suddenly jams after years of working well, especially alongside new cracks above the frame, can point to a bigger issue and is worth having assessed.

Sagging hinges and loose screws

The top hinge carries most of the weight of a door. Over time the screws work loose in the frame, especially in softwood jambs or where short screws were used originally. The door drops at the latch side, catches on the frame and stops latching. Replacing one screw in the top hinge with a longer screw that bites into the wall stud often pulls the door straight again. Where the screw holes are stripped, we plug and re-drill them so the hinge holds firmly.

Humidity and swelling

Hollow-core and solid timber doors absorb moisture. Bathroom and laundry doors in particular swell in winter, and an external door facing the weather can swell enough to bind across the whole head. If the edges were never sealed with paint, they absorb even more. We plane the binding edge, then seal the raw timber so it does not happen again.

Worn latches and handles

Latches wear, springs weaken and handles loosen on their spindles. Old privacy sets in particular can jam with someone inside, which is a common call-out. Replacing the latch and handle is usually quicker and more reliable than repairing a worn mechanism.

Door repairs we carry out

• Adjusting and re-hanging sticking, binding or sagging doors
• Planing door edges and resealing exposed timber
• Replacing hinges, including upgrading to heavier hinges on solid doors
• Repairing stripped screw holes and loose hinge jambs
• Repositioning strike plates so doors latch cleanly
• Replacing door handles, levers, knobs, privacy sets and passage sets
• Fitting new deadbolts and entrance sets on timber doors (non-electronic)
• Installing door stops, door holders and wall protectors
• Repairing splits and holes in hollow-core doors, or replacing the door where repair is not worthwhile
• Fitting and adjusting door closers on gates and commercial doors
• Replacing weather seals, door snakes and threshold strips
• Adjusting and repairing sliding wardrobe doors, including wheels and floor guides
• Freeing and servicing cavity sliding doors that have come off their track

Door installation

Replacing doors is one of the most effective ways to lift the look of an older home. Many houses from the 1970s and 80s around Endeavour Hills and Dandenong North still have their original flush hollow-core doors, often with dated hardware and decades of knocks. New doors with modern lever handles make an immediate difference.

Internal doors

We hang new internal doors into existing frames, which involves trimming the door to fit, cutting hinge recesses, fitting the latch and handle, and adjusting for an even gap all round. Older frames are rarely perfectly square, so each door is scribed to its own opening rather than cut to a standard size. We can also replace architraves at the same time if the old ones are damaged or you want a different profile.

External doors

Front and back doors take more weather and need more care. We fit solid-core or solid timber external doors, seal all six faces before hanging so moisture cannot get into the timber, install appropriate weather seals and fit the entrance hardware. Replacing a door frame or adding a sidelight is structural and may need a builder, but most door replacements into existing frames are straightforward handyman work.

Sliding and cavity doors

Sliding robe doors and cavity sliders have their own hardware. Robe doors often derail because the bottom guide has broken or the top track is bent. Cavity sliders tend to fail when the track or rollers wear. We replace tracks, rollers and guides, adjust the door height, and fit soft-close mechanisms if wanted.

Security and screen doors

Security doors and screen doors need to be fitted squarely and securely to the frame. We install off-the-shelf screen doors and hang custom security doors supplied by a manufacturer, and we repair and re-hang existing screen doors that have dropped.

How we repair a sticking door

Every door is a little different, but the process usually follows the same steps:

1. Watch the door open and close, and note exactly where it binds, rubs or fails to latch.

2. Check the hinges for loose screws, bent knuckles or wear, and check the frame for square.

3. Tighten or replace hinge screws, using a long screw into the stud on the top hinge where needed.

4. If the door still binds, mark the high spot and plane only what needs to be removed.

5. Seal any raw timber we have exposed with primer or paint.

6. Reposition the strike plate if the latch does not engage cleanly.

7. Test repeatedly through the full swing, then lubricate the hinges and latch.

Removing too much timber is a common DIY mistake. Once a door is planed, the gap does not come back, and an over-planed door rattles and lets light and draughts through. We take off as little as possible and fix the cause first.

Door hardware choices

If you are replacing handles across the house, it is worth thinking about consistency and function. Lever handles are easier for children, older people and anyone with arthritis than round knobs. Privacy sets with an emergency release are sensible for bathrooms and toilets. Matte black, brushed nickel and satin chrome are the most popular finishes at the moment and suit both older and newer homes. We are happy to fit hardware you have chosen or recommend reliable options from Australian suppliers.

Doors in rentals and investment properties

Doors are one of the most common items on outgoing inspection reports. Holes from door handles hitting the wall, damaged door faces, broken privacy locks and wardrobe doors off their tracks all come up. We repair or replace these quickly and provide photos for the property manager. For rental properties, Victoria’s minimum standards include requirements for external entry doors to be fitted with functioning deadlocks or locks that can be operated from inside without a key, and we can fit compliant non-electronic hardware. See end-of-lease repairs for more.

Door problems by room

Bathrooms and toilets

Wet-area doors swell more than any other door in the house, and the privacy lock is used many times a day. A bathroom door that binds also tends to get slammed to close it, which loosens the hinges further. We ease and seal the door, check the latch lines up with the strike, and fit a reliable privacy set with an outside emergency release so a locked-in child can be reached quickly.

Laundries and back doors

Back doors in Dandenong homes often lead straight to the yard and take the full weather. The bottom of the door is the most vulnerable point, as rain splashes up and the unsealed bottom edge soaks it in. A door with a swollen, delaminating bottom edge can sometimes be trimmed and sealed, but if the core has rotted we recommend replacement with a solid-core external door and a proper weather seal.

Bedrooms

Bedroom doors are often left wedged open and get bumped by furniture. Holes punched in hollow-core skins by door handles or knocks are common. Small holes can be filled and painted, but a large split usually means a new door is the better value, especially as a matched set throughout the hall looks far better than a patched one.

Garages and side entries

The internal door between a garage and the house should be solid and close properly, both for security and to keep fumes and dust out. We fit solid-core doors and self-closing hinges where wanted, and replace worn deadbolts with keyed hardware.

Signs a door needs replacing rather than repairing

Repair is usually the first choice, but sometimes replacement is better value. A door is probably due for replacement if the skin is delaminating or split in several places, the bottom edge has rotted, the door has been planed so many times that the gaps are excessive, or it is warped enough that it will not sit flat against the stops no matter how the hinges are adjusted. We will give you an honest view, because a repair that only lasts a few months is no saving at all.

Where we work

We repair and hang doors throughout our service areas, from Doveton and Eumemmerring to Springvale South and Noble Park North.

Related services

Door work often goes hand in hand with plaster and wall patching where a handle has punched through the wall, painting touch-ups after hanging new doors, floor and skirting repairs and general carpentry.

Frequently asked questions