allowances around door frames/liners

[jim_in_sussex]

I have to adapt (or make a new one) a frame (aka liner) to an internal door. After looking through several joinery catalogues I'm totally in the dark as to what the correct allowance is to leave around the door. The catalogues only seem to give door sizes & external frame sizes - never the internal opening sizes.

The door is 1981 x 762 (ie imperial 6'6" x 2'6"). What size should the opening be? Does it vary with the door thickness?

I've checked quite a few different doors with widely varying answers.

Would the answer be the same for an external door?

TIA

[Weatherlawyer]

Replacing a door frame depends on the availability of standard stock; size of hole; and available door. The spacing between door and frame is

2 millimetres -about the thickness of a tupenny coin all around. For a door with furry draught strip, it is 1/4".

What you can get away with in DIY is anything that allows the dooor to touch the face of the rebate most of the way around. That's an ugly gap of some 1/4" or so. Any more and the door will swing both ways.

What is wrong with the present set up and can it be cured by cleaning the paint off the hinges? Most modern doors fail when the top hinge collapses or the door expands with moisture/dowel failure.

Check the frame for plumb. If it is plumb and the head level, you can leave it where it is. If it is out, can you fix it?

Is the hole it fits into also out, or does it just need drilling and screwing back soundly?

Have the packers/spacers dropped and pushed the frame over? If so, taking an architrave off might allow you to get at them.

[John Rumm]

The thickness of a 2p is about right.

If you are fitting (or refitting) the lining from scratch then it is easy. Size the appature to be a couple of mm more than door width plus lining thickness. Fix the lining, but only fix in the centre of the board. Hang the door, then fit the door stops (much easier to get the closing fit spot on that way). The door stops will also hide your frame fixings. Cut some wedges from some scrap wood, and go around the outside edge of the lining on the opening side, and drive these between the wall and the lining. This will let to tune the lining to door gap to look right. Finally cut the spare ends of the wedges and fit the architraves.

Not really... you plane the edge of the door at a slight bevel so that the rear edge of the door does not catch on the lining as it closes. I also do the same at the hinge side to make sure the hinge does not bind.

Might be more if you have a rebated in draft excluder strip.