I wanted to find out some opinions on new interior doors. Five total doors to replace. I want solid wood doors that I will just paint. I might consider stain grade but not sure I want to go that route and if I want stained doors. I have wider than ‘standard” door jamb widths and mine measure roughly 5 1/4″ wide. The stores carry 4 9/16″ jamb width doors in stock. A decent solid pine is $150, not a bad price. However I do not like pine because it is a relatively soft wood. Buying an oak door seems a shame if just to paint over it. Anyway, at install I would need to either need to add jamb extensions to a stock door or buy a custom door. Of course the correct answer is to buy custom doors but the price will be at least 2X higher. Just curious what others may have done in this case. If doing the jamb extension method, how has the finished product looked?
thanks
dennis
Replies
Jamb extensions look fine.
Keep them to the non hinge side so the door may fully open-no infringement (inhingement) on the swing with the extension.
Adds another shadowline.
Poplar doors make for a beautiful paintjob.
rf
I have hung many doors to existing jambs. Not the easiest project to learn on, but sometimes the trim or other reason dictates the task.
Some things to consider-in panel doors the lockset should sometimes go somewhere to give a pleasing look to the install (centered in the rail for instance). How does your old catch mortise line up with the new doors layout.
Old hinge mortises are usually deeper. Are you going to be able to find (without $'s) comparable hinge thickness (assuming your buy new )?
Stops after being painted over the years or old stained ones, might have to be moved for a good fit and finish. Can you deal with that on your existing jamb. (installing a wider stop can help there)
Is the existing jamb worthy of all that work?
Check this out from, it might help.
http://www.garymkatz.com/DVDs/DH.html
Have you considered not getting prehung doors, and recycling the old jambs? More work to mortise the doors, of course, and likely they'll have to be trimmed to fit the frames, but you get jambs that are the right size.
(Though I'd agree that adding a 3/4" jamb extension isn't a big deal.)
I thought about just buying the slab and modify it to fit the current doorframe. The downside was all the work to prep the slab to fit the frame. What sucks is that all of the doors are just slightly different from each other in terms of slab width and height. Each door becomes a project unto itself. I have never done the mortising work before. Would give me a reason to buy a router though. I do like the idea of reusing the door frames. I would not have to pay for a dumpster for the old ones. I will consider this option a bit more but anybody else post more ideas. And if you have a book/vid that shows how to replace a slab, send it along.
engineer,
swapping out the slabs is really your best bet, buy a cheap practice slab (Luan) if you need to, but it's way more work to modify the jambs and trim than modifying the slabs. I would suggest you cut the mortises by hand (hammer and chisel ) or use a hinge template with your router, but you'll have to weigh the cost/benefits concerns for that option.
Hang the slabs in the existing jambs, cutting the hinge mortises but NOT boring the lockset hole or the latch bore. Wait until after the door is on the hinges and fitted to the jamb, THEN, using the existing strike mortise on the jamb, transfer the centerline of the strikeplate to the door edge and mark the backset for the handleset bore. Then bore the latch-bore and handle-set bore and install the lockset, latch, and new strike.
You can re-use the old hinges if you want , or select a new style/color, but the same size hinge e.g. 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" with square or round corners like your old ones.
Good Luck
Geoff
(And it should be noted that there are at least two different common radii for the round-corner hinges.)
i am pretty sure that i can reuse the old hinges. the current doors are just these hideous luan type things. i think i can get away with a slab swap but there will be some finessing. i may just buy a cheap slab as a practice piece and then try the real one.
is it worth the effort??? that is the question. buying new doors would be better but way more expensive. i think i would only do this to save cash.
dennis
what you tear up you also have to fix.......
From the info provided it sounds like just fitting new slabs is the way to go.
It does require different skills than a total jamb changeout but you don't have to deal with the demo and waste either.
Fit the slab to the opening then transfer the hinge layout.
For sure come up with a router for the mortising unless you already have hand mortise skills. Even a basic yard sale router with a site made template will do an accurate job.
I see too many jobs approached with the notion that rip it up and toss it is the only possible solution, influenced maybe by DIY tv shows that are little influenced with reality. But that's a whole 'nother subject......
yes, perhaps I have been tainted by the DIY shows to some extent but my wallet says otherwise. But you are right, sometimes reuse is a better approach.
i think i will go with replacing slabs. i am pretty handy but it will just have to be something that i have to learn.
dennis
replacing doors
I recently replaced an exterior door in our 100-yr old house. The old hinge mortices (2) were really bad so I went with 3 new hinges and filled the old mortices with bondo. After hanging the door, I marked the centerline of the latch and deadbolt, installed the hardware and had the whole thing finished in an afternoon. Go ahead and cut the mortices with a hammer & chisel, but err on the "shallow" side, it's a lot easier to shave out a 16th than it is to fill behind a hinge.
FYI, I probably did everything backwards, I put the hinges on the door first, stood the door in place with a shim under it and marked the jamb at the hinge locations, removed the door and started cutting. Working alone, that seemed easiest to me.
I like the variegated colors produced by Doug fir when it's varnished:
View Image
Where do you buy douglas fir doors at? I know the box stores only carry slabs of pine, maybe oak. I have never seen fir. Local lumber yards or other places?
Find a door shop
If you aren't comfortable doing the mortising yourself, any door shop should be able to do it for you. The charge locally is about $30-50 per door, depending on number of hinges, other modifications that might be necessary. Just take your old doors to the shop and they can transfer the hinge mortises to new doors. They will also be able to do any trimming that is necessary to have the new door fit the old hole exactly.
Mortising isn't terribly difficult, but can be a time consuming task when you don't know what you are doing. And when you are starting to cut on a brand new $200 door (or $300 or $400) it can be a bit nerve wracking...