What it usually means, the likely causes in order, what to safely try first, what a pro charges in Canada, and when to stop and call one.
This guide covers the common cases. Describe your exact problem and get a personalized diagnosis — free to start, with a DIY vs. call-a-pro verdict and a real cost estimate.
A door or window that will not open or close properly is usually the building, the wood, or the hardware moving slightly out of agreement with each other. Wood swells with humidity, frames shift a fraction as a house settles, and hinges and latches wear or work loose screw by screw. The complaint feels vague, but the diagnosis is quite mechanical: where does it bind, when did it start, and does it come and go with the weather? Those three answers separate a ten-minute hinge adjustment from a warped door, and a warped door from a frame that has genuinely shifted in its opening.
A sticky interior door is an annoyance you can schedule around. Raise the priority if an exterior door no longer latches or locks reliably, because that is a security and weather-sealing problem, if a window that should open for ventilation or escape will not, or if the binding arrived suddenly alongside new cracks or other movement in the same room. A door that worked last month and jams hard today is telling a different, faster story than one that has rubbed a little more each humid summer.
Wood absorbs moisture from humid summer air and swells, most noticeably across its width, so a door or sash with tight clearances starts to rub. The diagnostic clue is seasonality: a problem that is worse in humid weather and eases in the dry heating season is warping and swelling, not worn hardware or a failed frame.
Hinge screws work loose in their holes over years of swinging weight, letting the door sag a fraction and catch at the latch side or drag at the bottom. Worn latch bolts and strike plates add their own misalignment. This cause often arrives gradually and is the cheapest on the list, because the frame and door themselves are still true.
If the opening itself has racked slightly out of square, one corner of the door binds while the opposite corner shows a widening gap, and the problem does not care about the season. Diagonal gaps, a latch that no longer lines up with its strike, and nearby drywall cracks all support a shifted frame over simple swelling.
A door slab or window sash can twist or bow, from uneven moisture, one face finished and the other left bare, or long sun exposure on one side. The frame stays square and the hardware is tight, yet the door meets the frame at one corner and stands away at another. A long straightedge laid along the face reveals the bow clearly.
| Job size | Typical estimate (CAD) |
|---|---|
| Simple fix — the straightforward version of this repair | $100–$220 |
| Major job — complex, hidden, or replacement-level work | $400–$3,000 |
Estimates only, calibrated to Greater Toronto Area trade rates and adjusted by region on this site — not a quote. Your exact price depends on the cause, parts, and access. A personalized diagnosis narrows this range using your specific symptom.
Tightening hardware, cleaning tracks, lubricating latches, adjusting a strike plate, and planing a small, well-identified high spot on a door edge are all reasonable DIY. Call a carpenter when the frame itself has shifted, the door or sash is measurably warped, the problem is in a large or exterior door where weather sealing matters, or several doors in one area have gone wrong together, which suggests the cause is the building, not the doors. A pro also brings the judgment of what to plane, what to rehang, and what to leave alone until the movement settles.
Because the wood is swelling with summer humidity, and a door hung with snug clearances has nowhere to put that extra width. It is one of the most reassuring patterns: seasonal sticking that eases in winter is moisture movement, not structural failure. Resist planing it aggressively in August, because a door trimmed to fit at its most swollen will show a draughty gap all winter. Small adjustments and patience are usually the right prescription.
One sticking door, by itself, almost never does. Concern is justified when several doors and windows in the same area start binding around the same time, especially with new or growing cracks at the corners of the openings, floors that feel newly uneven, or gaps opening at trim. That pattern suggests the frame openings themselves are being distorted. A single door with a seasonal pattern or loose hinges is a door problem, not a foundation verdict.
Always adjust first, because planing is irreversible and often unnecessary. Tighten the hinge screws, check whether the top hinge has pulled slightly away from the frame, and confirm the latch alignment before removing any wood. Many apparently warped doors are simply sagging on tired screws. If the rub is real and localised after the hardware is sound, a few careful passes on the binding edge, followed by sealing the planed wood, is the correct finish.
A sash that will not stay raised points to its balance or spring mechanism rather than fit, and a window that closes fully but will not lock usually has a keeper or lock that has drifted out of alignment, or a sash that is not quite reaching its closed position. Both are hardware stories rather than frame stories, and both are worth describing precisely when you call, because the parts and the fix differ from a simple binding sash.
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