pre-hug doors and hardwood floors

Question one might be "is there a better forum for this question?"

Need to understand sequencing of installation of new doors and new hardwood floor in existing home.

I have an entry way to my home 6' x 6'. It has three walls. In one wll I have my entry door. One one other wall I have a door to the garage and one door to a closet. I want to add hardwood floor and all new pre- hung doors in this area. The current linoleum floor is over cheap and deteriorating sub floor. I want to remove it and replace the subfloor then lay engineered 3/8" hardwood and also new prehung doors. The entry door will come with a built in sill. Not sure about exterior door to garage and the closet door will be typical interior pre-hung with no sill.

I am wondering about what sequence of installation. Do I need to remove the existing entry door, then get the floor in place and then install the new door so the sill is over the floor.

The closet has carpet and I want to leave it that way and have the HW stop at the centerline of the door. Should I just install the new prehung door down to the sub floor first and then undercut it to add in the hardwood under the front half of the jamb?

I am kind of doing this area first before I try to tackle the main part of the house and I'll have 7 more new interior bedroom and closet doors with the HW floor stopping at the center line so I'd like to have a good process\sequence.

Reply to
SonomaProducts.com
Loading thread data ...

I'd vote for the later. That way you can hide an expansion gap under the sill.

Random thoughts:

  • Consider tile in the entrance way, transitioning to the hardwood. The tile is waterproof.

  • I'd do the closets the same as the floor in front.

Reply to
HeyBub

If you hang the doors first the jambs can go on the subfloor, piece around them with the flooring. OTOH, floor first means no cutting needed of flooring as jambs are on top. FWIW, I hung all my doors - both prehung and those I made - first then flooring (tile) under them. Same with entry door...sill is on the slab, tiled up to it. All was Saltillo tile, 1/2 -

3/4 thick.

I'd think the doors would have plenty of clearance in either case without needing cutting.

Reply to
dadiOH

----------------------------------------- My gut tells me to repair the sub floor as req'd, then lay H/W flooring, then install doors.

If nothing else, it saves a bunch of "Cuttin & Fittin".

Lew

Reply to
Lew Hodgett

I live in California. I usually don't go out on those 2 or 3 days we have rain. Also, I am looking to test my abilities on laying the floor so this is a test area, easily rip-out-able and re-do-able. Also, my designer disallowed any segmenting of the floor other than to change direction of the HW, no tile for kitchen, no carpet for hallway. Finally, I want to do the transition from carpet ot HW under a door in the hall closet, again, as a test of how to get it done before I do it at a more obvious door into a bedroom, where I am allowed to keep carpet.

Reply to
SonomaProducts.com

That's definitely how I would attack the job if at all possible. Its how most older hardwood floors were done. The door trim went on over the hardwood. That way there are no gaps in the hardwood showing

Reply to
clare

Also if replacing door to grarage it should be fire rated. That is code where I live. ww

Reply to
WW

Ah, thanks for the explanation. I thought you were insane.

Reply to
HeyBub

On Wed, 5 May 2010 13:23:36 -0700 (PDT), "SonomaProducts.com" wrote:

I guess I'll disagree with some here and suggest you at least hang the doors first and maybe hold off on the trim until the floor is down. There are a couple of issues when hanging the frames after the flooring. For the jambs to be plumb the header needs to be level. Even on new homes it's pretty common to have to shim one jamb leg up to get the head level. If you have to do this on top of the new floor you'll have a gap there or be trying to figure out shorten the opposite leg. In the old days, wood floors were installed before the doors but now days, the floors go in later so the exterior doors are almost always hung prior to the finished floor. Not necessarily better but more common. If you run the flooring under your exterior door someone will be looking for the Multimaster when they want to change floorings later. If you install the exterior door first you want to make sure that the threshold is raised far enough to clear the wood floor and a rug. We usually add 1/2" under all exterior doors and 3/4" isn't too much. Most new exterior doors also have an adjustable threshold that you cannot nail in to. Any base shoe will need to be nailed to the floor. Your decision on the exterior door might be easier to make depending on whether or not the opening is tall enough to raise the new frame so the floor can run under it. Again, I'd hang the jambs and hold off on the trim until the finished floor is down. Mostly because I've seen too many flooring guys tear up my trim when they try to back cut for the flooring Just a few things to contemplate.;-)

Mike O.

Reply to
Mike O.

Thx Mike-O I think I have a much better feel for it now and sounds like the plan.

Reply to
SonomaProducts.com

On Wed, 5 May 2010 13:23:36 -0700 (PDT), "SonomaProducts.com" wrote the following:

Which looks better? Will the doors fit if you add flooring height? Everything is determined by fit and interaction. Which is easier for _you_?

That means trimming the bottoms of all the doors, too, y'know.

Since the new floor will be the standard, I'd prefer to hang jambed doors on top to reduce all the work.

Pull the casing and see if you have enough rough opening height to install the doors (especially those with thresholds) on top of the new flooring. If so, install the flooring first, then the doors. If not, remove the thresholds and cut the jambs and doors down, then install doors, then the floors.

Perfect excuse to buy a HF MultiFunction tool. They cut down jambs like champs! (If need be.)

-- All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit. --Thomas Paine

Reply to
Larry Jaques

...this is it. Spoken like a true "door guy"...I was reading thru the thread thinking process and you nailed what I was thinking, Mike!

cg

Reply to
Chasgroh

If you hang the doors first you could always use a piece of the flooring (plus a bit, maybe a playing card) to shim up the jambs so that you can later slide the flooring under them thus avoiding the need to cut the floor to fit.

Reply to
dadiOH

On Wed, 05 May 2010 22:52:53 -0500, Mike O. wrote the following:

Nothin' a couple tubes of caulk can't fix, right, Mike?

-- All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit. --Thomas Paine

Reply to
Larry Jaques

When your house was built, the doors were installed first, then the flooring is done prior to trim out.

There are many reasons for that, Mike hit on most of them.

Do your doors first, floors afterward.

Reply to
Swingman

That depends when the house was built, and also varies by region.

Reply to
clare

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.