I never heard about "shim screws" until a few months ago.

[LuckyCharms]

They are used in place of wood shims to get door or window jambs plumb when installing.

It is basically a screw within a screw, and they work well.

Here's a video for those who might be interested in this type of thing.

[mopinko]

1. dang. an age of miracles and wonders.

that's pretty cool.

[LuckyCharms]

3. They really are cool...(please see edit)

You put one screw in the middle of the jamb width, or close enough to that to hide the hole behind the door stop, or you could just fill the hole to hide it. I plan on leaving mine uncovered, at least for awhile until I know the door isn't going to sag on me.

My initial concern with these screws is that since there is only a small point of contact in the middle of the jamb, there may be some jamb twisting from one side of the door to the other, but so far that has not been the case.

A contractor told me that he is able to do this with plain trim head screws (I think they have two sets of threads, one up near the head, then a threadless shaft, and then a lower set of threads). I tried this, but could not get it to work.

I stumbled upon these shim screws by accident while surfing some online contractor forum.

EDIT: 3 screws in each door jamb, top middle and bottom, behind the door stop or the approximate middle if the jamb width-wise.

[Xipe Totec]

2. Neat! nt

[LuckyCharms]

4. They really are. They are pretty pricey...

about $3.00 a piece I think, and it is difficult to find anyone that sells them in less than packs of 100. I finally found a company in Nevada I think, Lee Valley Tools, where you can buy them in packages if 6.

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. Thank you!!!!

I have been trying to remember Lee Valley tools for the longest time. They sell excellent garden equipment,
I got my Japanese hand tools from them ages ago, great quality. Based out of Canada.
they have dozens of small things, like hand scrubbers, I use.

Will put the address in my book, thanks again. And glad they had exactly what you needed.

[LuckyCharms]

6. You're welcome!

I'm glad you can use the info

[AJT]

7. Someone "built a better mouse trap", that always amazes me.

[LuckyCharms]

8. I was skeptical that they would work

but they do!

[AJT]

9. My husband would have loved them. He was an avid woodworker and handyman.

[ProudLib72]

10. That's so incredibly cool!

I haven't hung very many doors, but the ones I have hung have always been a major pain in the ass. I suppose after you've used the shim screws to get everything plumb you could go back in with some regular old wooden shims and regular screws. Put those on either side at 1/3 and 2/3 height to make sure the jamb doesn't twist. Might be overkill, but I would rather do that than mess around with a twisting jamb.