Fixing wooden front door that only sticks in winter

bobfredbob

We have a partly single glazed wood front door, probably 30+ years old, protected by a walk-in porch.  In winter, it was sticking a lot for a few weeks, in spring/summer it's fine.

I was meant to repaint it a couple of years ago but didn't, and new double glazing last year probably also didn't help.

If I get paint stripper, repaint the door (including the top and bottom), is that likely to solve the problem?  I assume the door has now dried out so painting it will stop it getting water and swelling again in winter.

The door looks reasonable to me, though I had wanted to replace it with the glazing until I saw the prices they wanted.

Thanks.

Martin_the_Unjust

It’ll help (possibly) but you may be better planing a bit off where it’s sticking before painting.

Bigphil1474

As above, if you take some off where it's sticking then that will prevent it sticking again. If that causes it to be draughty in the winter, you can fit a flexible draught excluder, or something similar.

Mistral001

If it is sticking at the side of the door where the lock is, then it is a simple case of planing one side of it.  If it is sticking at the top or bottom you will have to take the door off to enable you do the planing.  Unscrewing painted-over hinges can very difficult.   I have found that you need to strip all the paint off the heads of the screws and around them including in the slot or the star of the screw, otherwise you will mangle the head so that it will never come off with a screw driver.

mi-key

It may help, but as others say you are better off planing some off . Really it is better to do it when it is sticking, then you know it will be fine in wet weather, and will only get smaller when it is dry