Two of my doors have been squeaking every time I opened or closed them. I did the half-assed thing of spraying lube on the hinges (while, of course, splattering more on the door than the hinge). It helps a little but didn’t get rid of the squeaks.
After being annoyed for a few more weeks, I finally grabbed my hammer and screwdriver to knock put the pins, clean and lube them. I decided I might as well do every door in my house. I was able to remove all of the hinge pins, except for bottom pin on my 3 squeakiest doors. Naturally.
I tried everything I could. I even bought a special tool from Home Depot that ended up breaking. But I could not get these pins to budge. They were too close to the floor so I couldn’t get a solid whack with my hammer. I gave up and just lubed up the ones I could remove.
My doors kept squeaking.
So I was talking a friend and he suggested another setting up a Rube Goldberg type solution using 2x4s and a pry bar so I could hammer down on the board instead of trying to hammer from upside down. He also suggested I use PB Blaster.
I was about to give up and simply unscrew the higher and place them entirely when my friend said, “Steve, I have all the confidence in the world that you are stronger than a hinge pin.”
That’s all I needed to hear. I needed the subtle challenge and a little nudge to give it another shot.
Before I bought a can of PB Blaster and tried to finagle a Rube Goldberg lever, I thought perhaps I just needed to “break the seal of corrosion” so I grabbed my vice grips, locked them onto the first pin top and started twisting. Then I heated the hinge in an attempt to get it to expand just slightly more than the pin. The combination of these two, plus tapping away with my hammer worked. Half an hour later, all of my hinges were cleaned, re-lubed and whisper silent. I can open and close them with one finger.
It worked so well that now I have a new problem. I need some door stops because my doors keep closing on their own.
Every time I open or close a door in my house, I get a little shot of joy now. It’s unbelievable what a difference this makes.