My little screw-up

[Hustlin' Hank]

We learn from our mistakes. That is why I am posting this. Learn from mine.

I recently finsihed my basement. I built walls, installed drywall, carpet, paint, etc.

After I did all this, one of the double french doors that go into my computer/office room now scrapes the carpet, which it didn't do before. I figured the house settled a little so I tried adjusting the door with shims behind the hinges. That didn't look so well and the reveal looked terrible, so i took them out. I took them out.

After many days of sitting and pondering the situation ( my excuse for watching football), I figured the only way to fix it was to trim the bottom of the door. After measuring how much I needed to trim, and moving the door from full open to full closed, I realized the the door would only scrape for a few inches, then clear the carpet again.

So, what happened was.........when I installed the walls in the basement, I apparently elevated the floor joist above this portion of the room upstairs. It is too late to correct the problem and since it is only 1/8-1/4 inch, I will trim the door bottom to fix the problem. This will all be done as soon as I ponder the correct way to trim the door. I figure I'll have that figured out sometime after the Super Bowl. :-)

So, learn from my mistakes guys/gals.

Hank

[Eric in North TX]

[RicodJour]

That's one of the reasons that I like to use either metal studs for finishing off a basement, or metal track and wood studs leaving a small gap at the top of the stud. It prevents the partition from becoming a bearing wall and creating such problems.

Only one way to trim that door - buy a Festool TS55. Quick, accurate, splinter free, expensive and you get a nifty new tool.

R

[willshak]

Hustlin' Hank wrote the following:

[Bill]

French doors are very good for "anger management"...

These doors have the ability to extract every last bit of anger from any man, thus there is no longer any anger left!

[benick]

[Roger Shoaf]

I will trim the door bottom to fix the problem.

First decide how much you want to trim. Once you have that figured out scribe a line with a utility knife and a straight edge. Do this all the way around the bottom of the door. This will keep the door from splintering off chips.

Now clamp on a fence to the door and cut the door with a skill saw. While the door is off, it is a good time to apply a coat of primer to the top and bottom of the door. This prevents the door from sucking moisture into the end grain which could be a problem in a damp basement.

[willshak]

benick wrote the following:

I worked for a GC in my regular job's off time, with steel framing on one project (not at my house). I didn't like it. Besides the apparent flimsiness of the framing, there was the added fasteners and special equipment needed (my GC had them). You just don't use a hammer and nails, and sheetrock screws, to finish a wall. You need self tapping metal screws, insulators on each stud for electrical wiring, so it doesn't chafe passing though the stud holes, and other things that I have chosen to forget. Besides, in a home, it just seems so cold. YMMV.

[RicodJour]

I agree with you. That's why I've moved to a hybrid system with metal track and wood studs. The metal track is the main reason that metal studs go up so fast. Gang cut a few wood studs at a time, leaving a bit of space, and the metal track grabs on to the stud so you can position it where needed. No special stuff required other than a pair of tin snips.

R

[willshak]

I'll go for that approach.

Bill In Hamptonburgh, NY In the original Orange County. Est. 1683 To email, remove the double zeroes after @

[Mark]

[Van Chocstraw]

I usually clamp on a straight piece of wood the length of the door to use as a fence. Then the skill saw makes a perfect cut and it's fast.