Shaving off door bottom

Wife has fitted a new carpet in a room and now door won't shut as pile is too thick. What's the best tool to take off a bit off the bottom - a plane I presume but I've not used one for years so what's a reasonable low cost one.

thx

Reply to
John Smith
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I used an electric plane - but check for nails first!

Green Bosch is what I have and it's still find since 1998

Reply to
Tim Watts

A plane isn't the right tool to trim the bottom of a door, it's fine on the edges. You need a circular saw and a sawboard

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Even a cheap circular saw will work fine with a sawboard.

Reply to
David Lang

Agreed about the saw, but a bit of straight wood clamped to the door to use as a guide will do fine.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Not entirely true - an electric plane will be fine - I've done it, on several doors.

The one thing with a plane on a door top/bottom is not to come off the far edge, but to plane from both edges to the middle, otherwise you can knock a lump off the corner.

I learnt that on door #1 !

After that it was fine.

Reply to
Tim Watts

It will work, agreed. But a sawboard is easier and prevents splintering.

Reply to
David Lang

That's precisely why a circular saw & sawboard s better.

Reply to
David Lang

My reasons were: I had no use for a circular saw, but a plane looked useful, so I went for the plane.

For some reason I've never liked hand held circular saws - I would rather muddle through with a jigsaw :)

Reply to
Tim Watts

+1 For accuracy on door trimming the tool needs to be following a guide, hence the circ saw method really is a no brainer
Reply to
Stuart Noble

Agreed. Unless it's only 1 or 2mm - and even then I find it difficult to get a consistent depth with a plane.

Yep - just did one with the Lidl cordless circular saw and the surprisingly good sawboard.

Reply to
RJH

I suppose it depends on the door design, but planing across the grain isn't usually the best way. And electric planes ain't the easiest of things to get a perfect edge with either. A sharp circular saw up against a bit of straight wood as a guide will give a near perfect cut along and across the grain.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

I used a rasp last time, took a while longer than perhaps a plane would have, but I only needed a few mm's off, it was a relativley weak bathroom door rather than solid wood.

Reply to
whisky-dave

That's what I did on two occasions with no problems.

Reply to
curious

The beauty of the circ saw method is that you can take off nothing at all at one end and, say, 5mm at the other. Perfect cut every time. Plenty of doors have been butchered over the years by plane and handsaw merchants, and this is a way of straightening things up.

Reply to
Stuart Noble

If anyone's interested we bought a cheapo electric plane and it worked fine on this Victorian replica door. Took a while to get enough off. Kept it fairly straight by using a long spirit level to see how square it was as we went. In fact it needed shaving a bit more at the non-hinge end to not foul the carpet so assume it was not swinging very straight anyway - this is an 1850 house where nothing lines up...

Reply to
John Smith

Do you mean that when the door is wide open there was enough room under it for the carpet fitters to put down the carpet and that it's only when you try to close it that it becomes jammed?

If you just want to be able to close the door even if it is still a bit stiff from rubbing, then it should be possible to remove enough off of the bottom of the door without removing it, by sanding.

What I do is make up a simple tool from thin flexible steel to hold the abbrasive paper and move the door backwards and forwards over it. A piece about 2ft by 4in is suitable, bend over the last 2in on each end and cut a piece of sand paper to fit pressing down the ends to hold it in place. Open the door wide and push it under the end, use your foot to hold it in place and move the door backwards and forwards over it 20 times, move the tool inwards and repeat until you reach the hinge end and then move outwards repeating. Hoover up the debris put on a new piece of abbrasive, close the door a bit and repeat. Keep doing this until enough has been removed to allow the door to close. It's a bit tedious but if you have kids or grandchildren they'll have fun "helping".

I'm assuming that you have checked that the fitters did their job properly and haven't trapped underlay or carpet under the metal door sill stopping it from closing.

Alan

Reply to
Alan Dawes

I'm tired out just thinking about that approach :-)

Reply to
Stuart Noble

You have certainly excited a hornets nest with this question.

For a one-off door I would use a power planer, with one proviso, that you always push into the door, and never let the blade emerge whilst cutting across the grain.

I would run a pencil on top of the carpet marking the door along the whole of the bottom, so leaving a couple of mm clearance. Best done with the door near shut.

Take door off.

Set plane to near zero depth setting.

Run plane in from one side, and after a few strokes adjust depth to take off some material, the same from the other side.

If you allow the plane to emerge whilst cutting across the grain, the blade will take with it a chunk of door. This is why even Mr Lang says he is happy to use a planer on the sides, where you'd be planing along the grain.

If you have the time and the resources, the sawboard method is perhaps the most reliable.

Reply to
Fredxxx

Assuming you have the sense to know how to mark how much to take off, it's quicker. Done in one pass with a near perfect cut - which you'd need a lot of skill to do with a power plane.

I get the impression few here remember the first time they used a power plane. Or just have very low standards.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

ROFLMAO!

Reply to
GB

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