Turn a door frame

[Grant]

year old house. We'd like the door to open towards the photographer and be hinged on the left.

Would it be possible to remove the whole frame, rotate it through 180 degrees and refit?

[sm_jamieson]

Difficulty depends on whether the door frame incorporates rebates as one piece or if the jamb is nailed on. If glued, may as well be one piece. If nailed on, you should be able to get a chisel in and prise it off. Then just move door and make good, then nail jamb on new jamb in appropriate place. If a one-piece frame, you make less damage to the surrounding plaster etc. by cutting it up for removal and fitting a new frame. You could build a smaller frame inside the old one and fit a smaller door, but this is not usually acceptable ! Simon.

[robert]

Yes if you dont mind the mess and repair work to surrounding walls - depends on how well it has been fixed in.

If the door stop is a separate piece of wood fixed on the frame and not part of the frame itself , then prise off the stop ,rehang door , refix door stop and fill in holes left by old hinges.

If the above isnt possible and you dont mind a narrower door, reduce door width, rehang, fix new door stop, fill in rebate where door was hung .

[Rod]

Sounds like it would be easier to move the photographer. :-)

[Tanner-'op]

Grant,

Looking at your photo, I would presume that the 'frame' is really a door lining that has planted (nailed on) doorstops therefore making the job a simple one.

1 Take the door off and lever off the doorstops. 2 Temporarily remove the hinges, latch and handles from the door and the latch receiver from the frame. 3 With all the furniture removed, try the door in its intended position in the opening and if all is well, the door 'should' fit ok - if not, ease the door to suit the frame - it will be easier to do this if you temporarily tack the doorstops in their new position and leave them there until the door is finally rehung and then they can be adjusted to fit. 4 Refit the hinges on the door as they were before removal and placing the door in the opening, mark the hinge positions on the left hand jamb. 5 Cut out the hinge housings and then refit the door and if all is well, the door should now open the way that you wish. 6 Refit the door latch and handles and mark the required position on the right hand jamb for the latch receiver and cut out the housing for the receiver plate and fix it. 7 Close the door, and refix the planted stops. 8 Fill in all the holes and damage, using whatever method you wish - from inserting pieces of wood to simple pollyfilla and repaint.

If you have a rebated frame, then most of the above will still apply, but you will have to remove the architraves from both sides and cut the frame fixings with a hacksaw blade, turn the frame, renail it and refix the architrave - a lot more work and mess.

I also presume that you are aware that the door, when open in its new position, will block access to the light switch - and if that is a stairway to the left, then that may cause access problems as well, especially of someone is passing as the door is opened fom inside the room?

Hope this helps

Tanner-'op

[Grant]

can see evidence of nail heads on the doorstops so this is probably the way to go. 100mm wide though - getting them off without splitting might be a challenge.

How would I know?

Don't think we've ever used it - there are two others that control the same lights.

It is but just the side of it. The first tread is parallel to door and 2m away.

Indeed it has. Many thanks.

[Tanner-'op]

Difficult to tell from the second photo, but that may well be a rebated door lining - possibly a door and frame 'set' made and assembled in the workshop and fitted as complete unit on-site - as it's unusual to have a 100mm wide doorstop (possible, but unusual).

If it is a 100mm doorstop, then before you start the job, nip down to the builders merchant and get some 100mm 'pencil round' or 'bull nosed' architrave and just replace it - rather than try and save something that size.

The 'nail heads' may well be the frame fixings.

Before seeing the photo, I would have said "easily" and described the 'normal' doorstop, which around 40mm x 10mm and nailed around every 300mm or thereabouts.

The only suggestion I can offer, would be to try and gently drive a sharp, wide wood chisel between door and stop at the bottom of the door frame - and if this lifts without tearing the wood, then it's a doorstop. If it cannot be lifted - or tears, then it's a machined rebate.

Sorry I can't be of more help, but I can't be more specific without seeing the job.

Tanner-'op

[John Rumm]

This article shows how a traditional door lining with planted door stops goes in:

help you make sense of what you have.

[Tanner-'op]

Good info there John, but it would seem that Grant has a non-standard type of lining (from the photo's) and it something that I never came across in some 40 years of building maintenance. Or someone has taken a standard lining and simply nailed 100mm architrave onto it as a doorstop - damned unusual I must say Dr Watson! :-)

Tanner-'op

[John Rumm]

Yup, a photo from the other side would help...

(having said that, I can see the attraction of using your own stops, since the ones supplied with most lining kits are a tad on the tiny side these days).

[Grant]

seven internal doors downstairs are like this. The upstairs one have the same mouldings but the doorstops are a standard 40mm wide.

Having looked again, I'm now not convinced the doorstops are separate. May have to get a thin chisel on a discrete spot when SWMBO isn't looking...

[robert]

Wallpaper scrapers are a good thin tool to start prising beading and architrave off with.

[stuart noble]

You can usually see/feel the nail heads at intervals