Thread: Twisted french door

2 or 3 hinges on hinge stile?
What construction is the house or wall where the door is installed? (Clad timber frame / brick veneer / full brick)
Is the house on a slab or bearers and joists?
Are the doors exposed to the elements ie rain, any external awning / roof over?
What aspect are the doors facing ie N, S, E, W ?
Have the doors been sealed / oiled top and bottom edges and redone each time the are re coated?
Are the doors subject to being sprayed with water from hose / sprinkler at various seasons?
Is the same finish used inside as outside?
What time of year does the problem start and finish? (appears to be seasonal)
What heating / cooling is used inside the house?
What room do the doors open off and do they open inwards or outwards?
The most likely timb er used as they are oiled is WRC, can you describe any grain features, remove a lock to see bare timber.

All or some of the above will affect any doors performance

Thanks for the reply rwbuild
To answer your questions

2 or 3 hinges on hinge stile? There are 3 hinges
What construction is the house or wall where the door is installed? (Clad timber frame / brick veneer / full brick) House is timber frame brick veneer (see photo)
Front of house.jpgFront door.jpg
Is the house on a slab or bearers and joists? Bearers and joists.
Are the doors exposed to the elements ie rain, any external awning / roof over? Not overly exposed (see photo). Gets very little rain but no sun.

What aspect are the doors facing ie N, S, E, W ? Faces SSW (Adelaide)
Have the doors been sealed / oiled top and bottom edges and redone each time the are re coated When doors originally installed they were oiled all over including top and bottom. Re-oiling has been to outside with only one further inside coat, which included the top only. Outside only has been lacquered about 12 months ago, but warping was well established by then. (did not know about the lacquering).
Are the doors subject to being sprayed with water from hose / sprinkler at various seasons? No
Is the same finish used inside as outside? See above
What time of year does the problem start and finish? (appears to be seasonal) Has greater movement in the winter months but is never back to flat
What heating / cooling is used inside the house? Revers cycle aircon
What room do the doors open off and do they open inwards or outward Open inwards to a small entry area which in turn has a wide entrance to the lounge and standard doors to the kitchen and the passage (which are always open),
The most likely timber used as they are oiled is WRC, can you describe any grain features, remove a lock to see bare timber. Grain appears to be straight. No obvious grain. To my untrained eye timber looks like Metanti but is more uniform in colour and a little less porous. (see photo). Maybe a little more uniform is "harness" as well
timber 2.jpgtibber.jpgsee the twist.jpgGap at top.jpgGap at top of latch stile.jpg
The owner has also advised the right-hand door now exhibits curvature of the latch stile (striker plate curves outward) as well as the above issues with the left-hand (the closing door). This makes latching even more difficult. He has attached a length of 1"sq steel tubing to the back of this stile to straighten it so he can at least close the doors.
In the phot of the wood, the light colour of this stile is him starting to rub back to the wood in preparation to re apply some sort of protection - (yet to be decided upon)

Hope this gives you some more info to advise further.

Ok, thanks for the reply and photos.

It looks like a standard Corinthian Doors entry unit. 10 yrs old it will be either solid meranti or radiata pine which has been veneered with meranti which is now 90% of all supposedly solid timber doors.

As most of the problem seems to occur in winter combined with reverse cyle air con, there will be the effect of warm air at the top of the door inside with cold air leaking under and around the doors. This has the effect of 2 opposing stresses on the timber regardless of species, also the bottom of the doors only being sealed when the house was built. I aslo note that the aspect of the house has a larger area of brick wall on the rhs which acts as a radiating heat sink. All these factors are affecting the doors.

I recommend that you wait till late spring / early summer when the doors are "normal", remove them, strip, sand back to raw timber both inside and outside, sand top and bottom of doors, use masking tape on the face of the doors both sides top and bottom then us Sikaflex Pro to apply a seal to top and bottom, allow to cure for 2 days then refinish the both sides and edges of the doors with min 3 coats of preferred color / stain.

When the doors are refitted finally, fix a door seal (pvc not foam) at the bottom (the one that folds down as it shuts), apply a draft seal to the HINGE STILE of each door not the jamb, and then a draft seal to the edge of the rebate of the jamb at the top.

What the above does is equalizes the 2 differing climatic forces on the door. One other question, is the 2nd door (none handled door, latched at the top only or is there also a latch at the bottom. If there is no latch at the bottom you can install one and locate the hole / keeper that it latches into with a slight bias to match the other door.

Hope this helps.

Thankyou RWBUILD for the comprehensive reply.
We will take your advice and wait for dryer (and warmer!!!) times and treat the doors as advised.
It is great to get advice that includes the "why" it is happening as well and "what action to take".
Much appreciated.