My doors are creaking loudly. What can I do to stop this?
It was only when we had people staying with us over the Xmas and New Year holidays, that I noticed how badly our bathroom door creaked when it was being closed. At 1am in the morning {and 2am, 3am, etc, as various guests with erratic nocturnal habits got up} the noise was really terrible!
I guess it might be related to the woodwork expanding due to the heating being turned up at this time of year, but either way it was a real pain which was made worse because it started the dogs growling too.......
Luckily there's a very easy solution, which is to rub a candle down the full length of the hinged side of the door a couple of times to leave a film of wax about half an inch wide where it meets the door frame - this really does work like magic, and our creaking door is now totally silent. The "waxy" deposit might look a bit unsightly at first against dark wood, but disappears once the door has been opened and closed a few times, and in any case it can easily be wiped off.
Also, it's worth mentioning that candle wax is incredible stuff whenever you're working with wood - and especially if it's even slightly damp. Rubbing screws across a candle to pick up some wax will make them a LOT easier to drive in, and you can save yourself a lot of effort by coating the blade and teeth of hand saws with wax before cutting.
I hear they even come in handy if you have a power cut - assuming you can find the matches!