A door that rubs, drags, drops, bangs shut or won't catch is usually a two-hour fix, and that's the work this page covers: hinges, strikes, cracked jambs, closers and repainting. We drive to houses across Bethany, Cedar Mill, Beaverton and their neighbors. Fixing one door this way typically runs $120-$400 in labor around Portland (market survey, November 2026) .
Slava does the repair himself; he has spent 7 years hanging, trimming and fixing doors with his own hands.
Which door repairs can one handyman visit take care of?
Nearly everything that's mechanical. A slab that scrapes gets planed, shimmed or rehung. A latch that won't catch gets its strike moved. Worn butts come off, chewed-out screw holes get plugged, and a cracked jamb gets glued or patched with new casing on top. We also mount and tune hydraulic closers, and paint or refinish slabs.
Press a screwdriver into the lowest foot of an outside jamb. If it sinks in, you're dealing with decay, not adjustment, and that job lives on its own page: rot in the lower jamb and sill. Patio sliders have a separate French and sliding door page, and pocket or bifold doors are handled with interior doors.
We pass on garage doors and on rekeying. Both sit on our page of declined work, with a pointer to the right trade for each.
How much should a door fix cost around Portland?
Each number is a metro-wide market figure gathered in November 2026, covering labor only; hardware (hinges, strikes, a closer body) is billed on top . Prices are per visit unless the row says per door.
| Work | Usual | Low to high | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Freeing a binding or drooping slab | $250 | $150 to $400 | 2 |
| Getting a latch to catch again | $200 | $120 to $300 | 1.5 |
| New hinges, stripped holes filled | $200 | $120 to $300 | 1.5 |
| Cracked or forced jamb, new casing | $450 | $250 to $900 | 4 |
| Closer installed or regulated | $250 | $150 to $400 | 2 |
| Paint or refinish, per door | $300 | $150 to $600 | 3 |
A bill climbs when the slab must be lifted off and carried to sawhorses, when it's solid-core and heavy, when there's old paint on the edge, or when a cracked jamb won't take glue and needs a fresh piece of wood let in.
Why do doors swell and stick once the rain starts, and is planing the answer?
From October on, wood here soaks up moisture, and a slab and its frame both grow a touch. A door that swung freely over the summer can drag at the head or the lock edge by Thanksgiving.
Check the reveal across the top, at the corner away from the hinges. If it has closed up, the door has probably sunk, and snugging the upper hinge screws fixes it with nothing cut. When planing really is needed, the bare wood should get primer and paint before we leave, or it drinks up the damp and swells all over again .
Planing the painted edge of a door older than 1978 brings up lead dust, which the lead section below deals with.
My door won't latch: is the strike plate off, or has the house moved?
There are two usual culprits. Either the slab has dropped, often from a loose upper hinge or screws spinning in worn holes, or the opening itself has shifted and carried the strike plate out of line.
A 3-inch screw driven through the upper hinge reaches the stud behind the jamb and pulls the slab back up. Worn holes get plugged and redrilled. If the latch still misses, the strike is moved or filed. Look for shiny scuffs on the jamb near the plate: whether they're high or low tells you which way it's off, and that's the close-up worth sending us.
West of the West Hills, many ranches and split-levels built 1960-1989 rest on crawl-space piers and girders, and those floors rise and settle a hair between August and January. That small seasonal shift can be enough to put a latch off its strike. Doors that bang, or a storm door that stops short of closing, are usually a closer that needs fitting or adjusting.
Can a split or forced-open jamb be saved, or does the frame have to go?
In most cases we can fix it. A split that runs straight along the grain is glued, clamped and screwed. If the wood around the strike has shattered, we saw out the damage, fit a new piece, put up fresh casing, and back it with a steel plate screwed deep into the framing .
Tearing out the whole frame is only worth it when it's badly racked or the wood has decayed. Market pricing for jamb work is $250-$900, labor only, about $450 in a typical case .
Is repairing a door cheaper than buying a new one?
Almost always. The repairs in the table above mostly cost $120-$450 in labor. Hanging a new interior door is $200-$450 apiece, labor only . Swapping an exterior entry door is $724-$5,098 apiece, roughly $2,890 typical, and that number covers the door and materials .
A new slab is the better buy when the old one has failed outright: a split or delaminating skin, a cracked stile, a punky lower rail, or an opening that keeps pushing it crooked no matter how often it's reset. For that case, read how we go about putting in a new exterior door.
Is lead paint a concern when an older door gets planed or painted in Oregon?
It can be. Oregon assumes lead is present in any pre-1978 dwelling unless a test clears it. In that case only a firm holding the state's lead-safe renovation certification may bid on or perform renovation, and the threshold is disturbing over 6 sq ft of painted surface in a single interior room, or over 20 sq ft on the exterior.
Much of the housing stock in Cedar Hills, West Slope, Cedar Mill and the older parts of Beaverton dates from the postwar decades up to the mid-seventies. Work that would sand, scrape or plane lead paint is something we turn down . Tightening hinges and moving a strike leave the paint alone.