Hanging doors

[R D S]

A wave of pride came over me yesterday, I had hung (hanged?) 3 upstairs doors using our bathroom as a workshop (hardly New Yankee) and 'er indoors said to me..."That's the most mess you've ever made!"

Anyway, our house was built 100 years ago and apparently they had no concern whatsoever for level/square so much planing was needed. All the doors fit and open and close adequately but there isn't a uniform gap all around between the door and the casing. I had to call it a day as night was drawng in and I wanted closure. The door sides are straight but some gaps range from 2-4mm from one corner to another, I can't decide whether to pull them and plane/sand until perfect. How anal is it normal to be about this?

Also, in the other 'plane', when closing one of the doors... the door is aligned at the hinge end but at the handle end the door connects at the bottom but there is a 5mm gap at the top, the casing must be twisted. I can come to a compromise on this by budging one of the hinges or if I force closure (with a little bolt at the top) will the door eventually conform?

Cheers Rick

PS, when the other half removes the old doors before you start is this her being helpful or devious, because as we were buying the doors she was muttering something about my tendancy to 'lose momentum'!

[tonyjeffs]

Our front door frame has a slight twist like yours, but 12mm. Putting a bolt on it for 15 years didn't cause it to conform without the bolt. You could soak the door for a few days, then clamp it, overcompensating for the twist, and it might work. But me, i'd settle for the bolt and leave it at tht. Ant I wouldn't worry about 2-4 mm variationc in gaps.

[BigWallop]

After all the settling and movement throughout the one hundred years, it's a wonder you are able to get such tight measures as 4 or 5 mm of a gap. :-)

We've had to remove and replace the stops on nearly all the doors in this old tenement flat of ours. One door was so far out at the top, that it stuck out of the frame into the room by an inch and half at the top. Another door fitted perfectly into its frame, but only after it was extended with a matching wedge shape piece of timber down the hinge side. That took a lot planing down. :-)

Just be glad you have working doors at all.

And, she is being helpful. When she removed the old doors, she actually got you to notice the holes in the walls where doors should be. Male mind says there is something wrong with the scenario, and has to fix it. LOL

[Roger Mills]

She *thinks* she's hurrying the process up - but actually she's making it more difficult for you.

When replacing doors, the trick is to have a careful look at the gaps round the old one *before* removing it. You can then lay the old door on top of the new one to mark it out for trimming - making due allowance in areas where the original gap was wrong.

As far as twist is concerned, you just have to adjust the hinge positions in order to get the latch side to line up with the frame.

[John Rumm]

Easiest way to fix that is take the architraves off, cut some wedges (1 in 7 taper, about 1 1/2" to 2" long), and hammer them into the gap (or potential gap) outside the frame adjacent to the plaster. It will tun in the frame enough to even out the gaps. Once you are happy, cut off the back of the wedges and replace the architraves.

Also, in the other 'plane', when closing one of the doors...

Probably not. You can either: live with it, move the door stops, fiddle the hinges (i.e. move the bottom one out a tad), or in really bad cases, you can twist the door a little if it is a traditionally made one. You can do this by driving small wedges into joint on the the top//bottom of the door where the rail meets the stile. It creates a slight gap in one face of the door though, so only of much use if they can be filled and painted rather than varnished etc.

I always put that down to the way they say "oh, you are not going to start doing that now are you?" ;-)

[Dave Plowman (News)]

They were almost certainly square when built but settlement over the years has resulted in them being out of true.

[Cash]

If you are really pedantic, you could try taking the architraves off and packing/easing the frame in or out to get an even gap - but if it 'looks ok' then is it worth that trouble?

Again, you could sort that out using the above method - or you could try moving the hinges in or out in relation to the frame.

Crafty!

Cash

[R D S]

That's what I was thinking about but I shan't bother if it isn't likely to work.

Good, as long as mine aren't worse than everybody elses then i'll leave be.