Door repair and installation in Toronto usually starts with a door that no longer fits the opening it was hung in. Old city houses move. Frames go out of square, latches miss the strike, and the bottom rail drags on the floor.
I am Sercan, and I do this work myself across the old city, from Parkdale and the Annex through Riverdale and the Beach. Some doors need an hour of adjustment. Others are past saving and want a new pre-hung unit. I will tell you which, and agree the price before I start.
Downtown Toronto houses built before 1950 have plaster and lath walls and door frames set into openings that have shifted with the foundation. Hinge screws pull out of soft old jamb wood, and decades of paint have usually sealed the hinge knuckles and the stop. Many still carry mortise locks with a keyhole rather than a modern bore, so a new slab means matching old hardware or filling and re-boring. On permit-parking streets I unload once and carry everything in.
Mon – Sat: 8:00 AM – 8:00 PM
Sunday: By appointment
I look at the gap around the door before touching anything. Where it is tight, where it is wide, and how the latch meets the strike tells me whether the trouble is the hinges, the jamb, the floor or the door itself.
Most doors come right by resetting hinge screws into framing, plugging stripped holes, shimming a hinge leaf or re-cutting the strike plate. Planing stays a last resort, and any bare edge gets sealed once the fit is correct.
Where a door or jamb is past saving, the hinge jamb is set plumb and shimmed behind every hinge, the reveal is checked from top to bottom, and hardware is bored and mortised to fit rather than forced into place.
The door is swung through its full arc, left at several positions to confirm it stays put, then latched and unlatched repeatedly with the strike adjusted until it catches cleanly without needing a shove.
Adjusting a door that drags is usually short work, and several doors in the same visit share one setup. Cost rises with an opening that is out of plumb, a sagging or split jamb, hardware that has been repaired badly before, or an exterior door where the threshold and weather stripping also need attention. Fitting a slab into an existing jamb takes longer than hanging a pre-hung unit, because the hinges have to be mortised and the hardware bored. Doors and hardware can be supplied either way, and the price is agreed before work starts.
Nothing starts before the price is agreed. Send a photo or two with your request and I can usually quote without a site visit.
Usually yes. In older Toronto houses the swelling is seasonal, and the fix is planing the exact edge that binds, then sealing the bare wood so it stops taking on moisture. Sometimes the real problem is a hinge screw that has lost its grip in old jamb wood, which I repair with longer screws driven into the framing. I only suggest a new door when the slab itself is warped.
Tell me what needs fixing and get a free, no-obligation quote — I usually reply within one business day.