Be Excellent To Each Other

Help me, beex hivemind.

My front door is a pretty standard looking uPVC jobby. It has three hinges. Long ago, the retaining cap and the pivoting dowel fell out of the middle hinge and was lost, so it's only had two hinges since forever. Now I think the top hinge's dowel has bent, probably because of the increased torque on it because of the missing middle hinge. The door is drooping slightly in the frame, and is fiddly to open/close/lock/unlock because of it. You need to lift the handle a little to get the security bolts to clear the frame.

Clearly, this needs fixing.

Replacing the missing and broken pieces of dowel does not appear to be the right answer; they aren't particularly standard, based on a quick Google. Replacing the entire hinge assembly looks more like what I should be doing. But this raises some questions:

1) What do I need to know when shopping for these hinges? What types do they come in, and what's the difference between them?
2) How do the hinges mount to door and frame? Is it just machine screws into pre-drilled holes?
3) Are the mounting holes for the hinges in the door and frame a standard size? Do I need to be careful that the hinges I buy replace the ones I have directly?
4) Anything else I should be aware of?

If the sizes are standard (I know this is the case for the locks on uPVC doors), then this looks like a pretty easy job.

Cheers!

When I needed some new bits for our patio door I just took them off, went to the industrial estate and found a window fitters, they had a rummage in the back and came out with some parts that were right.

The only problem with this approach is that it leaves me with no front door for some period of time. Which is a little impractical from a security and escaping dog perspective.

Ooh, although actually, I can take the redundant middle hinge off. Winner!

Happy to help

Are you going to replace all the hinges? If there's a chance the top and bottom ones are a bit bent you may as well do them all whilst the door is off.

What about replacing the whole door? I have a composite front door and it's blue.. Like the Tardis.

BeeX: Why spend £2 when you could spend £300?

Yes, I'll absolutely do all three.

So that's 1, replace the hinge. 2, replace all 3 hinges. 3, replace the door with a composite door.

Happy to help

Ooh. This happened on my new house.

I reported it under snagging and they fixed it.

So 4. Buy an entire new house?

Was going to suggest this but did not on the grounds I did not want to be seen taking the piss.

HTH

Alternatively, if its under 10 years old it is legally required to have FENSA repair cover and insurance by the fitter. You may find details in the docs when you bought the house.

I *chuckle* always knew *snort* you were *guffaw* a little unhinged.

Hah. It might just about be that age, but it was fitted by the previous owner and his brother-in-law (who worked for a double glazing firm). So unlikely.