Removing a swinging door?

[Mark H.]

I have a 1940's house, with a swinging door leading into the kitchen. The door's old, too, maybe original, attached to the frame by pivot pins stuck in sockets in the head and sill.

I thought perhaps I could depress one of the pins, assuming it might be retractable, thus allowing me to simply pull the door out, but that doesn't seem to be the case, seems like the pins are fixed. Therefore, looks like I have to dismantle the door. Maybe I'm wrong; missing something?

What's the best way to get that door out? Break out the threshold and pull it out from the bottom? Hopefully, presumably, the bottom pin doesn't sink down any further. I only wanted to take the door out to move some new appliances into the kitchen, then put it back in again. I sure hate to tear it up like that, didn't expect a construction project.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[HeyBub]

Lift up. Bottom pin will clear hole.

[mm]

Paint it and make it nice. Swinging doors have the advantages that they separate one from the noise and mess of the kitchen, and they give privacy from the help and a feeling of intimacy for the family. All this while making it easy to carry food in to the dining room, adn armfuls of dishes out. No hands are needed to open or shut the door.

>

[aspasia]

I took out my swinging door years ago in the same situation, and am a little - not a lot -- sorry. If left open, it would block something in the kitchen one way and something in the dining room the other way.

The ideal would have been a pocket door, but I never got around to checking out the possibilities.

As to "privacy from the help" -- I wish!!! Didn't know we had plutocrats on this NG

"No hands", takes me back to student days when I slung hash in the university dining room. Like a wise-ass, I started to go in the wrong way and had my nose broken by the door...

[Goomba38]

I wish I had a pocket door for a little half bath off my mud room. Can they be done post construction, or do they have to be original to the wall?

[Oren]

Many times I have walked into a bright and shiny clean sliding door. We keep visual aids up near eye level, like colored glass. I'm learning to remember to put tem back right away .

-- Oren

"Well, it doesn't happen all the time, but when it happens, it happens constantly."

[DerbyDad03]

[kencryst]

When you open the door all of the way you should be able to see the screws that hold the bottom spring to the floor, you might have to remove the metal guard around the bottom back edge of the door to get to them. Just unsrew those and you should be able to slide the door out of the way. I hope that you didn't tear things apart yet. It is really not too difficult to get these doors out. I have pulled hundreds of them out of houses that were being salvaged. The trickiest part is being gentle so that you don't scar up the floor. Good luck, if you need more help, just ask.

Kenny

[Mark H.]

Thank you very much, Kenny, and all others who replied.

No, I haven't torn anything out yet. Upon further research on the hinge operation, though, I believe that I'd have to remove the floor plate in order to pull the door out of place, and the door plate is embedded in the threshold, so that would mean additional work. And, as said, being careful not to scar up the nice, old, wood floor.

I've really been admiring the older hardware, very industrial looking, and works like a champ. The door's a heavy one, too, but swings like a breeze, and stays put where I leave it, nicely balanced. They built them substantially back in the day.

I've decided not to remove it after all. No sense messin' with a good thing. I'll come up with another plan to access the kitchen area.

Once again, thanks all, and Happy New Year to you!!