Help with Heavy Doors
These metal skates with locking casters make moving and raising door slabs a breeze.
After 20-plus years of hanging doors, I’ve worked out a system: A couple levels, a bucket of cedar shims, and some fasteners are all I need. It’s usually an easy process, except for one step: handling the slabs. Until recently, I would have carried the slabs by hand, gotten the hinge barrels close, and then put the slab in place, hopefully without pinching my fingers. But now I use The Door Stud Pro Series, a set of “U”-shaped metal skates with locking casters. They hold the door with toggle clamps and the casters adjust the door from 1⁄8 in. to 2-1⁄4 in. off the floor.
I place the jigs onto the door bottom while it’s on its side, then stand the door upright to roll it around. When the door is in the opening, use the height knobs to raise the slab and align the hinges. Once the door is hung, undo the clamps and lower the skates a bit to slide them out.
The Door Stud Pro really proved its worth hanging five pocket doors. Pocket doors are frustrating to hang because you have to line up the hardware while balancing the door. But with the Door Stud, you can align the rollers and then raise the slab to them. The aggravation saved on this one job was worth the cost alone.
Ben Bogie, production manager for Kolbert Building in Portland, Maine.
Photo: Courtesy of the manufacturer
From Fine Homebuilding #294
