How to Fix an Unlevel French Door

Open the French doors and turn the screws holding the hinges into the jamb and the door clockwise until they are all tight. Close the doors again and examine the spaces between the door and the jamb to see if the doors sit level.

Remove the screws holding the top door hinge in place if the space between the door and jamb narrows at the bottom of the door. Remove the screws from the bottom hinge if the door sits closer to the top of the jamb.

Place the hinge flat against a piece of cardboard, and then trace around the hinge. Move and trace the hinge at least three times. Remove the hinge and cut along the lines you traced, using a utility knife.

Hold the cardboard shims between the hinge and the door jamb as you drive the screws back through the hinge’s anchor holes. Close the doors again and check the spacing between the doors and the door jamb. Remove the door hinges and install more shims if the doors still are not level.

Open the doors again if they still are not level. Tighten the screws in the catch plate, where the door latch on one door inserts into another door. If the doors are not level, hold new hinges halfway between the existing hinges. Mark the locations of the hinges’ anchor holes.

Drill guide holes where you marked the hinges’ anchor holes on the door and the jamb. Replace the hinges, lining them up with the guide holes you drilled. Drive the screws that came with the hinges through the guide holes until the screws are tight.