Tried fixing a squeaky door with vegetable oil and made a mess

Last Tuesday I grabbed the canola oil from the kitchen to quiet my bedroom door and now there's a greasy trail down the frame that attracts every speck of dust in the house. Anybody know a cleaner way to stop a hinge from squeaking without buying WD-40?

3 comments

3 Comments

lilycraig1mo ago

I read somewhere that bar soap works pretty well for squeaky hinges, weirdly enough. You just rub a little bar soap right on the hinge pin and work it back and forth. It's not greasy like oil and doesn't drip down the door frame. Vaseline or petroleum jelly is another thing I've heard people use, you just dab a tiny bit on the top of the hinge with a q-tip. Way less messy than my canola oil disaster from last week.

fisher.charlie23d ago

Those ceramic coated hinges on my kitchen cabinets are so loud I thought I was going to have to replace them all. But @lilycraig, your bar soap tip is a total game changer. I hit mine with a little ivory soap sliver last night and the difference is night and day. No more waking up the dog every time I want a midnight snack. The best part is that with oil you have to reapply every few weeks or it gets gummy, but the soap just kind of wears in. Great suggestion for anyone tired of the spray grease mess.

noranguyen1mo ago

Man, I totally dismissed the bar soap trick for years. I thought it was one of those internet myths that doesn't actually work. But after my own canola oil fiasco last month, I finally tried it on a sticky hinge and it honestly worked better than any spray I've ever used. No drips, no dust magnet, just a quiet door. You definitely changed my mind on that one.