Advice and/or links to instructions needed, please, to help me sound like I know what I'm talking about before I brave the hardware store.

Bedroom door has been falling off its hinges for a while. Finally fell off completely, & I see that the screws in hinge are woefully inadequate for their task.

Is there a standard option/ length/size of screws I should buy to put the damn door back in place properly & avoid future problems?

(Does that question make sense?)

I'm reasonably capable in basic DIY. Local hardware store employees can be a bit annoying when a female asks for advice/guidance, so I'd like to go in forearmed. I'll brave all the jokes/innuendo/sarky comments you lot will throw at me .

TIA.

How knackered are the existing screw holes? You could possibly just use thicker screws. If the existing ones are number 6, you could move to 8 or even 10. You'd have to be careful of the head size, though (may not fit the hinge).

How thick is the door frame? Wood screws generally have a thread and a smooth bit (next to the head). If the smooth bit is longer than the frame is thick, you're wasting your time because the screw won't bite.

Don't be scared to play the dumb blonde. My missus does it all the time in DIY stores. Works a treat. Pouting helps.

Matchsticks! I think I fixed a bad screw hole with them once and it worked out ok.

I was going to suggest that. I forgot.

With duff screw holes, get a bit of scrap wood, pare it down with a knife until the pencil shaped end is a little larger than the screw hole. The plug should ideally not be tapered, or too much, so there is a snug fit all the way down. Hammer the plug into the hole with a mallet or gently with a hammer until you hear to solid sound. Cut the plug flush with the surface and you have a perfectly sound permanent fix to put the screw back into. A touch of wood glue on the plug makes it more permanent. On occasion I have drilled the hole out to make a more robust plug fit in.

That's the "matchsticks" solution but done properly! If the screws are good but the holes are knackered (i.e. the screws have just pulled out and left a larger hole behind, so the screws just spin in place if you try to tighten them back in) then stuffing the hole with a plug of wood or a couple of matchsticks is a good option to get the screw to bite.

For interior doors, unless you've got a peculiarly solidly constructed house, chances are that there's a stick-framed rough opening behind the door casing. In extremis (I did this for a door my youngest tried his best to destroy by swinging on) you can use much longer screws (3" or 3.5") to screw right through the door frame and into the structure behind it. Be careful not to overtighten, though, as you might actually pull the frame out of true and into the gap between the frame and the rough opening.

Having perused the various suggestions, of increasing complexity, my advice to Shirtback is simple.

Get a man in. A Pole or summat.

While I admire your approach and affection for whittling, wouldn't it be a damn sight easier to just re-drill the holes at 1/4 or 3/8, then whack in glued dowels and flush-cut/sand them an hour later?

Thanks muchly for replies so far.

As far as I can see: screw holes not knackered. Screws, not the actual screw holes, appear to have at the root of the problem so far (I haven't actually measured them but an eyeball estimate puts them at way less than an inch long, with no smooth bit ). So, probably not the right type to start with?

I'd forgotten the matchstick trick, so thanks for the reminder!

Basic construction in question is pretty darn solid; an eyeball estimate (again!) suggests that the frame the door is supposed to be attached to is at least a 2 by 4 flush to a vertical "beam" thingy. It's part of a complete, & mostly very successful, renovation of a pre-1920s construction.

(I fail dismally at playing the "dumb blond", although I can pout, lots !! . I have tried, & do still try - occasionally - to play that card. My accent works against me ... )

Frame flush with vertical stud? Go with Oakvillian's idea. Long wood screws. The smooth bit won't matter. Check the size of the holes in the hinge (esp head) before choosing screw size.

LOL. Sort of ! Or, alternatively, I would if I could, but A Man (in particular, *the* Man who was responsible for creating the problem in the 1st place) is the "go-to" guy here & I'd rather avoid having him botch the job again.

Advice here so far doesn't seem too complex for my ditzy female brain, and is so far very helpful, so I'll stay on the DIY route for the moment

Thanks to both you & Oakvillian . Off to Rona.

How does the matchstick trick work - I have a door that's a victim of the wind tunnel caused when the kids open the back door without closing the front door first - put 2 1/2" screws in the last time but they were torn out pretty quickly

Where a screw is loose, just remove the screw and poke matchstick(s), that have been cut to length, into the hole.

Important note: remove flammable head!

Then screw a new screw back in the "filled" hole (assuming that the old screw should be replaced).

Matchsticks are just a DIY/bodger version of a wall plug.

If 2 1/2 screws are getting torn out, you have a problem with the holes (or immensely destructive kids).