Lumpy floors and hanging doors

[neil(at)martech-scot(dot)frees]

Whats the groups considered thoughts. At the entrance to the house I have reinstated a door between the foyer and hall to make the house warmer but have issues.

I have just hung a door and after a few problems with the builder erected door frame being off vertical, when the door is shut it fits the hole very nicely with an even 5mm gap across the bottom ready for the vinyl. However when I open the door it sticks on the floor. After having a look the floor of screeded concrete which to the eye looks okay it is infact quite lumpy and has 5 mm hillocks across it.

What is the best way around this. Take another 5mm of the door at the end away from the hinge so that it clears the floor but has an almighty gap underneath when the door is closed.

Use some self smoothing concrete to bring the floor level up to the top of the hillocks and then continue into the hall some way so that there is not a noticeable ramp.

Do something, possibly obsessive, to make this barrett box have a level floor ie get rid of the bumps using grinding, sanding or some other method. My perfectionist side tends to the latter solution but I realise my family could well have words. Is there a machine/tool that can be used to effectively plane or sand down concrete that is not too expensive to hire and would it be a sensible course of action.

Cheers

Neil

[John Kelly]

Can't you get hinges that rise off the floor (if you see what I mean). I'm sure my dad used some to do this with a similar problem to yours about 30 years ago.

[neil(at)martech-scot(dot)frees]

Not what I was thinking of but that seems a good idea.

[Adrian Brentnall]

Hi Neil

These might help

?_dyncharset=UTF-8&q=rising+but+hing&x=0&y=0&n=&pn=1&pd=1&pi=1&cn=1&cd=1or if that doesn't work try and search for

rising but hinge

You need the right 'flavour' - left or right hand.......

HTH Adrian Suffolk UK

======return email munged================= take out the papers and the trash to reply

[Rob Morley]

If you offset the frame so it slopes out at the top the door will open uphill and tend to close itself.

You won't be able to feather mortar in a way that makes the thin edge stick properly and not crack away in time.

A scabbler is the tool used to take the surface off concrete. Or you could try slicing through the bumps a few times in each direction with an angle grinder then dressing the surface with a hammer and chisel.

[nightjar]

Fit rising butt hinges. However, note that you will need to modify the top of the door to clear the frame as it rises. Along most of the width, it only needs a slight angle but on the hinge edge corner that leaves the frame last you will probably need to take quite a bit off to maintain a clearance.

Colin Bignell

[Chris Bacon]

A foyer?? In a house? WFT's that? Do you mean a porch?

Rising butt hinges or doing things with the hangings will work, but have the unfortunate effect of making the door almost self- closing.

If you're putting vinyl down you want a nice clean flat smooth floor, so lumps need dealing with. You could hack them down with a scutch chisel & comp (see:

)

but the idea of applying a (latex) levelling compound over the whole area you're going to vinyl is probably best. IIWY I'd get someone to do it, too, it's not easy without practice. See a flooring contractor for advice.

[nightjar]

That is what rising butt hinges were designed to do and what doorstops were designed to prevent.

Colin Bignell

[Chris Bacon]

nightjar "Chris Bacon" wrote

What? Explain about "doorstops" if you please.

[Rob Morley]

Things you put in front of/under doors, to stop them :-)

[Owain]

It's what you use an old modem for, innit

Owain

[nightjar]

If you don't want a door on rising butt hinges (or almost any door in a draught) to close itself, you use a doorstop to stop the door from moving. Doorstops can be a heavy lump of something or a wedge that you put under the door. Inverted Sinclair Spectrums made good doorstops.

Colin Bignell

[Chris Bacon]

I wondered whether he meant "doorsteps", couldn't see how this could be, or "door stop" the timber nailed around to stop the door swinging through. OK.

[Chris Bacon]

I see now, must've had a mental slippage. Still, a bit of a pain to have to use one of these though.

[John Cartmell]

I assumed that he meant a three-year old Windows PC which seem to be regularly referred to as door stops... ;-)