Internal door fit - HELP!

At my daughter's place the door twixt kitchen and sitting room doesn't fit at all. The top of the frame is 30", the door is 30" but the jamb 'bulges' halfway down the hinge side. I set to with a plane today, shaved the door to almost removing all the lipping on both sides (!), removed the battening and shaved the jamb as much as I was able and still the damn thing doesn't fit. I finally thought to measure the entire frame........yes, I know....and it's 30" at the top running out to 29 3/4" at the bottom. And it's offset. Would bunging a 27" width in the hole and closing the gap with new lining, suitably shaved, be the answer? I'm both stumped and knackered.

Reply to
Harry
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Does the frame need re-fixing to the wall? Has it come loose?

Reply to
John

No, it's an old building, but it's solid - as is the wretched frame.

Reply to
Harry

Normally behind the scenes the space between the brick walls will be somewhat more than it needs to be and the gap at each side between brick and lining is filled up with a bunch of wooden wedges (and plaster) (these days they use expanding foam). If you think about it there would be no easy way to get things completely square if this wasn't the case.

You'll probably find that one of the sides has come adrift from the wall behind it, because the wood has warped, or the weight of the door has pulled it astray, or it's fixed using nails into a sliver of wood rather than rawlplugs. The architrave would normally cover up any gaps in the plaster which would have opened up due to said movement.

I would suggest perhaps drilling a hole through into the brick in the area which is further out than it should be, and putting in a frame fixing to pull it back in line: that way you don't have to remove the door lining. You can countersink the hole and then fill it back in with filler and paint over.

Reply to
Jim

IME it's easier to trim doors with a circular saw against a batten. If you don't mind a couple of small holes in the face of the door, you can just pin a length of 2" x 1" to it and run the saw against that rather than clamping. I keep a piece of hardboard with the saw that is exactly the distance from the teeth to the edge of the baseplate, so I can just align that to the pencil mark. Most cuts on doors are slightly tapered, and it's an especially good method for that.

Reply to
stuart noble

Ah, but, it's a hollow flush door, hence my saying I've almost planed the lipping off altogether. Great tips though and thank you. I'm doing what I can for the lady when I can, hopefully on the cheap {sigh}. And while I've a decent plane, I don't have a circular saw.

Reply to
Harry

Good points! I'll see if I can get there tomorrow and rip off the architraving!

Reply to
Harry

Turns out there's no architraving on that side and a bit of judicial exploration, OK a good whacking with a chisel and mallet, revealed no gaps. Weird. I threw a frame fixing in but there was not so much as a hint of movement. Pass. I've ordered a solid door locally and will see if I can borrow a circular saw from someone to make it fit. Many thanks for the suggestions.

Reply to
Harry

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