Reversing a door

[GMM]

I'll try not to be too long-winded (!)

The door between our hall and conservatory opens into the hall and I want it to open outward into the conservatory. The frame is one-piece (rebated), so I can't prise off the door stops and the opening will be slightly smaller than now, with the hinges on the existing (broad but not very thick) jamb. A wide old Victorian door, with no chance of replacing it unless custom built (I've looked extensively), but good and solid so plenty of scope to modify it. So the job I plan is:

1 Mark the dimensions on the door in place as is, allowing for 2mm gap. 2 Remove all fittings, then the door, trim to size according to the marks and generally refurbish. 3 Re-hang on new hinges, new lock, etc. 4 Build up the frame to form a new jamb

Now, the question is how to seal it as the conservatory is very draughty, so it's effectively an external door. I would rather avoid the 'plant on' seals I currently have as they are unsightly. Conventional modern weather stripping is set into a groove in the frame. Routing this in situ would be tricky but a groove around the edge of the door would be relatively simple. Is there any reason not to fit the weather strip to the edges and top of the door instead of the frame?

Any critique of the rest of the plan is welcome of course.

Cheers

[Harry Bloomfield]

GMM laid this down on his screen :

Might it not be more sensible to just cut or unfix the whole frame and turn it 180 degrees, so it opens out instead of in?

[GMM]

Not really: It's very old and pretty structural-looking, with a great deal of complicated architrave. If it was the sort of thing you find in a new house, it would be a simple job

[michael adams]

Sorry. Maybe I'm misunderstanding this. The door sits in a rebate, With the step all around 3 sides, acting as the door stop. But while its impossible to prise this off as you say, given its solid, can't you simply saw it or otherwise machine it off? It sounds an ideal job for a multi tool. Then possibly finishing off with a plane as this will be visible when the door is rehung. Then reinstate the doorstop on the other side by screwing or gluing appropriate fillets of matching timber. I assume that the door stops should also serve to draughtproof the opening to some extent on 3 sides by not allowing a through passage of air. So that the closer they fit to the door the better.

michael adams

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[Steve Walker]

Instead of routing it, consider a plough plane, combination plane or grooving plane, but you'd need one where the blade can be right up to the front edge.

SteveW

[jgh]

No no no no no! Never spin a door through 180 degrees, you'll end up swapping a door that has warped gently to fit the frame into a door that has a three-inch gap above one corner and a thre-inch overlap above the other corner. Speaking from experience, I ruined a door and frame in my house doing that!

jgh

[Harry Bloomfield]

I think a 6" difference in level of a door frame might be rather obvious, plus of course very odd looking before the job is begun.

Normally a door frame and door will be square within a fraction of an inch.

[Tim Lamb]

Also you may create a security issue. Hinge pins and bolt will be accessible from outside.

[GMM]

Actually, in my plan, the door (apart from the bits trimmed off, of course) will stay exactly as it is, although the hinges and locl will be swapped

[GMM]

In this case, not too much of an issue, as it's inside the conservatory, and I'll fit security pins

[GMM]

My reasoning is it will be a lot simpler to trim the door and plant on some new timber trim to form the stop. I'm not sure that trying to remove 1/2 x 3" all the way around the frame in situ will end well...

[GMM]

Intersting thought, Steve. It looks like a grooving plane would be simple enough to make, but I can't find an example anywhere of one that can go right up to the edge. Maybe I'll suck it and see, although developing a new tool wasn't quite what I had in mind for the job...

[Capitol]

Hinges are accessible from te outside on many pvc patio doors.

[DerbyBorn]

And most will have Hinge Bolts.

[Steve Walker]

I am fairly sure that the combination plane that my dad had 30 or 40 years ago had the option of moving the blade for that purpose, but unfortunately I don't know what make it was and it went many years ago.

SteveW

[Muddymike]

Many fire doors have a smoke sealing strip set into a groove around the door I see that as a possible answer.

Mike

[michael adams]

Sorry my mistake. I was thinking of the 2" stop on an internal door rather than 3" on an external door, and using a half moon blade in a multi tool with liberal use of PTFE on the underside of the blade. With the head of the tool and thus the blade pressed tight against the jamb. The surplus would have to be chiselled off at regular intervals of course as the blade only offers 22mm of cut. But that in itself would probably require an inordinate amount of patience on a job of that size to say nothing of the possibility/probability of the tool deciding to break down half way through the job.

So that even if it ever was viable adding that extra inch and maybe having to work from underneath along the top ...

michael adams

...

[michael adams]

Why not, exactly ?

Assuming sufficient patience and determination and leaving aside the possibility of the tool breaking down half way through.

michael adams

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