How to Adjust Hinges to Fix Interior Door Problems

Take down the door, using your screw gun to remove the hinge plates from the door jamb. Leave the hinges themselves intact (with the two plates of each hinge still connected to each other) for now.

Stand the door on its front edge, so the hinged side faces up at you.

Remove the hinge plates from the door by removing the screws that hold them there. It will leave behind indented rectangular areas where the hinges were.

Place the top hinge back on the door edge, slightly below the indented area where it was before. The other half of the hinge should hang off the same side as before. Mark around the plate with your pencil.

Move the hinge off the door. Use your utility knife to cut around the line that you marked, down about 1/8 inch. Chisel off a layer of wood within the cut, using the chisel and hammer and making the whole inset about 1/8th-inch deep.

Put the hinge back in place, in the chiseled area, so the surface of the plate is even with the surface of the door. Secure the hinge by driving the hinge screws through the holes.

Repeat the process for each of the hinges on the door, moving them over from the previous positions.

Stand the door in the opening, so the hanging halves of the hinges are against the door jamb. Each plate should land next to the insets where they were previously. Trace the new positions of the plates and chisel them out as you did on the door. Hang the door, driving the hinge screws through the plates into the jamb.