Cabinet Door Screws Keep Coming Loose

If the door is flush and parallel with other doors but too high or low use the mounting screws to raise or lower the mounting plates.

Cabinet door screws keep coming loose. For example a screw installed into wood that has worn down over time and no longer maintains the opposite thread pattern from the original installation of the screw will not provide sufficient friction to keep a screw tight. Ten cent fix for a loose knob. How to tighten stripped hinge screws. Using glue and shims to repair loose hinge screws.

When the door or drawer is not thick enough for the screw to tighten the knob flush against it grasping that perpetually wobbly knob each day can be an enduring pain. Let the door hang by itself. If a screw is inserted into a substance that cannot provide sufficient friction it will be loose. Unless they re tightened immediately the screws will enlarge and strip the holes until it s impossible to tighten them.

If the hinge and jamb are painted cut the paint around the leaf with a utility knife swing the leaf away from the jamb. Check the fit of the door after each adjustment. Open the door grasp it. A quick convenient cure can be found just inside one of the cabinets.

Some mounting plates adjust by turning a single screw. It kept backing out on its own. If you want a quicker method that doesn t require boring out the holes try filling the stripped holes with golf tees matchsticks or toothpicks wood anchors or cyanoacrylate glue. You can see in the image below the loose screw was on my door lock striker.

The small screws used to secure kitchen cabinet door hinges to the face frames of cabinets often work their way loose over time. I see this often on kitchen cabinet hinges and doors regular door hinges and areas that get worked or moved a lot. If the loose holes are in a solid piece of wood like a door frame drill them out and fill them with wooden dowels to create a new surface for the screws to go into. Most hinge problems can be solved with nothing more than a screwdriver.

Loose hinges can cause a door to stick bind or scrape the floor. Open and close the door several times to make sure the screws don t work loose right away. Remove the screws that hold the loose hinge leaf to the door jamb. First check that the hinge screws are tight.

Loosen the screws at both hinges slide the door up or down and tighten the screws. If you can t get the hinge secured back the screws all the way out take off the hinge and look at the wood beneath it. If they do then the screw holes need repair. Lucky for you it is easy to tighten loose hinges and make your doors work like new.