How to adjust UPVC door hinges

[tuggy12]

I had a upvc conservatory installed 6 years ago but lately I've had problems with the door, especially on warm days.

It is a hinge mounted single door with three hinges like this:

Lately the door is not latching closed properly ( when just closing the door without activating the multilock).

The door is hinged on the left and I'm sure if I could move it over to the right about 2mm and up 2mm it would latch ok.

I have the correct allen key and can access the adjusters shown in the diagram above.

The vertical adjusters are plastic (castellated?) and it will not turn at all - if I try any harder I think I'll strip the hexagon in the plastic.

The horizonal adjusters turn but don't move the door at all.

Could these be just seized up or am I doing something totally wrong?

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[crank39]

First of all if the doors not latching then look on the striker plate (the latch) on the frame, this should be adjustable. There should be a tiny screw just above and below the latch, undo a 1/4 turn on each and the striker should slide in and out, pull it right out, tighten the screws to lock it in place and shut the door, it will probably rattle now though so just keep edging the striker back till you find a happy medium.

Try this first but failing that make sure the door hasn't dropped (settled) so that the sprung latch doesn't line up with the striker, this will cause it not to latch too

 

[DoubleGlazingDoctorBirmin]

If the door has dropped and the latch is out of line there are three fixes.
1. Proper fix is to re pack the glazing to lift the door back into square and properly distribute /point the load/weight,this is called `Toe & Heeling` as a layman i dont suggest you try this but get a local repair man in(if ur door is out of guarantee) .
2. What you can easily do is unscrew the centre keep on the frame and refix it 3-4 mm lower down.This isnt the ideal fix as the door may just keep dropping further out of square and will show up again or it may last for years.
3. Drop some WD 40 down your hinges and then lift the door from the underneath vertical adjuster,if the hinge body is allready split apart( the picture shows the two halves touching) and the split is about 5-7mm then the adjustment as allready been used up,if the adjustment is still there, with the door closed/pushed too, but with the door bolts not engaged, get some help to jack the door leaf up say 10mm to take the load/weight of the hinge adjuster,** DONT **do this while the door is open as you may lift the door straight off the hinges !! And they do weigh an awfull lot. If you do get the adjuster to lift the door make sure you adjust the other two until they start to resist again so that all three are still taking the weight of the door.

Cheers Alan

 

[tuggy12]

Many thanks to you both.

It looks like the door has dropped causing the sprung latch to be out of line.
Also it looks like the latch will only latch by about 1mm and that's why I wanted to adjust the door horizontally as well.

I've sprayed some WD40 down the hinges and also on the horizonal adjustment block in the part of the hinge attached to the door. I'll leave it a couple of hours.

The horizonal adjusters are fastened to the door with 6 screws. Do these have to be loosened before turning the horizontal adjuster bolt?

Thanks for you help.

 

[crank39]

No, they just clamp the whole job lot to the door, if you can see these then you've obviously took the front off the hinge, just turn the horizontal allen bolt one way or the other to move the door over but note turning it one way will seem loose, this is just the slack and with 3 or 4 turns will tighten up and start moving the door.

Incidentally, if you just adjust the bottom hinge and maybe just a touch on the middle one to move the door over you may find that its pivoted on the top hinge and lifted the door enough for the latch to line up (to a degree) with the striker

 

[tuggy12]

Well the WD40 seems to have done the trick !!

Have moved the whole door up by about 2mm and horizontally by about 2mm at the bottom and 1mm at the top and in between in the middle.

The door is now latching and closing perfectly.

Thank you both for your help.

If it does move again in the future, I'll do as you say and get it properly toed & heeled by a DGDoc.

 

[dollyknockers]

Thank you for asking this question and even more thanks to the guys who answered it.

I now have a door that opens and closes without having to be wrestled with!