Door problem

[mike. buckley]

Just moved into a new (to us) house and have found a few bodges by the previous owner. One concerns the bathroom... The house originally had an upstairs pokey toilet with a separate bathroom alongside it. The 2 rooms have been made into one, and the door to what was the bathroom filled in and the door to the toilet is now the main entrance to the room. The problem I have is that it looks like the bodger has simply reversed the door and not bothered with the surround, so I have some polyfilla'd holes where the hinges were on one side and more obviously there is nothing (apart from the hinges) stopping the door becoming a swingdoor and you can see through the gap where normally the door would butt against the door surround.

How easy is it to remove the surround and put in a new one? My main concern is that the bathroom is newly tiled (nice job) so I don't really want to mess that up. On the other hand the ceiling in the bathroom is shitty artex so I could just go the whole hog and rip it all out.

I'm happy doing basic DIY, I've floored lofts, hung doors, done worktops, flooring and shelving - will this be a step too far? Time to ring a chippy?

[Set Square]

There are two types of internal door frame. One is manufactured with rebates, and has to be installed the right way round. The other sort has plain faces - and the "rebates" are created retrospectively by nailing strips of wood onto the uprights and the underside of the top for the door to close against. I suggest that this is all you need to do. If you're worried about the use of filler in old hinge cutouts, remove it and cut some thin pieces of wood to fit instead. If done carefully, it won't show when painted.

[mike. buckley]

In message , Set Square writes

Interesting, I never knew that. This is a pretty old house (1930's) and I'm pretty sure these are original, they look very much like these are not the plain face type. Putting a strip of wood down one face would cure the gap problem (and the hinge bodge as well) but it would still leave me with a "rebate" on the other side of the frame. I guess I could fill this with another strip of wood, I'd have to see how it went and see whether I could put up with it.

Thanks for the info.

[Set Square]

Presumably if the frame *is* rebated, but the door is fitted into the non-rebated bit of the frame, your "bodger" must have had to chop quite a lot off each side of the door to get it to fit? If it's really this much of a bodge, I think I would replace the whole frame and the door - and make a job of it.

[Michael McNeil]

I'd stick with it. The old types of doors had tenons going right through, not dowels. I doubt much damage has occurred. Use 2x1 batton and plane a nice radius on the shown corner so it blends in with the old frame. Find a nice bit of edging to go over the rebate you want to cover, it will be a thinner section than 2x1. Make it into a feature somehow. You'll be suprised how much simply tacking a piece of dowel or D mould down the middle of the rebate could transform it. Just remember to mitre the top corners.

By the way, scribe a line on the frame where the door closes to plant your new rebates to. Do this with the pencil flat against the closed door. This will give you the shape of the door if it is warped. i shouldn't imagine you will find that gap (3 or 4 mm) too wide in a bedroom. Cover the line with the timber. Don't go in for tight fitts with old stuff. It needs care.

[mike. buckley]

In message , Set Square writes

Yeah I had another look last night - he's taken about 8-10mm off each side of the door, I think I'm going to have to replace the lot, filling in the gap with my carpentry skills would probably result in a job I'm not happy with. At the same time I can make a neat job of the dodgy plastering he's done to fill in round a loft access he put in (don't get me started about how he's supported the joists he cut to get this to fit).

After more discussions with SWMBO last night it looks like we'll be doing the whole bathroom, so probably not that big a deal to get it all done at the same time.

Thanks guys.