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Interior Pre-Hung Doors

JDRHI | Posted in Construction Techniques on December 18, 2003 07:41am

Anyone else seem to have more trouble installing prehung doors than you would expect? Unless a project is on both an extremely tight monetary budget as well as timeline, I prefer to hang doors from scratch over installing prehungs. It seems I end up spending more time “tweeking” a prehung unit than was worth the advantage of purchasing it in the first place.

Even in my own home I`ve noticed the doors that were purchased as temporaries, the prehungs, just don`t hold up. Those that I`ve actually gotten around to changing to permanents, (installed from scratch), operate just as well as the day they were installed.

As I said, certain circumstances have dictated in the past that I choose prehungs…I`m thinking of discontinueing this practice.

Anyone else unhappy with prehung units?

J. D. Reynolds

Home Improvements

“DO IT RIGHT, DO IT ONCE”

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Replies

  1. PhillGiles | Dec 18, 2003 09:56am | #1

    I've had a mixed experience with pre-hungs: some are just super, and some are crap - you get what you pay for (generally, if it's a particle-board door in an MDF pre-hung, it's going to be bad).

    All the doors I've done from scratch were of the high-quality persuation (e.g. solid pine with glass) put into solid jambs, so naturally they were fairly easy and produced a quality job.

    On the caveat that I like working with wood, I much prefer to hang from scratch.

    .

    Phill Giles

    The Unionville Woodwright

    Unionville, Ontario

    1. User avater
      JDRHI | Dec 18, 2003 04:40pm | #5

      On the caveat that I like working with wood, I much prefer to hang from scratch.

      Precisely....I find I prefer to handle most projects from scratch as opposed to having others "prep" beforehand.J. D. Reynolds

      Home Improvements

      "DO IT RIGHT, DO IT ONCE"

  2. BobKovacs | Dec 18, 2003 02:34pm | #2

    A lot has to do with where the door is being assembled into a pre-hung unit.  It used to be that the doors at HD and Lowes were crap- the hinge cutouts were all different depths, stops were on crooked, doors were hingebound, etc., while the local lumberyard doors were better quality.  It seems to have turned upside down around here.  The local yards all buy their doors from the same two millwork distributors, who prehang them in their warehouses.  Apparently their labor has gotten worse, while the company supplying HD has gotten better.

    Scary.....

    Bob

    1. User avater
      JDRHI | Dec 18, 2003 04:41pm | #6

      Interesting....I`ve yet to purchase doors from one of the big boxes, might be worth a look see.J. D. Reynolds

      Home Improvements

      "DO IT RIGHT, DO IT ONCE"

      1. BobKovacs | Dec 18, 2003 05:21pm | #10

        It all depends on where HD gets them from.  If they get them from the same local distributor, the quality seems pretty bad.  Lately, the doors have been coming direct from Premdor and havebeen much better.

        1. Paularado | Dec 19, 2003 12:01am | #11

          My local lumberyard gets their doors from the same place as HD, so there is no difference. On a few doors, we upgraded the hinges to brushed nickel and those doors are a lot nicer. It's almost like they took the extra time to make them nice since they weren't standard off the shelf doors. Who knows. As a DIY homeowner, we don't have a lot to go by. I only know that on our old place we used gorgeous antique doors salvaged from an apartment building. DH hung them and each one was an exercise in misery. These pre-hung ones seem much better for our marriage. LOL!

          1. xMikeSmith | Dec 19, 2003 12:39am | #12

            our millwork supplier  is one of the largest in Mass..

            our typical door is a Windsor 6-panel smooth colonial  hollow core skin..

             flat jambs , applied stops.. mitered-splined  & glued casing  2 1/2" colonial... 

            we pay apx. $125 for that door. plus $15 for each casing  &  $13 for a schlage plymouth  privacy set..

             their whole setup is one big door machine... load the parts on one end.. the machine spits em out the other..

            very very very few complaints... and they can do custom without batting an eye..

            sounds like you need a new millwork supplier...what are you paying for your doors ?Mike Smith   Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore

  3. calvin | Dec 18, 2003 03:39pm | #3

    I've threatened to do the same as you whenever I've had more like six doors to install.  Poor margins, sloppy stop install, and the last where the jamb stock were different widths from head to sides just about sealed the deal.  Trouble is, when you parts it out, the savings is only a couple dollars.  Wish they would just charge 10 bucks more and use a bit of pride in their assembly.

    Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.

    Quittin' Time

    1. User avater
      JDRHI | Dec 18, 2003 04:49pm | #7

      I keep meaning to "parts it out" and find out exactly what, if anything, I`m saving. Trouble is, most doors from scratch are pretty consistent in time and materials....I`ve had pre-hungs that to this day don`t operate as I`d wish after countless ours of adjustments. Did one last summer that was so poorly assembled I ended up tearing it out and starting from scratch, jamb and all. How do you estimate for that possibility? Manufacturer got an earful after that experience.J. D. Reynolds

      Home Improvements

      "DO IT RIGHT, DO IT ONCE"

      1. calvin | Dec 18, 2003 04:58pm | #9

        Ha!  I explained my displeasure to a manu. rep at a local yard trade show.  He assured me it was just a rare oddity that anything like that could have made it out the door.  "you see, the whole process is mechanized with a human being doing the operation.  All jamb assembly ................blah blah blah............"  Well, says I, then that accounts for the same goof on all the dozen LH's and 10 RH's that were delivered to the job.  "I see" says he and then another series of reasons he thinks something like this could have made it out the door.  Me, I'm trying to interject how anyone could lift it up and package the corners and not SEE that the margin was way big at the head and that the jamb width wasn't even close from sides to head.  Waste of breath.  I, like you will seriously consider hanging my own in any kind of volume.  The single door, probably not.Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.

        Quittin' Time

  4. CarpenterPJE | Dec 18, 2003 04:09pm | #4

    Jaybird.

    Same experience with cheap prehungs. Cheap materials to start with & then chainsaw machining. Now its your fault they don't work good, it must be the way YOU installed it.

    My millwork supplier is also a cabinet shop, they prehang all my doors now & I get great results like doing it myself, plus they start with quality materials. They send out all the jambs KD. with stops installed on side jambs, the heads cut to the right length, hinges halved & screwed to the door & jamb, locksets bored & more than enough shims for the entire job. They charge around $15 a door.

    Have a Merry Christmas

    PJE

    My artificial Christmas tree is so realistic, I think all the needles will have fallen off by the 30th.

    1. User avater
      JDRHI | Dec 18, 2003 04:52pm | #8

      $15?....I`d be willing to pay that to save on my Tylenol expenses.

      Merry Christmas to you as well.J. D. Reynolds

      Home Improvements

      "DO IT RIGHT, DO IT ONCE"

      1. CarpenterPJE | Dec 19, 2003 02:57am | #14

        JAYBIRD,

        I need to make a correction, my supplier charges $13.75 per door, not $15.00

        Makes it hard to even pull the tools needed to hang a door out at that price. He can even get a batch of doors done for me at the last minute, I really get great service from them,   Time for a plug

        Wood Specialties Inc.

        Menomonee Falls,  WI

        There, that felt good

        PJE

  5. mike4244 | Dec 19, 2003 01:39am | #13

    I hate prehung doors. Finger joint jambs and trim, crap hinges, wide margins, etc. I usually can hang between 8 and 10 stock doors in an 8 hour day if conditions are decent. This is fitting and hanging doors plus simple lock, I've spent more time trying to make a prehung look halfway decent.

    As far as I'm concerned they can take prehung doors and stick them where the sun don't shine.

    Mike

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