Doors and Windows - Sagging exterior French door

I have an exterior french door that appears to be sagging in the middle, causing the door that opens to not close properly. What would be the best method of fixing this? Would shimming be the best method, or using a floor jack to raise the upper part of the door frame back to its original location and then use shims? It appears that the sag is about 1/4 to 3/8 in the middle (you can see where the sag is away from the bricks). The door is only 10 years old, and other than the sag, in excellent condition as it opens on to a porch.

hi
if it sagging in the middle there some issue to check
1. rotten sill or under door sill
2. could be jack stud lifting
if it was me i would remove the complete door and check whats the cause.
It's lots of work but to me it's the best way
been there done that
tempory fix is temp only
so do it right and trouble free after

good luck

pg

It all depends on how the door is hinged and which way it's sagging. Recently I had to fix a French door that someone ELSE had installed... it was a RH OX door, so when looking at the door from the outside, the door hinged in the middle. What happened in that case (as pgtek mentioned) was the threshold had sagged due to inadequate support under the sill. The fix was to pull the carpet back, and with a hammer and prybar, raise the center mullion of the door and insert a 1/4" shim.

So perhaps that is something you could try. Just hammer a prybar underneath the door (right below the hinges) and see if that makes the door operate better. If it does, put a shim under there, and that will help... until the next time it needs an adjustment.

The hinge pins are located at the center of the door. This door was installed by someone else, and I can't find any sagging in the floor joists to speak of. I have a feeling that when the door was installed, it wasn't adequately supported in the middle. Your suggesting of shoving a prybar in there sounds like that's the way to go. I'll give it a try.

Yeah, if it won't move, it's likely been caulked and nailed in place, so you'll want to cut the caulking loose, perhaps remove the brickmould, before prying too hard. You will probably have to shim under the threshold at the hinges, and again under the sidelight. Probably an out of level floor.