interior door swap

[Picasso]

OK, question time. I have a house about 40 years old or so, with hollow core doors, and for whatever reason, they are 78" or were cut to 78"... I Am replacing with clear pine solid doors, problem is, the strike plate is at standard 36", meaning to properly center the doorknob on the style in the center of the middle rail, i would have to drop the knob to 34" from the floor to keep the knob centered.... or have it above center on that rail and leave it at 36"

Cutting 2" off the top will not leave me a thick enough rail at the top of the 6 panels, esthetically...

My ideal is to NOT cut off the top of the door, so tha the top rail is left the same width as the side styles, and to have the doorknob centered on the rail at 36" from floor....

Is filling the current stike plate in with wood filler or alternate an option?? I am painting the jambs and case white.

[benick]

Is there a reason you can't pop the trim off and replace the whole unit with a pre hung door ??? It's probably what I would do and in fact am doing to my old hoolow core doors.....

[RicodJour]

If you're painting it, you can get away with murder. Cut pieces of wood to fill what you need to fill and epoxy them in place. Plane and sand smooth, then layout and cut the new strike mortise and gain.

R

[RicodJour]

They'd still have to cut the door (and jamb) down to fit. For just the woodworking, it's almost a toss up for how long it would take going either way, depending on the tools and skill set on hand. Leaving the existing frame would disturb less wall surface and there'd be less painting involved.

R

[dadiOH]

Sure you can fill, I'd use Bondo...sticks much better than most wood "fillers", sands easily and is easier and faster than fitting a wood dutchman.

[jamesgangnc]

Get solid doors that have not been predrilled for knobs. After you have cut the door to fit the opening, top or bottom or both, then drill the holes for the knob and latch. You can get a kit that comes with the hole saws and templates.

[Tom Mills]

[Picasso]

they are actually solid pine doors, that are not predrilled.

I am fitting new doors in existing jambs... problem is i don't want to cut off the top, but the bottom... but by cutting off the bottom, it is not allowing me to drill the knob in the center of the horizontal rail where it should be...

to keep it in the center of the rail, i have to drop the strike plate approx 2"

[RicodJour]

So do it. The final word, assuming reasonable craftsmanship, is all about aesthetics.

Then again, with a nym like Picasso, maybe you should put the knob on the jamb...or maybe paint a knob on the door and have it open with a touch-latch.

R

[Picasso]

Well, thanks for the confidence.

I may have to try the bondo. I Have some Lepage woodfiller, I think I'll search out some bondo and go with that method... sounds more durable.

Thanks for the help guys.

[RogerT]

A lot of older homes have 78" doors, and a lot of places still sell 78" doors. Have you done enough checking to see if you can buy doors that are already 78" and are already pre-drilled? I think that would be a much better option than trying to modify an 80" door.

[aemeijers]

If you are painting, and have a sharp chisel, square up the existing hole. and glue in a slightly thicker dutchman that fits tightly, and stands a little proud of the visible corner. (Helps if you have a saw to rip the stock to appropriate thickness, and something to cut the ends square.) Once glue has dried, a small block plane and some hand sanding will blend it in so smoothly that is will vanish when painted. No bondo needed, although that is also a viable but messier alternative.

But why not cut a little off the top and bottom rails? As long as they match, knob will still center (if I understand your description correctly), and they won't look wrong to the eye.

-- aem sends...