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Default door replacement tips

I want to replace a few interior doors. The current doors are beat up
luan and I'll replace them with solid six panel doors. I've replaced
one of them and it's not quite right, so I'd like to figure out how to
this correctly before proceeding with the rest.

All of the door jambs are very solid oak so it's seems a waste to
replace with prehung doors. Also, the luan doors all work perfectly,
so they are hung correctly.

I thought it would be a snap to simply make the new door exactly like
the old one. So I laid the old and new doors on top of one another
and they appeared to be exactly the same size, except for height. I
cut the bottom off to size, carefully marked, measured and cut out the
hinge mortises and door knob hole. When I hung the door it was
apparently a millimeter or so too wide. It struck the jamb very
slightly before it would close. I used an electric planer to shave
off some of the door on the knob side. Now it closes but binds on the
hinge side. It seems I may have made the hinge mortises too deep, so
the hinge is sunk a bit below the surface. I'm thinking I need to
shim beneath the hinge to bring it level with the door surface, but
then I'll probably need to shave some more from the other side. This
bothers me because I thought the old and new door were the same width
to begin with, so maybe I'm doing something wrong if I need to keep
planing it down.

Any tips or references to practical guides would be appreciated. The
websites I can find seem to gloss over the tiny details that seem
crucial for obtaining a good result.

Thanks

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Default door replacement tips

On Oct 10, 11:52 am, frank megaweege wrote:
I want to replace a few interior doors. The current doors are beat up
luan and I'll replace them with solid six panel doors. I've replaced
one of them and it's not quite right, so I'd like to figure out how to
this correctly before proceeding with the rest.

All of the door jambs are very solid oak so it's seems a waste to
replace with prehung doors. Also, the luan doors all work perfectly,
so they are hung correctly.

I thought it would be a snap to simply make the new door exactly like
the old one. So I laid the old and new doors on top of one another
and they appeared to be exactly the same size, except for height. I
cut the bottom off to size, carefully marked, measured and cut out the
hinge mortises and door knob hole. When I hung the door it was
apparently a millimeter or so too wide. It struck the jamb very
slightly before it would close. I used an electric planer to shave
off some of the door on the knob side. Now it closes but binds on the
hinge side. It seems I may have made the hinge mortises too deep, so
the hinge is sunk a bit below the surface. I'm thinking I need to
shim beneath the hinge to bring it level with the door surface, but
then I'll probably need to shave some more from the other side. This
bothers me because I thought the old and new door were the same width
to begin with, so maybe I'm doing something wrong if I need to keep
planing it down.

Any tips or references to practical guides would be appreciated. The
websites I can find seem to gloss over the tiny details that seem
crucial for obtaining a good result.

Thanks


Look closely at the old doors. The knob side is probably planed at a
slight angle to give it clearance to pass the jamb.

Use thin cardboard to shim the hinges (think cereal box).

It is never a simple process unless you are installing pre-hung doors
and they can even be a PITA. Now you know why finish carpenters get
paid more and are harder to find than framing 'carpenters'.

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Default door replacement tips

On Oct 10, 11:52 am, frank megaweege wrote:
I want to replace a few interior doors. The current doors are beat up
luan and I'll replace them with solid six panel doors. I've replaced
one of them and it's not quite right, so I'd like to figure out how to
this correctly before proceeding with the rest.

All of the door jambs are very solid oak so it's seems a waste to
replace with prehung doors. Also, the luan doors all work perfectly,
so they are hung correctly.

I thought it would be a snap to simply make the new door exactly like
the old one. So I laid the old and new doors on top of one another
and they appeared to be exactly the same size, except for height. I
cut the bottom off to size, carefully marked, measured and cut out the
hinge mortises and door knob hole. When I hung the door it was
apparently a millimeter or so too wide. It struck the jamb very
slightly before it would close. I used an electric planer to shave
off some of the door on the knob side. Now it closes but binds on the
hinge side. It seems I may have made the hinge mortises too deep, so
the hinge is sunk a bit below the surface. I'm thinking I need to
shim beneath the hinge to bring it level with the door surface, but
then I'll probably need to shave some more from the other side. This
bothers me because I thought the old and new door were the same width
to begin with, so maybe I'm doing something wrong if I need to keep
planing it down.

Any tips or references to practical guides would be appreciated. The
websites I can find seem to gloss over the tiny details that seem
crucial for obtaining a good result.

Thanks


This may help

http://www.askthebuilder.com/B111_In...ion_Tips.shtml



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Default door replacement tips

Exactly how did you make the hinge mortise?
The only way I'd do it is with a router and a hinge template. Then I
use a corner chisel (if hinge is aquared) and a centering drill bit to
do pilot holes for the hinge. Get some scrap wood and practice before
doing it on a new door slab! You can make sure you got the depth
setting right on your practice before doing it on the real thing.
Chisteling it out by hand doesn't work very well. On my 1950 house
I've been filling them in with DAP plastic wood and redoing them with
my router as I redo the house. Carful measuring is a must when placing
the router template.

And I used a cheap Harbor Freight trim router, even this one:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=44914
currenty on sale for $20 wil do.

Use metal templates for the router. I bought them off eBay. I really
hate the plastic ones! The ones I use look like this:

http://www.hammerzone.com/archives/d...g/drinc17a.jpg

In fact that whole Hammerzone site should be required reading for you.


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Default door replacement tips

On Oct 10, 2:33 pm, wrote:
Exactly how did you make the hinge mortise?
The only way I'd do it is with a router and a hinge template. Then I
use a corner chisel (if hinge is aquared) and a centering drill bit to
do pilot holes for the hinge. Get some scrap wood and practice before
doing it on a new door slab! You can make sure you got the depth
setting right on your practice before doing it on the real thing.
Chisteling it out by hand doesn't work very well. On my 1950 house
I've been filling them in with DAP plastic wood and redoing them with
my router as I redo the house. Carful measuring is a must when placing
the router template.

And I used a cheap Harbor Freight trim router, even this one:http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=44914
currenty on sale for $20 wil do.

Use metal templates for the router. I bought them off eBay. I really
hate the plastic ones! The ones I use look like this:

http://www.hammerzone.com/archives/d...m/pre-hang/dri...

In fact that whole Hammerzone site should be required reading for you.


I chiseled them out by hand. Obviously that didn't work out perfectly
but hopefully I can correct them with cardboard shims. Or maybe fill
them in and redo with a router. I may be able to borrow a decent one.
The door that's not quite right is a basement bathroom and I
purposefully did that one first as it's out of the way. I want to get
my methods down on that one before I move on the the more visible
doors.






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Default door replacement tips

You are reporting a classic case of "hinge bind". Doors should
have a 3-5 degree bevel on both the hinge and strike side. These
bevels should be made first, before the hinges and lockset. The
bevels have been made with hand planes for years, but if these are
oak stiled doors you may rather look into a power plane. The
bevel on the strike side is to allow the door to miss the jamb and
yet have a good reveal when closed. The bevel on the hinge side
is to accommodate an out-of-square jamb condition where the stop
edge of the door hits the jamb before the door is closed. When
the door is hung properly there should be a bit of clearance
between the jamb and the closed door - an old carpenter mantra,
nickel on the top and a dime on the sides. These issues are much
more important on 1 3/4 doors, but I suspect you have 1 3/8.
Either make, buy, or rent some way to use a router to cut the
hinge mortises. It can certainly be done with a good sharp chisel
and scoring knife, but if you are hanging solid oak doors with oak
stiles you're biting off a big chore.

Make sure to keep a sanding block handy to ease the sharp edges
created by plane and cutting the bottom and top. Personal pet
peeve - sharp enough edges to cut little fingers.
--
______________________________
Keep the whole world singing . . . .
DanG (remove the sevens)




"frank megaweege" wrote in message
ups.com...
I want to replace a few interior doors. The current doors are
beat up
luan and I'll replace them with solid six panel doors. I've
replaced
one of them and it's not quite right, so I'd like to figure out
how to
this correctly before proceeding with the rest.

All of the door jambs are very solid oak so it's seems a waste
to
replace with prehung doors. Also, the luan doors all work
perfectly,
so they are hung correctly.

I thought it would be a snap to simply make the new door exactly
like
the old one. So I laid the old and new doors on top of one
another
and they appeared to be exactly the same size, except for
height. I
cut the bottom off to size, carefully marked, measured and cut
out the
hinge mortises and door knob hole. When I hung the door it was
apparently a millimeter or so too wide. It struck the jamb very
slightly before it would close. I used an electric planer to
shave
off some of the door on the knob side. Now it closes but binds
on the
hinge side. It seems I may have made the hinge mortises too
deep, so
the hinge is sunk a bit below the surface. I'm thinking I need
to
shim beneath the hinge to bring it level with the door surface,
but
then I'll probably need to shave some more from the other side.
This
bothers me because I thought the old and new door were the same
width
to begin with, so maybe I'm doing something wrong if I need to
keep
planing it down.

Any tips or references to practical guides would be appreciated.
The
websites I can find seem to gloss over the tiny details that
seem
crucial for obtaining a good result.

Thanks



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Default door replacement tips

On Oct 10, 9:26 pm, "DanG" wrote:
You are reporting a classic case of "hinge bind". Doors should
have a 3-5 degree bevel on both the hinge and strike side. These
bevels should be made first, before the hinges and lockset. The
bevels have been made with hand planes for years, but if these are
oak stiled doors you may rather look into a power plane. The
bevel on the strike side is to allow the door to miss the jamb and
yet have a good reveal when closed. The bevel on the hinge side
is to accommodate an out-of-square jamb condition where the stop
edge of the door hits the jamb before the door is closed. When
the door is hung properly there should be a bit of clearance
between the jamb and the closed door - an old carpenter mantra,
nickel on the top and a dime on the sides. These issues are much
more important on 1 3/4 doors, but I suspect you have 1 3/8.


I suppose they are 1 3/8 if that is the standard for interior doors.
I will take the problem door down and make the bevels, however, the
old door does not appear to be made this way. They are hollow luan
doors and the edges look square. Yet they close perfectly with no
more than the dime clearance you describe.

Either make, buy, or rent some way to use a router to cut the
hinge mortises. It can certainly be done with a good sharp chisel
and scoring knife, but if you are hanging solid oak doors with oak
stiles you're biting off a big chore.


They are pine. The one I did with a chisel didn't seem difficult, but
I will try a router for the others so that I can be more exact on the
depth.


Make sure to keep a sanding block handy to ease the sharp edges
created by plane and cutting the bottom and top. Personal pet
peeve - sharp enough edges to cut little fingers.
--


Will do. Thanks.


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