What to do about a small garage door not closing properly unless i yanked it shut tight?

Question

By mentioning garage door i didn't mean to talk about the actual big garage door which can be controlled by a opener. Its the smaller door leading from attached garage to the inside of the house. I don't know what the previous owner did with the door but it wouldn't freely shut properly. Every time i enter the garage through this door or vice versa, i had to pull the door really hard for it to close properly. It also makes a loud thud noise when i pulled the door hard. The noise isn't too much of a problem if it is during the day time but sometimes during the middle of the night, when i wanted to access the garage through this small wooden door, the noise can be heard throughout the whole house. I didn't want to disturb other people in my house with this noise. Door is similar to the picture below although this is not the actual picture of the door.

Answer 1

The problem with the door not closing properly can be identified easily, if you will observe all the edges of the door and door frame from top to bottom. The most common problem will be paint. When you paint a door and the paint dries up after some time, you will find it very hard to close the door because the paint has taken up the space between the door and the door frames. What used to be a small gap between the door and the door frame is now not there anymore because of the paint. In fact, some paints can be quite thick that when it dries up, you can't close the door without scratching the edges of your door.

You can use a chisel to remove those paints and small thickness portion of the wooden edge of the door as well (It is like scraping off small layers of wooden door edge or the door frame). Then you will need to find a paint that applies very thin and light coating on the door edges and the door frames. After the new paint is applied, try closing the door again. This should solve the problem.

Answer 2

Watch video on "How to fix a door not closing properly on the edge due to paint or other reason":