OK, question time. I have a house about 40 years old or so, with
hollow core doors, and for whatever reason, they are 78" or were cut
to 78"... I Am replacing with clear pine solid doors, problem is, the
strike plate is at standard 36", meaning to properly center the
doorknob on the style in the center of the middle rail, i would have
to drop the knob to 34" from the floor to keep the knob centered....
or have it above center on that rail and leave it at 36"

Cutting 2" off the top will not leave me a thick enough rail at the
top of the 6 panels, esthetically...

My ideal is to NOT cut off the top of the door, so tha the top rail
is left the same width as the side styles, and to have the doorknob
centered on the rail at 36" from floor....

Is filling the current stike plate in with wood filler or alternate an
option?? I am painting the jambs and case white.

"Picasso" wrote in message
...
OK, question time. I have a house about 40 years old or so, with
hollow core doors, and for whatever reason, they are 78" or were cut
to 78"... I Am replacing with clear pine solid doors, problem is, the
strike plate is at standard 36", meaning to properly center the
doorknob on the style in the center of the middle rail, i would have
to drop the knob to 34" from the floor to keep the knob centered....
or have it above center on that rail and leave it at 36"

Cutting 2" off the top will not leave me a thick enough rail at the
top of the 6 panels, esthetically...

My ideal is to NOT cut off the top of the door, so tha the top rail
is left the same width as the side styles, and to have the doorknob
centered on the rail at 36" from floor....

Is filling the current stike plate in with wood filler or alternate an
option?? I am painting the jambs and case white.



Is there a reason you can't pop the trim off and replace the whole unit with
a pre hung door ??? It's probably what I would do and in fact am doing to my
old hoolow core doors.....

On Feb 17, 10:45*pm, Picasso wrote:
OK, question time. *I have a house about 40 years old or so, with
hollow core doors, and for whatever reason, they are 78" or were cut
to 78"... I Am replacing with clear pine solid doors, problem is, the
strike plate is at standard 36", meaning to properly center the
doorknob on the style in the center of the middle rail, i would have
to drop the knob to 34" from the floor to keep the knob centered....
or have it above center on that rail and leave it at 36"

Cutting 2" off the top will not leave me a thick enough rail at the
top of the 6 panels, esthetically...

My ideal is *to NOT cut off the top of the door, so tha the top rail
is left the same width as the side styles, and to have the doorknob
centered on the rail at 36" from floor....

Is filling the current stike plate in with wood filler or alternate an
option?? *I am painting the jambs and case white.

If you're painting it, you can get away with murder. Cut pieces of
wood to fill what you need to fill and epoxy them in place. Plane and
sand smooth, then layout and cut the new strike mortise and gain.

R

On Feb 18, 1:01*am, "benick" wrote:
"Picasso" wrote in message

...



OK, question time. *I have a house about 40 years old or so, with
hollow core doors, and for whatever reason, they are 78" or were cut
to 78"... I Am replacing with clear pine solid doors, problem is, the
strike plate is at standard 36", meaning to properly center the
doorknob on the style in the center of the middle rail, i would have
to drop the knob to 34" from the floor to keep the knob centered....
or have it above center on that rail and leave it at 36"

Cutting 2" off the top will not leave me a thick enough rail at the
top of the 6 panels, esthetically...

My ideal is *to NOT cut off the top of the door, so tha the top rail
is left the same width as the side styles, and to have the doorknob
centered on the rail at 36" from floor....

Is filling the current stike plate in with wood filler or alternate an
option?? *I am painting the jambs and case white.

Is there a reason you can't pop the trim off and replace the whole unit with
a pre hung door ??? It's probably what I would do and in fact am doing to my
old hoolow core doors.....

They'd still have to cut the door (and jamb) down to fit. For just
the woodworking, it's almost a toss up for how long it would take
going either way, depending on the tools and skill set on hand.
Leaving the existing frame would disturb less wall surface and there'd
be less painting involved.

R

On Feb 17, 10:45*pm, Picasso wrote:
OK, question time. *I have a house about 40 years old or so, with
hollow core doors, and for whatever reason, they are 78" or were cut
to 78"... I Am replacing with clear pine solid doors, problem is, the
strike plate is at standard 36", meaning to properly center the
doorknob on the style in the center of the middle rail, i would have
to drop the knob to 34" from the floor to keep the knob centered....
or have it above center on that rail and leave it at 36"

Cutting 2" off the top will not leave me a thick enough rail at the
top of the 6 panels, esthetically...

My ideal is *to NOT cut off the top of the door, so tha the top rail
is left the same width as the side styles, and to have the doorknob
centered on the rail at 36" from floor....

Is filling the current stike plate in with wood filler or alternate an
option?? *I am painting the jambs and case white.

Get solid doors that have not been predrilled for knobs. After you
have cut the door to fit the opening, top or bottom or both, then
drill the holes for the knob and latch. You can get a kit that comes
with the hole saws and templates.

--


Inspiration can be found in a pile of junk.
Sometimes, you can put it together with a good imagination and invent
something - Thomas Edison
"Picasso" wrote in message
...
OK, question time. I have a house about 40 years old or so, with
hollow core doors, and for whatever reason, they are 78" or were cut
to 78"... I Am replacing with clear pine solid doors, problem is, the
strike plate is at standard 36", meaning to properly center the
doorknob on the style in the center of the middle rail, i would have
to drop the knob to 34" from the floor to keep the knob centered....
or have it above center on that rail and leave it at 36"

Cutting 2" off the top will not leave me a thick enough rail at the
top of the 6 panels, esthetically...

My ideal is to NOT cut off the top of the door, so tha the top rail
is left the same width as the side styles, and to have the doorknob
centered on the rail at 36" from floor....

Is filling the current stike plate in with wood filler or alternate an
option?? I am painting the jambs and case white.

I would move the strike plate and fill in with auto body filler (Bondo).
Works great if your are going to paint.

Picasso wrote:
On Feb 18, 9:55 am, jamesgangnc wrote:
On Feb 17, 10:45 pm, Picasso wrote:



OK, question time. I have a house about 40 years old or so, with
hollow core doors, and for whatever reason, they are 78" or were cut
to 78"...

they are actually solid pine doors, that are not predrilled.

I am fitting new doors in existing jambs... problem is i don't want to
cut off the top, but the bottom.....

A lot of older homes have 78" doors, and a lot of places still sell 78"
doors. Have you done enough checking to see if you can buy doors that are
already 78" and are already pre-drilled? I think that would be a much
better option than trying to modify an 80" door.

On Fri, 18 Feb 2011 15:56:17 -0500, "RogerT"
wrote:

A lot of older homes have 78" doors, and a lot of places still sell 78"
doors. Have you done enough checking to see if you can buy doors that are
already 78" and are already pre-drilled? I think that would be a much
better option than trying to modify an 80" door.

I had a non-standard door in a rental property one time. Could not
just go and buy the door of the shelf.

I went to a shop that built doors, gave the needed measurement and
they had me a door in a short time.

The odd size door was because of the framing of the house when it was
built. Who knew...

RicodJour wrote in news:dcdcfb05-3990-4473-
:

On Feb 17, 10:45*pm, Picasso wrote:
OK, question time. *I have a house about 40 years old or so, with
hollow core doors, and for whatever reason, they are 78" or were cut
to 78"... I Am replacing with clear pine solid doors, problem is, the
strike plate is at standard 36", meaning to properly center the
doorknob on the style in the center of the middle rail, i would have
to drop the knob to 34" from the floor to keep the knob centered....
or have it above center on that rail and leave it at 36"

Cutting 2" off the top will not leave me a thick enough rail at the
top of the 6 panels, esthetically...

My ideal is *to NOT cut off the top of the door, so tha the top rail
is left the same width as the side styles, and to have the doorknob
centered on the rail at 36" from floor....

Is filling the current stike plate in with wood filler or alternate an
option?? *I am painting the jambs and case white.

If you're painting it, you can get away with murder. Cut pieces of
wood to fill what you need to fill and epoxy them in place. Plane and
sand smooth, then layout and cut the new strike mortise and gain.

R


Router is my tool of choice when I've come across this. Route out the
hole square. Cut square that is thicker than hole depth to fill hole.
Drill small hole in patch piece. Wood glue in hole. Patch in hole and
screw into jamb. Let dry for a day. Remove screw. Router to make patch
piece flush.

Basically what you said. Just that router makes jamb hole and patch piece
a full fill as well as used to flush it all.

On 2/18/2011 2:42 PM, Picasso wrote:
On Feb 18, 2:19 pm, wrote:
On Feb 18, 12:41 pm, wrote:



they are actually solid pine doors, that are not predrilled.

I am fitting new doors in existing jambs... problem is i don't want to
cut off the top, but the bottom... but by cutting off the bottom, it
is not allowing me to drill the knob in the center of the horizontal
rail where it should be...

to keep it in the center of the rail, i have to drop the strike plate
approx 2"

So do it. The final word, assuming reasonable craftsmanship, is all
about aesthetics.

Then again, with a nym like Picasso, maybe you should put the knob on
the jamb...or maybe paint a knob on the door and have it open with a
touch-latch.

R

Well, thanks for the confidence.

I may have to try the bondo. I Have some Lepage woodfiller, I think
I'll search out some bondo and go with that method... sounds more
durable.

Thanks for the help guys.

If you are painting, and have a sharp chisel, square up the existing
hole. and glue in a slightly thicker dutchman that fits tightly, and
stands a little proud of the visible corner. (Helps if you have a saw to
rip the stock to appropriate thickness, and something to cut the ends
square.) Once glue has dried, a small block plane and some hand sanding
will blend it in so smoothly that is will vanish when painted. No bondo
needed, although that is also a viable but messier alternative.

But why not cut a little off the top and bottom rails? As long as they
match, knob will still center (if I understand your description
correctly), and they won't look wrong to the eye.

--
aem sends...