Hanging doors - tools to buy

I'm going to be replacing all the interior doors in a house over the next few months, any I'm wondering what tools this will give me an excuse to buy. I have general DIY experience, but have never replaced doors before. I have limited free time, so I can actually justify buying tools if they save me time.

I've already got more than enough hand tools (including chisels), a circular saw, power drills and an electric planer.

About the only thing I can think of buying is a small router, to speed the fitting of hinges. Are there any other time-saving and quality-boosting gadgets I should consider?

Reply to
LumpHammer
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One of these;

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Yes, I know you can use a chisel and the handle of a hammer - but these are so much better.

And make up a sawboard.

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Reply to
The Medway Handyman

It sounds like you have most of what you need. Chapter and verse here:

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A drill for the lock fitting plus a set of some short auger bits is handy.

The small router will help with hinge rebates (you can make your own jig). Something like the Bosch GOF 600 is nice for this type of task.

A powered plane for tweaking the edge can be handy.

Reply to
John Rumm

You can buy special hinges for use with routers, you don't have to clean out square corners, the hinges themselves are all "rounded".

The difficult bit is fitting the doors into their reccesses. Electric plane & belt sander comes in handy here. Practice with the plane first before using it on anything of value.

Be aware that some interior doors can't be cut down by much, they are a wooden frame with hollow interior filled with some sort of crap lattice. Also the lock/hinges can only go in a particular place, ie wooden blocks fixed inside the lattice.

Non-standard openings are therefore an extra problem.

Reply to
harryagain

AS TMH says, a sawboard is just so much easier than the plane. Would he take the job on I wonder? A house full is probably a day's work for a specialised chippy (an ordinary chippy won't necessarily do). A no brainer I reckon

Reply to
stuart noble

If usually have to cut too much off for this so keep the thin wooden batten that was at the bottom, remove the cover and glue it into place in the (new) bottom of the door.

Like my house where the door frames look like they were designed by picasso. I often take the oppurtunity to replace the frames at the same time.

Reply to
Mark

Rubbish.

You have a decent home-made jig: route the hinge recesses in 5 mins max.

Very little chance of going wrong - and has a nice finish and consistent depth to the recesses.

Reply to
Larry Small

The man who hung our doors was a professional and he reckoned to do three a day.

Jonathan

Reply to
Jonathan

Screwdriver Chisel Hammer (or mallet) Plane

Reply to
Rick Hughes

I have a new house ... and I did not have to fit doors (although have fitted plenty on last build)

The professional joinery company who made the doors (to my design) used a hammer & chisel to fit hinges .... I asked them about using a router ... to much of a faff, too easy to slip. Time is money for these guys ... so if they don't use one ... its ain't worth having.

All the doors were solid Ash .. and pretty hard as well.

Reply to
Rick Hughes

Cut your self a wedge, and use a flat pry bar ... save a lot of money

Reply to
Rick Hughes

That's good to hear. It means I'm only .....err...2 a day.... behind a pro (on a bad day). The biggest factor in my experience is how straight (or not) the frames are...

Reply to
GMM

Pretty slow - even I could do that!

(my retired chippy mate reckoned on about 12 to 18 a day into fitted but previously unused linings)

Reply to
John Rumm

Neither of which are half as good. Try one!

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

For me, I'd rather do it well than quickly and I can't do both!

Reply to
Mark

/The man who hung our doors was a professional and he reckoned to do three a day.

Jonathan /q

Suspect he retired early....

Jim K

Reply to
JimK

In an 8 hour day that's a door every 30 minutes roughly. I find it hard to believe anyone can achieve that and do a good job.

Jonathan

Reply to
Jonathan

I wasn't paying him, so not my worry. We had a fixed price contract with the main builder.

Jonathan

Reply to
Jonathan

Umm ... please snip;!. Thanks..

If it's all new build the same door and same frame you can, once you get it rolling, using jigs to do the cutting with, and I think that whilst thats on the high side it is do able..

Its the differing sizes and other faffing around re measuring resetting tools etc that's time consuming..

Reply to
tony sayer

It isn't worth having *for them*. I could easily imagine that a professional who is using the tools all day could be x10 faster than me with a chisel, and x3 faster than me with a router.

Reply to
Martin Bonner

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