Pro Handyman Blog

If you have a door hinge that is giving you problems, or maybe you just want to replace them, you might need a chisel. Not that replacing door hinges is all that common. It really isn’t, but there are times when you want to. For example, some people cheat when it comes to painting, and instead of taping the hinges to protect them from the paint, they will paint over them.

Replacing a hinge is nothing more that removing the screws from the old hinge and installing them in the new hinge. Just make sure you buy the right size of hinge. Most commonly you will find them in 3 ½ inches and 4 inches tall.

The chisel comes into play when your old hinge has rounded corners and your new hinge has 90-degree corners. If you try to place the new hinge in the place of the old rounded-corner hinge, it won’t fit. So the easiest way is to chisel out the corner areas so the new hinge will fit.

Place the new hinge in the correct position and use a pencil to make a light outline for the new hinge. Then place the tip of the chisel on the line (with the beveled edge facing toward the interior of the hinge area) and cut the outline for the corners of the new hinge. Once you have cut the outline, drop the angle of the chisel and tap out the corners up to the line you just cut. You can clean up the corner pieces with some light taps of the chisel and then place the new hinge to make sure you have a good fit.