Folks,

I am going to be replacing all of the doors inside my house (since the
exisiting ones are a.) 20 years old, b.) covered with small annoying
holes, and c.) hollow slab doors.)

I would like to replace all of the doors with hollow 6 panels doors. I
would like to, if possible, remove the existing doors and hang new
doors on the existing jambs.

However, I have one doorway thats actually a set of interior french
doors.

Would I be out of my mind attempting to replace french doors in an
existing jamb? Or should I just bite the bullet, spend the extra
money, and buy prehung doors?

Any advice, suggestions, experience shared would be greatly
appreciated.


-Thanks,


Todd

"Todd" wrote in news:1175053445.016124.231610
@p15g2000hsd.googlegroups.com:

I am going to be replacing all of the doors inside my house (since the
exisiting ones are a.) 20 years old, b.) covered with small annoying
holes, and c.) hollow slab doors.)

I would like to replace all of the doors with hollow 6 panels doors. I
would like to, if possible, remove the existing doors and hang new
doors on the existing jambs.

However, I have one doorway thats actually a set of interior french
doors.

Would I be out of my mind attempting to replace french doors in an
existing jamb? Or should I just bite the bullet, spend the extra
money, and buy prehung doors?

Any advice, suggestions, experience shared would be greatly
appreciated.

You can do it either way. I would replace all the doors with pre-hung
units.

If you keep the old frames, you'll have to fit the new door to the frame.
That will involve planing and sanding, resulting in a non-square door,
possibly a lot non-square. If the frame is crooked, you can't make the door
hang straight. You can't trust that the frame is square and plumb just by
putting a level and square on it. The hinge mount points could be warped
just enough to throw the door off. The only advantage is no casing work.

If you use a pre-hung door, you'll have to shim and plumb the frame, then
trim it. The door will hang nice and straight and not swing open or closed
by itself as long as the frame is put in right. The only disadvantage is
that you'll have to remove and replace the casing, then touch up the paint
and caulk. You'll have to paint the new frame, but you'll be painting the
doors anyhow.

Your french door is just two doors in one frame. This doubles the chance of
problems from measurements and bad framing.