Wide door

I'm installing doors without the frame in a home. This means I had to route the hinge and bore the holes for knobs and latches. All went well until I hit the last door, a closet door, were the door is about 3/16" wider than the frame. What would be your method used to make the door fit?

Thanks

Reply to
Meanie
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Ummmm..., trim the door to fit the opening?

I have a feeling that I am missing what your real question is here.

Reply to
TomR

| What would be your method used to make the door fit? |

It needs to be trimmed. The neatest way, unless you have a powerful table saw with a massive outfeed table, is to clamp something straight, like a scrap of birch plywood, onto the door. Then cut it with a circular saw. Set the guide board in the distance you need to cut plus the offset of the blade from the saw edge.

That should give you a pretty good cut. You can touch it up with a belt sander, if necessary, and round the edges with a Surform plane.

Reply to
Mayayana

A plane.

Reply to
rbowman

3/16" is a lot of planing, plus planing by hand isn't even. Circular saw with a guide clamped on sounds like a better idea.
Reply to
trader_4

With a decent handplane that is sharp it's not that much at all...then again, finding an average homeowner who even has one plus being able to sharpen it successfully if they come here to ask "how" isn't high on my list of sure bets...

Reply to
dpb

Surprised no one has suggested cutting 3/32" off one side and 3/32" off the other, so the door still 'looks' decent, assuming some kind of panel door.

Reply to
RobertMacy

I have some nice big hand planes, one about 20 inches long. But I also have an electric plane. I'd use that instead. Great tool.

Draw a line, then plane down to the line.

Reply to
Dan Espen

It's easy to cut an inch off cleanly, not so easy to do a small strip like this.

I think he should investigate further. If only one door in a house is off, then most likely all the doors were built to standard width, and one has s ettled. If that happened, there's no way it settled side to side evenly wi thout going out of square. So taking 3/16 off is not going to solve the pr oblem. The problem is probably that the door is square and the opening no longer is, it has become a parallelogram.

There might be an easy way to fix this. If you pull the framing off to whe re you can see the stud, it is probably shimmed out to the right distance t hen nailed, but has since moved. Reduce the shim size, might be able to ju st move the frame back to square. Or maybe it's just loose and can be rena iled.

Reply to
TimR

| Surprised no one has suggested cutting 3/32" off one side and 3/32" off | the other, so the door still 'looks' decent, assuming some kind of panel | door.

3/16" from about 4.5" is not nearly enough to be visible on an average panel door, and of course it can't be seen at all if the door is just a slab. Cutting one side is easier and allows the factory edge to be left where it shows most, on the passage side. That way, if he accidentally gouges the door edge a bit it will be easy to hide.
Reply to
Mayayana

Which means he has to plane the same side where he already did the routing for the hinges. C'est la vie.

Reply to
micky

A. trim the door

B. make a new frame piece

"A" is a lot easier.

Reply to
dadiOH

Not necessarily.

If the frame was built correctly, and has shifted, say maybe the top jamb h as moved 3/8th to the right, it will be impossible to trim the door correct ly. The best you can do is a symmetric 3/16 gap all around. Everything yo u trim off one corner of the door must be added to the other.

In that case, pull the casing, tap out the shims, insert new shims, level e xisting frame, reattach casing, with no cutting necessary.

If you don't do that, and you do trim the door, sooner or later the frame m ay shift further and the door will jam.

Reply to
TimR

Thanks for the suggestions.

I already had an idea of the approach but wanted feedback.

My thought was to simply cut with circular saw and straight edge as some suggested. I also thought of the plane, but I don't have one, though, I can borrow an electric one, just not certain of the blade and not certain how straight I can get it. I ruled out sanding for obvious reasons of evenness. I also contemplated replacing the latch side of the frame to a thinner board, but that's involved work.

After routing hinges and cutting the bottom for height fitment, it was a perfect fit until I closed it. When closed (against the outside frame) the frame appears plumb along with the rest of the framing. Therefore, it's not out of square. A straight trim from the door should fit perfectly. The door is a panel door, but as was stated, removing 3/16" will not be noticeable, especially since the hinge side is against a wall at the top of stairs.

I think the best option is a straight edge w/circular saw. I would have taken it to my work where there's a big table saw, but the door is longer than my car and it would have extended out. With the wet weather and melting snow, I didn't want to ruin it from the splashing.

Thanks for the feedback.

Reply to
Meanie

On 02/12/2015 1:31 PM, Meanie wrote: ...

...

Use a fine-toothed blade and place masking tape particularly on upper side to minimize tearout (altho lengthwise will be much less of an issue than if you were shortening).

I like to go ahead and also put some tape on the saw faceplate to ensure any rough spots don't leave noticeable scratches on the face.

Reply to
dpb

Wait, you have a router? Do it with that. Tack a straight board to your d oor as a guide. Set your bit to take a light cut. Make several passes low ering the bit each time. I bet you get better results- cleaner surface and more controllable amount - than any other method short of a planer/shaper.

Reply to
TimR

You're kidding right?

Reply to
rbowman

I've never used an electric plane but if it's the average hollowcore interior door taking 3/16 off would hardly be worth plugging one in.

Reply to
rbowman

No, why would I be kidding? And I'm not the only one who has suggested that.

Reply to
trader_4

And also, the edge of the door facing the strike plate is cut at a slight angle(1-2deg), I guess to facilitate clearance of the edge closest to the stop.

Reply to
thekmanrocks

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