Does your bedroom door close on its own? If yes, the first thing that may come to your mind is a ghost has invaded your house!
Doors closing on their own are often the first signs of a haunted house, as seen in most horror films. But if your bedroom door just won’t stay open and you’re freaking out, we say, don’t!
A bedroom door closes on its own for a number of reasons, and you can keep it from closing too.
How to Keep Your Bedroom Door from Closing
You should immediately address the problem of the bedroom door closing. This is because it could lead to serious accidents.
The door could close against your pet cat or your children and cause serious injury. It could also close against your hand and hurt you bad.
So, if your bedroom door is closing on its own, you’ve got to do something about it right away!
Some of the ways you can keep your bedroom door from closing are:
Use a Door Wedge
A door wedge is a slanted block-like accessory that’s placed in the path of the door swing that keeps the door from closing.
A door wedge is a great way to keep your bedroom door from closing if you’ve got children or pets running between the rooms.
While door wedges do the job of keeping the doors from closing pretty well, they don’t offer a permanent solution. The door will still close if the wedge is removed.
If you ever forget to place the door wedge between the door and frame, the door will close itself. This can put you, your kids, or your pets at the risk of getting injured.
Install a Door Stopper
One of the simplest and quickest ways to keep your bedroom door from closing is installing a magnetic door stopper.
These door stoppers feature two magnetic components. One is installed on the bottom corner (opposite the side of the door is attached to the frame), and the other part is installed on the door.
The magnetic force holds the two components of the door stopper secured together, thereby preventing the door from closing.
But this wouldn’t address the root cause of what’s causing the door to close in the first place. When the magnetic door stopper stops working, you’ll find yourself facing the same problem again!
Place a Book or Piece of Cardboard Under the Hinge
Another temporary solution to self-closing doors is placing a thin piece of cardboard or a thin book or newspaper underneath the hinge. This would prevent the door from closing fully.
If there’s something stuck in the space between the door and hinge, the door will never close fully.
While this may seem like a cheap and effective way to keep your bedroom door from closing, it’s not.
You may not realize when the cardboard piece falls, and your door closes.
If you’re using this technique to keep your bedroom door from closing, you’ve got to be very vigilant to ensure the piece of cardboard you put underneath the hinge isn’t coming loose.
Tighten the Hinges
Another common reason why the door may be closing is the hinges becoming too loose to keep the door open.
One of the best ways to keep your bedroom door from closing is by tightening the hinges. Remove the door from the frame so that the hinges are fully accessible.
Use a screwdriver to tighten the hinges so that they don’t fold on their own.
If any screws are missing, make sure you secure your hinges with new screws. Once done, install the door back in place.
This should solve your problem of the door closing on its own.
Increase the Friction in the Hinges
One way to keep your bedroom door from closing is by increasing the friction in the hinges. You can do this by bending the hinge.
This is something that you can do yourself. All you’ll need is a vice grip and a hammer.
Use the claws of the vice grip to hold onto the hinge pin and clamp it down. The pin will come loose as you twist the vice grips in a clockwise direction.
If the hinge pin wouldn’t loosen with a vice grip alone, you can use a hammer to tap at the end of your vice grip to assist in loosening the hinge pin.
Once it has come loose, bend it. You can use a c-clamp to hold the hinge pin in place and then bend it using pliers.
After the hinge pin is bent, reinstall it to the hinge. Removing the pin is a lot easier than putting it back since it isn’t straight anymore.
You can always lubricate the end of the pin to ease its entry back into the socket.
Now check if the door is still closing on its own. If yes, repeat the process to bend the pin further for higher friction. Continue doing it till the door stops closing!
Ensure the Proper Alignment of the Door and Frame
As we’ve said earlier, one of the reasons why your door might close on its own is the poor alignment of the door and frame.
One way to address the problem is to restore the correct alignment of the door and frame. If the alignment was the reason why your door kept closing, it should be fixed.
If the door still closes, you’ve got to check what could be causing it.
Why Does a Door Close on its Own?
Every time you pull it open and turn away, the door closes. It can be extremely frustrating. The first thing that you would want an answer to is why does a door close on its own?
There are many reasons why your bedroom door closes on its own, and none of them is ‘a ghost.’
Let’s have a look at the many possible reasons that are causing your bedroom door to close.
Wind
One of the most common reasons for the bedroom door closing is wind from the bedroom windows.
As much as you would want to associate a door closing on its own with a ghost, it’s often the wind coming from the bedroom window or from any other opening in your house.
Pressure Difference
Is the pressure across different rooms in your house different? One of the many reasons why your bedroom door closes on its own is the pressure difference.
When you open your bedroom door, the area behind the door, that is, your bedroom becomes a low-pressure area.
The low-pressure bedroom pulls the air from the surrounding areas inside to restore the pressure balance.
However, the air that your bedroom door pulls in is sucked back by the surrounding areas, and this is what causes the bedroom door to close itself!
The Foundation of Your House Has Settled
The ground beneath us shifts all the time. It’s just that we don’t feel it. The tectonic plates deep under the ground are constantly moving.
Not only that, the ground material is constantly moving too. For example, the mud under the ground is pushed forward by water sucked by the ground following a long season of heavy rainfall.
No matter what the reason is, if the foundation of your house shifts, your house can settle. Settling of your house won’t be visible. You can, however, tell that the foundation has settled through signs.
One such sign is the doors closing on their own.
If your bedroom door closes on its own, it could be due to the settling of the foundation. When that happens, the frame of the door gets misaligned, and as a result, the door closes itself.
Loose Hinges
The doors can close on their own if the hinges of your door have become loose.
If your bedroom door closes on its own, you should check the hinges to rule this possibility out.
Poor Alignment of Door and Frame
Another common reason for your bedroom door closing is the poor alignment of your door and frame. Ideally, the door and frame must be properly aligned.
If the two aren’t aligned, the door will shut itself every time you leave it open.
This could be due to the door being aged, the foundation of your home settling, or the door coming loose at one of the hinges that are causing it to appear a be falling to one side.
The Bottom Line
It’s not okay to let your bedroom door close on its own. It’s extremely dangerous. If your bedroom door keeps closing and you can’t figure out why it’s happening, it’s best to call a contractor.
Ignoring it isn’t the wisest thing to do. You may not find anything wrong with it just yet; you might regret not getting it fixed if, God forbid, an accident occurs!
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