How to Fix a Squeaky Door

A door squeaks every time it swings. The noise comes from a dry hinge pin, and lubricating it takes five minutes with something already in the house.

Find the hinge that squeaks

Open and close the door slowly with your ear near the hinges. Usually one hinge is louder than the others. Also watch whether the door lifts or drops as it swings; that points to loose screws, which the last step fixes.

Lubricate the hinge pin

Spray silicone spray or squeeze white lithium grease onto the top of the pin and into the gaps where the hinge knuckles meet. Hold a rag under the hinge to catch drips. Swing the door back and forth a dozen times to work it in. In a pinch, rub a bar of soap or a dab of petroleum jelly on the pin instead. WD-40 will quiet it for a day or two, but it is a solvent rather than a lubricant and it attracts dust, so use it only as a stopgap.

Pull the pin and clean it if the squeak comes back

Close the door and put a nail or a thin punch against the bottom of the hinge pin. Tap upward with a hammer until the pin lifts, then pull it out. Do one hinge at a time so the door stays hung. Wipe the pin and the inside of the knuckles with a rag, coat the pin with grease or a smear of petroleum jelly, and tap it back in. Swing the door.

Tighten the hinge screws

Check every screw on both leaves of every hinge with a screwdriver. A loose hinge lets the door sag and grind. If a screw spins without tightening, the hole is stripped. Remove it and either drive in a longer screw of the same thread, a 3-inch screw if it needs to reach the wall framing behind the jamb, or fill the hole with a wooden matchstick or a couple of toothpicks and wood glue, let it dry, snap off the excess, and drive the original screw back in.

If the door rubs or sticks rather than squeaks. That is alignment, not lubrication. The hinge side may need a thin cardboard shim behind one hinge leaf, or the strike plate on the frame may need moving slightly so the latch catches cleanly.