Our bathroom door has been on its last legs for a while. It’s a hollow-core interior door and it’s basically fallen apart the last couple of days. Now, this door was there when the house was moved into, so nobody currently living here was involved in hanging it. Nobody currently living here has ever been involved with hanging a door, period.
So I invite opinions from you, dear Dopers, on just what we should be looking to buy when we go out tomorrow, and ask also for any advice that any handydopers would be able to give to make the whole operation easier, any tips or tricks you can give us.
Beaded curtain. No muss, no fuss, no body modesty…
Okay, fine… Make sure you take exact measurements of the previous door if you can, including thickness. If you’re going to be getting a used door at an urban recovery place, take measurements of where the hinges and the door latch are on the door you’ve got now.
(You pull out the old door and the old frame, and install the new door, which comes mounted in a new frame.) You’ll have to replace the molding, but this is vastly preferable to trying to hang a door in an existing frame. Hanging a door is a miserable job and you’ll hate the results - I’d guess that you need to hang at least ten doors before you get reasonably good at it.
Considering that you can’t purchase a slab door that has been premortised for the hinges and prebored for the lockset which will match your dimensions, you need to either develop skill in door hanging, or pay someone else to do it.
To start your tool list, a good set of wood chisels, hammer, screwdrivers, measuring tape, combination square or framing square, utility knife, jack plane, power drill, holesaw for throughbore (can be 1 1/2"~2 1/8") and spade bit for backset (can be 7/8" or 1"), and if you’d like even better results, a 1/2 HP router with core box or mortise bit, and a power plane.
Your first job will make people wonder if you gave a blind man some crack and handed him an axe. You’ll get better.
Sorry friend. I didn’t think you’d like my answer. Unfortunately, a slab door is only about $30 max. But who’s gonna come out to hang one door and charge less than $50? A round trip to your place from mine costs $20 of fuel alone. :sad: You should save what you have just in case it’s together enough for a decent hinge butt marking transfer.
I know. Unfortunately, I don’t know if it’s possible to remove the frame that’s in there now without causing some massive damage to the walls. The door basically closes off the end of the hallway…there is no wall on either side of it. It just butts against both of the perpendicular walls.
Even that option still requires some handiness with tools and a little bit of know how.
You have to remove the trim, cut thru or remove the nails or screws holding the old frame in, make sure you don’t screw up any threshold which may be there, etc… Sometimes, in older construction, I find the door frame somewhat counterset into the flooring, whether by initial installation, or by laying new flooring down. Also, you still need to measure properly for a correct fit, make sure it’s all plumb and level, make sure you don’t split the moulding when removing it (or else cut and install new moulding…)
Hanging a door can either be super easy and quick, or it can be as frustrating as teaching a weasel to write cursive.
Either get a good book on handyman stuff and some tools (borrowed or bought), or call a local handyman. Besides the phone book, you can ask around for some referralls or look at the business card bulletin board at a local hardware store.
Both options given (slab door and pre-hung) are quite a bit beyond our capabilities, both knowledge-wise and tools-wise. I’m going to throw out an idea and I’d like opinions on it.
If we went to Lowes tomorrow, and got two pieces of 1x12 board the length of the door, could we just use the 1x12 as bracing on the latch side and hinge side and screw the present door faces onto it? We don’t really need a working knob and latch (we can do an eyehook for that), just a stationary pull. I know this isn’t a permanent solution, necessarily, but it’ll keep the door standing until we work out what we want to do long-term about it. Is there anything about this plan that’s unworkable to more knowledgeable minds?
