Good Morning All. I am James, also known as exlrrp this is the Saturday Morning Home Repair Blog where the Dailykos community gets together to talk about all things construction and repair. Our genial and expert staff stand ready to aid you on your every problem
OK today we’re going to talk about doors. I mean I would if I was here but I won't be technically, actually here because I'll be driving up from Chico CA to My home in the Valley of the Willamette (the Wammylammy to us webfeet) All you get from me is a written, disembodied voice today. So hold all those questions about this diary till next week.
So I hung the other two doors I referred to in last month's diary. www.dailykos.com/…
These doors came already prehung so there was no bother about routing for the hinges, etc. A router and template is the best way to do this but it can be done with a hammer and chisel. Done it--very tedious and painstaking, especially with hardwood.
If I was hanging a door from scratch, I’d prehang it first: i.e., rout the hinges, drill the holes for the knob and strike and install them, build the frame and fit the door to it.
One of the most important general rules of construction is always do as much as you can where its easy to do it. That means put sub assemblies together all ready to go and then stand them up and install them. Its easier and less messy to work on things when they’re on saw horses or hip level then after its already in place. Always do this whenever possible.
When installing a new door or fixing an old door its almost always easier to take out the whole frame and reinstall it. I can’t imagine a circumstance where it would be better to rout the hinges while the door frame is in place to install a new door in a old frame nor a reason for doing so. Always take the whole door and frame out and rehang it if at all possible. This will give you the chance to make it plumb if its not.
OK, so you’ve got the prehung door sitting on the saw horses. First thing to do is cut the side jambs to proper size. (These are the sideboards to the frame) You’re going to hang the door level and plumb with the jambs sitting on the floor so you must cut the bottom to fit, allowing for the floor being off level if so. The top will be square, whatever the bottom is. The door bottom should be ¼” off the floor evenly when you’re done.
Check the place where you’re installing the door for level and plumb. Now is the time to fix the side studs where possible, which can often be achieved using a big sledge hammer and a wood block to bash the walls into plumb on the bottom of the wall. if you can’t get it plumb, you will have to do some wanking later.
I’m also assuming you have a compressor and a finish nailgun capable of shooting 2" finish nails. if you don't have one you can rent one, and a compressor. If you’re doing serious wood trim and doors this is a must. I’m also assuming the stops are mounted on the jambs as these were.
So plumb up the wood framing on each side as much as possible, both ways. If you can’t do this, use your 6’ level to determine which way is out, then fix with shims on the hinge side before you start. (Don’t have a 6’ level? Fasten a 4’ lever to a straight board, If you don’t have a 4' level yet, get one) (I’ve also done it with a plumb bob but its tedious.) Take the door out of the frame and put the frame in the opening. Make it so the door frame can fit in there, sitting on the floor, with ideally 1/4” clearance on each side. (if the door opening is not quite wide enough to get the frame in there plumb and square you may have to chisel out the side studs or remove one and replace it with a 1x)
Hold the hinge side up against the now plumb wall stud and fasten it at the top with one nail from your nailgunclose to the top hinge to hold it. The jamb should be parallel with the sheetrock or wall finish, a little bit out is hideable. Now using a framing square, square the top and tack it with one nail from the nailgun. Now shim the top jamb square to the hinge side jamb and tack it with two nails, one on each side of the stop.
So the hinge jamb and the top jamb are now tacked in place enough to hold them well. OK now mount the door on the hinges. open and close it, make sure its level and plumb, no “automatic door opener/closer.” Now fit the strike side jamb to it so it fits well, inside the frame, tack it in place. There should be an even space around the door about 1/8”. Open and close it to see how it fits, adjust with hammer/block and prybar)
OK, so now go back and nail it solidly. Should be nailed 5 times on each side jamb, evenly spaced with shims and nails right next to the hinges and strikeplate. Nail these level across, one on each side of the stop. keep checking the door, opening and closing it again and again so there’s no binding.
Now install the casings (trim)--these help hold the doors in place. Best if these are precut. The casings should be nailed in line with the nails on the jambs so they make a straight level line---this is a real Pro touch and could be rejected by the architect if not (seen it) The nails in the casing should be into the jamb and side stud to further hold the door in place
And that's basically how its done. If all the pieces and tools are in place to start with this shouldn‘t take more than 20 minutes per door to place and install. and that includes casings if they’re precut
Here’s a trick you won’t learn on this old house: sometimes you do everything right but you still have a little space between the door and the doorstop, a larger gap that rattles the doors. Just take the strike off and bend the tongue back with some pliers to take up the gap. You’ll thank me for this later.
hey look people, doors aren’t that hard to work with—a doorknob, couple of hinges and some wood-- and anybody who calls himself a carpenter should know how to hang one or take a whole frame and door out and rehang it.
UPDATE
Here’s a story about how even the brightest among us may f**k up occasionally. I hung these doors like I said and then everything was all warm and groovy for a while. SO we were selling some exercise machines on craigslist and this person came up to get the elliptical. We tried to get it out and the freaking door was too small!! I had replaced the central door, (originally 32”) with a 30” door and forgot about the machines!!
Grrrrrrrr. I thought about it and thought about it. What to do, what to do? Better to take the door out or the machine apart? Wound up taking the whole door and frame out again. This whole thing took me about an hour which included dragging the machines out and rehanging the door.
Any carpenter should be able to hang or rehang a door.