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I’ve read a variety of articles lately about hanging doors (interior). The techniques vary for hollow core doors (from shimming the hinge side to “blasting” it to the trimmer), but the consensus seems to be for solid core doors – shim both sides (hinge and strike plate). The obvious question is: If the trimmer is plumb for the hinge side, what does shimming do for you?
For the strike plate side, the answer is clear – to fill the space, etc.
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If I find the trimmer on the hinge side plumb & straight I nail right to it, unless the R.O. is too big & casing won't cover
*I find that if the trimmer is plumb on the hinge side I will nail right to it yet it has to be tweaked with a shim somewhere on that side in order to make my reveals correct and the door to operate properly 75% of the time. Otherwise if the RO is right and the strike plate side is not to far away from the opposing trimmer it's ok by me.
*Same here....it's like a little gift from the carpentry gods when ya find a straight/plumb trimmer on the hinge side. Jeff
*b WBA At Your Servicewhat have i done to anger these gods ? sixteen years and nary a straight one yet.........
*If your doorway is centered in a hallway or something, you might have to shim both sides to keep it centered. Otherwise, I'd nail the hinge side to the trimmer if I could.
*Here's a good one. I'm getting a new front door with side lights, but it's slightly smaller than the old one. About a stud width to add on each side. The question is, how do I trim out the door once it's in place? The opening is too wide to use the same 3 inch molding that is in the rest of the hall, so do I just layer on top of a flat board? Then what to do about the top? And, to top it off, the rest of the place has the corner rosette blocks. HELP!
*Howard, I had a similar problem last year. The original casing was picture-framed 3 1/2". I installed plinth blocks and fluted 1x5 casing, to a 1x8 head with applied mouldings. This was enough to cover the area covered by the original door. The problem was the homeowner was supplying the door, and when they went to the lumber yard the salesman talked them into using a door by another manufacturer, if they had ordered the door I spec'd it would have been the same size as the original. You may be able to find a door that would fit better, or just order the door and sidelites and setup your own unit. As far as the trick of nailing doors to the trimmer stud, I find that keeping the door centered in the rough opening allows for more adjustment of the face of the door to the jamb, for me.
*Why shims? Becasue that's just the way it's done properly. You can center the door in the hole. Lets say at the end of a long hallway maybe 6' wide you have a rough opening in the middle of the end wall. The rough opening is 2 1/2" wider than the door. If you blast it to the trimmer, the door will be offset from the center of the hall. Doesn't look too good does it? I did framing for years. We didn't care if the rough opening was perfectly plumb, because we knew we would be shimming the doors later.Years ago, when I was trimming spec houses, we nailed the casing to the wall and that was it. I don't guess any of those prehung hollow core doors fell out of the holes, but that don't make it right. Nobody cared how it looked or lasted, they just cared that it was done.Ed.
*I only have one door out of 27 that is in a location where it shouldbe centered, so the "centering" consideration only applies at that location.I'm assuming when you said your rough opening is 2 1/2" larger than thedoor, you meant larger than the "finished" door size not the outsidedimension of the jambs. In my case, my rough opening is 2" larger than myfinished door which gives me 1/2" to take up with shims. I only had one doorwhere the trimmer wasn't plumb or straight, I then shimmed out as needed butkeeping the hinge side as close to the trimmer as possible. The doors areall solid doors so I want to have the "bearing side" as strong as possible,hence my original question about shimming.Regarding my reply to your reply about MDF trim:As budget constraints are the norm, I had to make choices about material.Everywhere I could, or in places where upgrading at a later time would notbe realistic, I went with the best material I could. In places where I couldnot justify the additional cost and where it either could be upgraded (aftermy ship comes in) or it would not affect the integrity (looks) of the endproduct, I chose the less expensive route.Bottom Line: Only an elite few don't have to make sacrifices due to budget,I'm not one of those elite.Al
*Hey Al,You can hang the doors anyway you want to. I haven't seen two carpenters, in over 27 years experience, hang them the same way. It's like opinions....everybody's got one.......and your's is as good as anybody's.Now you have mine.As far as the MDF goes........I still think it's trash.How you justify it's use is on you, not me.Ed.
*Al, i use a method that doesn't involve shims much. I don't know if it would work on a time-is-money job, but i love the results i get.I remove the stops, drill five 1/8" holes about 2' apart the height of the door, and use drywall screws through the jamb into the trimmer, centering and squaring the door by running them in or out. The screws don't have to be sunk because they won't be staying. When it looks good, i put a bead of foam around it. Let that expand while you go to another door or check the forums, then fill in on either side. I've never had a frame bow because of the foam when done this way, as the trim is not confining it and the first bead of trim holds it registered to the trimmer stud. Remove the screws when the foam is thoroughly cured, say overnight. Re-install the stops. You can still run extra-long screws through the hinges into the trimmer without compressing the foam.The advantages are that you get a really solid feeling door closure, less sound transmission, no nailheads to fill, and if for any reason you need to remove it, it's a snap with a drywall saw. I've done doors this way for almost 15 years, frame and panel and hollow core mostly. I've never had one fall out and some of them have taken a real beating when i open the right sequence and get the wind-tunnel effect. I'll let you know what happens in another 15, though...
*Splintie, on a new frame your method would glue the jambs to a frame that has a little more shrinking to do. In that case I shim just on the tight side to allow for that. I also set the door with the knob-side top corner just a touch high, to allow for a little settling. Old frame, no problem, go for it.Al, on a job with 27 drs I would expect that 6 or so will need some extra finagling to get the door flush with the edges of the jambs. Having the proper ro, (2 1/2" over door size), and centering the unit in the ro will allow for more adjustment, while giving you a better chance to keep the casing flat to the wall. You can see if an opening is going to be a problem before you nail, and sometimes trying another door, or driving the plates with a spike helps.
*i on a new frame your method would glue the jambs to a frame that has a little more shrinking to doThanks! That certainly didn't occur to me. I'll put that in the memory banks for when i build The Dream Home from scratch.
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I've read a variety of articles lately about hanging doors (interior). The techniques vary for hollow core doors (from shimming the hinge side to "blasting" it to the trimmer), but the consensus seems to be for solid core doors - shim both sides (hinge and strike plate). The obvious question is: If the trimmer is plumb for the hinge side, what does shimming do for you?
For the strike plate side, the answer is clear - to fill the space, etc.