Topics:
- How to tighten a screw when it is loose and freespinning
- How to tighten a loose cabinet where wood behind the screw is stripped (hack method)
- Fixing a cabinet that isn’t opening or closing properly
- Fixing a loose bracket on cabinet door
- Fixing a stripped screw hole
- Easy at-home DIY fix for a kitchen door that is broken
- Matchstick / Toothpick Fix method for a stripped screw hole
Issue:
My kitchen cabinet was not installed well, and I noticed the bracket was loose. It made a loud snapping sound when opening all the way because it wasn’t holding tightly. The screw was not held into the wood and when I tried to tighten it, I noticed that it was freespinning. So I decided to use a little hack method.
The cabinet door had 2 brackets holding it down; the top bracket was loose at both screws, but the bottom bracket was still working well. However, I needed to fix it soon because if it was going to stay loose / shaking for longer it could end up damaging the bottom one as well.
So, I decided to do a little DIY fix.
You can use a wooden skewer, toothpicks, popsicle sticks, chopsticks, really any type of little wood that you can just stuff into the hole. We already had some wood skewers at home that can be used to roast marshmallows or make kabobs. It just so happened this skewer was a great size fit and I didn’t even need to shave it or use multiple skewers. Just one little skewer was enough. If your skewer isn’t the right size, you can use a knife or some other carving tool where you can even shape it into the perfect size that you need.
Items you’ll need besides a screwdriver: (1) skewer or toothpick, (2) wood glue… and that’s it! You could also use a scissor if you want to use it to help you score the skewer before you snap (you can pretty easily break the toothpicks as well). You’ll also want to shave off any extra bits so there’s not too much excess wood sticking out of your hole. You could probably use a little blade or shaver of some sorts to shave it down if it’s protruding too much.
After plugging the hole with the skewer and some glue, I let it dry overnight.
After it dried, I had assistance in helping hold the door up while I placed the screw into the new plugged hole. It worked perfectly and was an easy fix. I tightened the new screws and the old screws and now the door holds perfectly. Don’t over tighten so that it won’t damage the wood. You want the nail to catch onto the wood as opposed to grinding it all away or stripping it.
I didn’t have to buy anything to fix this door which was great! Other possible fixes are:
1. Buying a new bracket and placing it at a different height, but that wouldn’t look as good.
2. Get a larger screw that would be either a bit thicker or longer so it could catch into the wood, but that might not fit into the diameter of the bracket size depending on how big your bracket hole is.
3. Use some wood chips, shaved pieces, and wood glue mixture to fill the hole. This is pretty similar to the method I did but this is a bit more work since we just used 1 stick instead of having to grind anything up.
Regardless, it was amazing that everything worked out and my friend / neighbor Derek was able to give me just a little bit of wood glue he had at home and I gave him some jerky in return.
If you’d like to purchase some Elmer’s wood glue to help support higher quality videos on this channel, please use this link: amzn.to/3csNx3h I used a different WoodRiver brand wood glue but there’s not much of a difference.
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