For the life of me, I cannot figure out what I am doing wrong while hanging the door. The bottom of the door hits the striker side first with about an
1" gap at the top. The hinge side is plumb. The walls appear to be plumb and flat. The door slab itself is not warped.I've never installed a door before, so any advice would be appreciated.
New construction or replacing an existing door? Off hand I'd say the walls are not square. Run a string down the wall at the top and bottom on both sides.
Check that the jamb header is level...
Are you using shims to square the jamb frame in the opening?
Where's the gap - between the jamb and the edge of the door or the jamb and the face of the door?
In other words, when you say that the bottom of the door hits the striker side first, do you mean the bottom of the door is fully closed inside the jamb but the top is still open, or do you mean the entire door is full closed but there a gap between the door edge at the top and the jamb?
If the top of the door is still open, then the door itself is leaning forward or the jamb is leaning backward. The hinge side should be checked for plumb in both directions, side to side and front to back.
If the door is closed and there's a gap between the door edge and the jamb, then the jamb is not square.
BTW a 1" gap is huge. I'd like to think I'd be able to visually tell if a door jamb was 1" out of square.
If by the "bottom of the door hits the striker side fist with about an
1" gap at the top" you actually mean that the bottom of the door hits the "doorstop" and the top is 1" away from the top of the doorstop then the jam (and probably also the wall) on the striker side is NOT plumb.Don
How about a picture or two to explain things in less than a thousand words?
There is a problem with the wall.
Unfortunately, I left out an important piece of info. The door opening is near a corner. The hinge side is on the corner. I put a straightedge horizontally on the wall, and the corner side is high, causing a gap of about 3/4". To describe it best, it looks like the wall is concave. The corner bead is built up a bit which also appears to be a problem. I need to redo the corner first before moving ahead.
This is what I think happened: I installed the hinge side first. I made sure the hinge side was plumb, and the casing was laying flat on the hinge side. When I tried to "pull in" the doorstop side, it caused some frame twist because the doorstop side is not on the same plane as the hinge side. This put the top of the door about 1" away from the doorstop.
At any rate, I removed the door and will start over tonight. As I mentioned, I've never put in a door before. It's been a great learning experience, and I really appreciate all your advice. Thank you.
The first 2 or 3 are hard. After that you can do them in your sleep. As you have discovered, the RO has to be square, and the sides parallel. You have to use the level not just in the opening, but on the face of the finish wall. A 4' level makes a pretty good strait edge to gently slide up and down the wall on both sides of doorway opening, to make sure you have flat surfaces for the casing to land on.
Hey, we've all been there. Go slow, and don't drive the nails or screws home until the door swings right, and all the cracks look right.
-- aem sends...
re: "The first 2 or 3 are hard. After that you can do them in your sleep"
I'm about to order my first entry door. I've hung interior doors, one slider, and a bunch of windows.
I was going to pay one of the 'door stores' to supply and install my front door and rationalize it based on the tax credit and the warranty.
However, when my window supplier (the local Norandex outlet) quoted me
30% off list, which puts it at basically half of what the "material and installation" quotes came in at, I decided to do it myself.In fact, his list price was less than the "materials only" quote I got from one of the 'door stores', so at 30% off, it's a deal I just can't pass up.
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