Door repair & install
in San Diego.

Door repair & installation across San Diego

A door that drags on the floor, won't latch, or swings open on its own is a daily annoyance. Easy Break fixes the cause — not just the symptom: we re‑align hinges, plane binding edges, adjust strike plates and re‑hang sagging doors so they open and close cleanly again. We also install new interior and entry doors when it's time for an upgrade.

Note: we handle interior, entry, closet, French and sliding doors — for garage doors we'll point you to a specialist.

Door problems we fix & doors we install

• Sticking or dragging interior doors — planed, hinges shimmed and re‑aligned to swing free
• Won't latch or stay shut — strike plate moved or filed, latch adjusted
• Sagging / loose hinges — re‑set with 3" screws into the stud, or full hinge replacement
• Locks & handles — knobs, levers, deadbolts and smart‑lock retrofits
• Sliding closet doors — bypass and bifold tracks, replacement rollers
• Sliding patio doors — rollers, track straightening, alignment
• French & double doors — astragal, flush bolts, alignment between the pair
• Exterior door drafts — kerf‑in weatherstripping, sweeps, threshold adjustment
• Kick plates & door bottoms on rental and high‑traffic doors
• Full prehung interior door installs — set frame, shim plumb, hang, hardware
• Pet door cuts into existing slab doors

Door repair & install prices in San Diego

Typical ranges below — you'll get a fixed price from a photo before we start.

Materials (door slabs, pre‑hung units, hinges, locks, weatherstripping, smart‑lock hardware) are not included in the labor prices above unless stated in the quote. Final price depends on door size, frame condition and hardware spec — text a photo for an exact, all‑in number.

New doors, hung right

Upgrading to a solid‑core interior door for sound, swapping a tired entry door, or adding a barn or French door? We set pre‑hung units plumb and square, mortise hinges cleanly on slab doors, and fit the hardware so everything latches smooth and seals tight. Old door hauled away on request.

Why San Diego chooses Easy Break

• Fix the cause — proper alignment, not a quick shim
• Upfront fixed pricing from a photo
• Same‑day & next‑day across San Diego County
• Interior, entry, closet, French & sliding doors
• Licensed, insured & 90‑day workmanship guarantee

Areas we serve

Door repair & installation throughout San Diego County, including:

Door repair FAQ

Hardware brands we fit

We install whatever you bought. If you're asking for a recommendation:

• Schlage — our go‑to for residential deadbolts and levers; the F‑series and B‑series have been the same forever, which means parts and rekey cylinders are everywhere
• Kwikset — budget option that we fit constantly in rentals; SmartKey re‑key system is handy for landlords
• Baldwin and Emtek — premium handlesets for entry doors with the heft and finishes (oil‑rubbed bronze, satin brass) that match nice front doors
• Therma‑Tru, Masonite and JELD‑WEN — the three door brands we fit most often as prehung interior and entry units
• Yale and August — smart‑lock options (see below)

Smart‑lock retrofits — which one fits your door

Most modern smart locks fit an existing 2‑1/8" deadbolt bore with a 2‑3/8" or 2‑3/4" backset, so the question is usually which one, not can it fit. Quick decoder:

• August Wi‑Fi Smart Lock (4th gen) — retrofits over your existing deadbolt from the inside; outside keyway stays unchanged. Best when you don't want to change the look of your front door.
• Schlage Encode — full deadbolt replacement with built‑in Wi‑Fi (no separate hub) and a keypad outside. Our most‑recommended for everyday use.
• Yale Assure Lock 2 — modular: pick keypad‑only, keypad + key, or touchscreen, and add a Wi‑Fi or Matter module later.
• Z‑Wave / Zigbee versions — useful if you already have a SmartThings, Hubitat or Home Assistant hub; otherwise pay the small premium for the Wi‑Fi version and skip the hub.

If the door is metal or solid‑core and the existing bore is non‑standard (some 1970s and older doors), we re‑bore with a 2‑1/8" hole saw and template. Brings most doors up to modern smart‑lock spec.

Repair technique — what "fixing the cause" actually means

There's an order to door repair. We work it from cheapest fix to most invasive, and stop as soon as the door is right:

• Tighten or replace the hinge screws first — half of all sagging doors are fixed by swapping the short hinge screws for 3" screws that bite into the stud behind the jamb. No planing, no shimming.
• Shim the hinge if the door is still binding on the latch side — a thin cardboard or metal shim behind the top or bottom hinge pulls the door away from the binding edge.
• Plane the binding edge if shimming doesn't do it — a block plane or low‑angle plane shaved across the high spot, then primer/paint on the bare wood so it doesn't swell again.
• Move the strike plate if the door swings free but won't latch — file the strike opening or chisel and re‑mortise it 1/16"–1/8" in the right direction.
• Replace the door only if it's split, rotten, or warped beyond planing — most doors don't need this.

Prehung vs slab — a prehung door comes with a new jamb and hinges already attached, install includes setting it plumb in the rough opening, shimming, securing, and trimming around it. A slab is just the door, you reuse the existing jamb and hardware; we mortise the hinges and bore for the lockset to match the existing frame.

Weatherstripping and the San Diego climate split

San Diego has two micro‑climates that wreck doors in opposite directions. Coastal homes (PB, OB, Coronado, La Jolla) have humid salt air that makes wood doors swell — the same door that fit fine in October starts sticking in May. Inland homes (Santee, El Cajon, Poway) dry out and shrink, opening up gaps around exterior doors that let dust and AC out.

Weatherstrip types we use on entry doors:

• Kerf‑in foam‑bulb weatherstrip — slides into the factory kerf groove on most modern entry door jambs; cleanest install, lasts years
• Adhesive‑backed foam or rubber — for jambs without a kerf; cheaper but needs replacing every few years
• Door sweeps — bottom‑of‑door brush or vinyl sweep; we adjust the threshold height before adding one
• Adjustable thresholds — most modern entry doors have an Allen‑adjustable threshold cap; raising it 1–2 turns usually fixes a daylight gap

Old homes: mortise locks, solid‑core wood, vintage hardware

Plenty of San Diego housing stock is pre‑1960 — Mission Hills, Kensington, North Park, South Park, Burlingame, La Mesa Village. Those original 1940s–1960s solid‑core wood doors are usually worth saving: dense, heavy, soundproof, way better than a hollow‑core replacement. We re‑plane, re‑mortise hinges, and rebuild jambs where needed.

Original mortise locksets (the long rectangular ones recessed into the door edge, not the round bored kind) can almost always be cleaned, lubricated and re‑keyed instead of replaced — and they're nicer than anything new at the same price. Same with original Schlage F‑series hardware from the 1950s–70s; we can usually source a part or cylinder rather than ditching the whole set.

Honest scoping

Two things we don't do: garage doors (torsion springs are a specialist job, and dangerous if mishandled — we refer to local garage door techs), and multi‑point hinge / lock systems on some Pella, Andersen, and high‑end European doors where every part is brand‑specific — those need the manufacturer's parts and often the manufacturer's tech. Standard residential interior, entry, French, sliding, closet, and barn doors are our daily work.

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