[Question] Fixing a warped oven door

[Gared]

Ok, all you handy people out there, I have a problem. Two of them, in fact, and they both revolve around my oven door. I love baking. Breads, pastries, cakes, roasts, casseroles, pies... these are the things that make me a happy person, especially around fall and winter, which are just around the corner. The problem is, my oven door is completely borked, and my apartment complex is never actually going to replace it, no matter how many times we ask them (we're up to around 10 so far). There are two problems.

First, the gasket on the oven door is cracked, missing huge chunks, and just generally dead. That I should be able to replace with a little bit of hard work and a new gasket that I should be able to find at a hardware or appliance store.

The second problem is the more troublesome one. The door itself appears to be warped. When the door is closed, the upper left corner is tightly closed against the oven frame, but the upper right corner isn't. There's a good half-inch to inch gap between the door and the frame, and unless you stand there and hold it shut, it lets out a good deal of heat - which can be seen in the results of various baking endeavors, like cakes that are tall on one side and flat on the other. I've tried tightening the hinges on that side, loosening the hinges on the other side, tightening every screw and bolt I could find, etc., but nothing helped and the door just seems to be, well, warped.

Anyone have any idea how I can apply pressure in such a way as to bend the door back into shape, or am I just SOL until I can move out of this complex?

 

[strawman]

Replace the gasket first. You'll find a new gasket will buy you another quarter inch or so, and may even cover the half inch gap you now see.

At this point you have two options. You can force the oven or the oven door back into shape, or you can apply more gasket.

Keep in mind that the oven may be bent, rather than the door. Make sure the oven is level. Consider getting a known flat sheet of wood, and comparing it to the oven and the door to see which is bent out of shape. If the oven is out of shape, raise the right back leg, or lower the right front leg (they should screw in and out) in order to push the right front top edge of the door outward. Since the oven likely doesn't have any glass in it, warping it to match the door is a little less risky than warping the door.

If you want to, though, you can bend the door to fit the oven better.

Place a half inch tall object on the corner that is closing tightly, then force the other corner closed all the way. This essentially attempts to bend the door back the other way.

If that doesn't work, use a larger object and force it again.

Don't use slamming or quick actions, you want to slowly bend the door. Imagine you have a muscle cramp, and while you could just stretch it out all at once you risk injury, so it's better to do it slowly over a period of several minutes with gentle motions. Check it frequently to make sure you don't bend it too far in the other direction.

I don't expect you'd have to use something more than two inches at the tight end to bend the door, if you get that far without correcting the bend you can try larger objects, but I'd start to worry about damaging the door in a way that would be irreparable.

If you'd prefer not to bend either of them, or find that it's not working well, you can buy oven gasket rope and tape from many sources, including amazon.com, and high temperature adhesive. While you can also get high temperature adhesives and ropes from automotives stores, keep in mind you're dealing with food here, so I'd suggest sticking with those specifically designed for and recommended for cooking appliances such as grills, stoves, and so forth. Use thick rope, or several layers of tape on the oven side in the affected area to match where the door gasket will touch, then lay down a whole outline of thin tape so it won't stand out that there's one section with extra gasket, and none anywhere else.

 

[Gared]

Excellent, exactly what I was looking for. It never occurred to me that it might be the oven that wasn't square, but that could very well be it. It's not exactly like any specific portion of the flooring in our apartment is level. Not sure why I didn't just PM you though...

 

[PatrThom]

Update?

--Patrick

 

[Gared]

Haven't had a chance to do the actual work yet (I was extremely busy today), but I did notice today that the stove is currently anything but level, so some height adjustment on the back right leg should go a long way toward fixing the door issue.

 

[Gared]

Ok it's better than it was. I fixed the feet and the oven is now level. The door still doesn't close completely tightly, but it's a lot closer. Also, it would appear that the reason they had it so unsquare is because the floor is so uneven that if the oven is square the whole unit rocks like a party bus.