Rehanging door to swing the other way

[stefek.zaba]

As part of adapting our house to include a less-able family member, I'd like to rehang the door to the downstairs lav so it swings outwards rather than inwards. The house is a early-80s Scandinavian kitform job, with quite pretty veneered doors (and hinges which are easy to half disassemble and slip the doors out of - a boon when redecorating!). And by happy universality, the door handles are positioned exactly halfway up/down the door, so the door side of the hinge can be left as is with the door flipped over.

What I don't know about till I try separating a possibly solid bit of wood is the rebate on the door frame. Is this likely to have been machined out of a single lump of wood, or is it much more common for the bit of the frame against which the door shuts to be a separate lath, nailed into place during construction? Obviously, I'm not looking for an authoritative answer, just any experiences both in general and (if I'm really lucky) on Swedish-plan early-80s kitbuild hice ;-) If it's a solid lump, it'll need careful surgery with a sharp chisel and a spare hour or three (boo hiss), whereas if it's nailed on it'll be 15 minutes or less with a small prybar (hooray). Any guesses from the panel?

Thanks, Stefek

[raclyqm]

If it is painted - scrape away the paint (small patch) and you can tell from the grain if it is one piece (unlikely) or two.

[robgraham]

I would very much doubt if it's beenmade from a single piece of wood. (a) the cost of the timber would be greater and (b) there would be considerable cost in machining. Much simpler and cheaper to make it the conventional way with a doorstop nailed to the frame.

But I'm guessing.

Rob Graham

[Dave Plowman]

In the UK, it would be 'planted on'. Much more economical in timber. Window frames are more likely to have the rebate machined out of the solid, since it's a smaller rebate.

However, I tend to glue these things as well as pin them. Hope your builder had more sense.

[RichardS]

Only info missing from here is whether the frame is painted or oiled/varnished/etc wood?

If it's painted then I'd reckon it would be most unlikely to be a single piece, and that a timber yard/builders merchants would be able to supply a direct replacement if it was damaged in the course of removal. If it's varnished, then it could be a machined piece, because otherwise you'd be able to see where it was nailed on...

cheers Richard

-- Richard Sampson

email me at richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk

[stefek.zaba]

Painted, so I'm hoping nailed-on will turn out to be the answer. For a "normal" UK house, I'd be nearly sure it was assembled on-site; it's just that this is a Swedish "prefab"/mainly-factory-prebuilt jobbie, and it struck me as eminiently possible that while they had the spindle moulder set up for the doorframe profile they might just have formed the whole thing.

You're right about the 'if varnished than likely to be a single piece' side anyway - the bottom bit of the frame is indeed varnished, and is a single machined piece (so that's going to have to be replaced, though I might chisel most of it away, plane/sand-with-the-unsubtle-angle-grinder- fitting-wood-reshaping-flapdisc, and nail a nice bit o' pitch pine of the right shape over the previously-lower side).

Thanks to all for your advice - Stefek

[stefek.zaba]

Prompted by this tip, I bothered to look more closely, and am happy to report that it's (almost certainly) nailed on. The elaborately moulded frame surround is mitred at 45 degrees, while the two bits which make the door mount itself (a deeper bit which runs front to back, and a narrower one which makes the doorstop itself) are butt-jointed, so they can't be part of the same lump'o'wood as the main surround.

Thanks again to all - Stefek

[Antony Jones]

Me too In my place, all the door frames are made from single-piece mouldings. This includes not only the doorstop, but the architraves as well. They're fairly plain designs but are a non-standard thickness to fit the Stramit panels the internal walls are made from :-( While Rob is right in saying it uses more timber, the time saved on site more than makes up for it (even if future owners will curse the builders...)

Luckily I had to demolish the walls around my bathroom when I found water had got behind the tiles around the bath... ;-| ... so turning the whole doorframe around wasn't a problem.

-Antony