Doors: sizes, and hanging them

[Minnie Bannister]

I bought a 36" pre-hung door, thinking that was what I needed to fit an existing 36 1/4" opening that never had a door. About 2 minutes away from home, with the door lashed to the top of the car, it suddenly occurred to me that maybe the door itself was 36" wide, and the frame was extra, so I checked before unloading the door and found that it's 37

1/2" wide overall.

Obviously I could just take the door back without having to do a whole lot of extra handling, but it seems that the next smaller size is 32" rather than 34" and would be too narrow.

If I simply discard the frame with which the pre-hung door came, how difficult would it be to hang the door in the existing opening, and how much money am I likely to be wasting by having bought a pre-hung door rather than a "bare" door? -- The prehung doors were on sale, but I couldn't see what the regular price was; the "bare" doors did not seem to be on sale, but I didn't look at them, so I have no idea of the price.

Other suggestions?

[Chris Perdue]

not too difficult....it is likely since it is a prehung that the slab itself is a bit shy of 36"...but, yes, you can hang it in an existing cased opening if the height is right...you will need to purchase door "stop" molding...door stop molding is pretty much self-explanatory

not much...if you had bought the slab('bare" door) and hinges, then had to buy a hole saw for the knob you will be getting closer to the price of the pre-hung...

tear out the existing casing and jamb material then hang the pre-hung door...this is what *I* would do, but you may have a scenario that *I* can't see from here...

good luck MB

------------------- Chris Perdue "I'm ever so thankful for the Internet; it has allowed me to keep a finger in the pie and to make some small contribution to those younger who will carry the air-cooled legend forward" Jim Mais Feb. 2004

[ameijers]

Take the door back, and get the proper size. If they don't have it, they can probably order it. If they don't want to help you, go elsewhere. When you buy the replacement, tilt it down and measure the width between the centers of the 'U' formed by the side casings.

Less work than to try to kludge up a frameless door opening, and it will look better.

aem sends....

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Probably very little wasted money. Bigger question though, what is in the door frame now? Is it trim that can be removed to allow the pre-hung to go in place? Was there ever a door there? Was it framed to allow for a pre-hung door?

It may be as simple as removing the existing trim, put the door casing in place, then finish the trim work. I can't see what you have so I can't give any details. If you use the bard door you will have to add doorstop, latch holes, etc.

[willshak]

What is on the edge faces of the existing opening? Is it sheetrock, or some other material? If sheetrock, you can add about 1" to the rough opening dimension after taking it off, giving you a 37 1/4" rough opening. You could just use the hinge side and the top jambs of the prehung door and use a thinner piece of wood for the lock side. All will be hidden by the trim. If the opening is wood framed, it might be 3/4' thick wood and taking it off would give you another 1 1/2" for the rough opening, for a total of

37 3/4". Pretty tight for plumbing, though. All blind suggestions, mind you.

[Minnie Bannister]

What's there now is just an opening without jamb or casing -- just the studs.

MB

Whether you vote Democrat or Republican in November, the country will still be run from boardrooms in the USA and elsewhere, not by your elected representatives.

On 10/03/04 09:52 am Chris Perdue put fingers to keyboard and launched the following message into cyberspace:

[Minnie Bannister]

What's there now is just an opening without jamb or casing -- just the studs.

MB

Whether you vote Democrat or Republican in November, the country will still be run from boardrooms in the USA and elsewhere, not by your elected representatives.

On 10/03/04 10:31 am Edwin Pawlowski put fingers to keyboard and launched the following message into cyberspace:

[dadiOH]

Build out the studs to fit your door (minus (2 * jamb thickness ) + 1" for shim space ))

-- dadiOH _____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.0... ...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that. Get it at

[willshak]

She needs to enlarge the rough opening.

[Eric Tonks]

Take it back, you need a 34" door. If they don't have one, or won't order one, go somewhere that can supply your needs. A 34" door will fit an opening of 36" tightly to 37" loosely.

[willshak]

If you want that 36" door, there is still a solution with minimum damage to the walls, but not exactly "Kosher", according to construction code. Doesn't require any wall repairing afterwards, if done neatly, and would be invisible to detection. I wouldn't post it publically because someone here might 'have a cow' or something. I have used this method a few times, once in my own house. Sometimes, ya gotta do what ya gotta do. E-mail me if you want it.

[DanG]

If the studs are exactly perfect, you can install the prehung as is. You are missing the shim clearance.

It would be normal to have the rough opening (stud to stud, no gyp sheathing) 2" over door size. This would allow door, 2 pieces of

3/4 jamb stock, and 1/2' of shim clearance. In your circumstance, this would be 38". You could probably drive the studs over the 1/4", but I would try it in the opening first.

You would not hang a door on studs. Doors are meant to be hung on jamb casing

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Keep the whole world singing . . . . DanG (remove the sevens) [e-mail]

"Minnie Bannister" wrote in message news: [e-mail]...

[willshak]

The rough opening width as it is now measures is 36-1/4", according to the OP. The prehung door measures 37-1/2" wide. That is 5/4", or

1-1/4", wider than the rough opening. That is quite a bit larger than 1/4".

[Harry K]

It would be fairly simple to hang the bare door but as you say they are only bare studs there would be no way to make it look even red-neck presentable unless it is in a shed. Take it back and get a

34" door or do a lot of work to widen the rough framing to about 38".

Harry k

[Raul]

"Harry K" wrote

I don't believe I've ever seen a 2'10" door. Special order?

[Chris Perdue]

yep...not a "standard" size...

------------------- Chris Perdue "I'm ever so thankful for the Internet; it has allowed me to keep a finger in the pie and to make some small contribution to those younger who will carry the air-cooled legend forward" Jim Mais Feb. 2004

[Minnie Bannister]

Lowe's can get me a special order 2'10" pre-hung Lauan flush door for $51 (stock sizes are $34) in 17 days.

MB

Whether you vote Democrat or Republican in November, the country will still be run from boardrooms in the USA and elsewhere, not by your elected representatives.

On 10/03/04 10:50 pm Raul put fingers to keyboard and launched the following message into cyberspace:

[Childfree Scott]

If you want a good door instead, it's about $110 (solid core pine).