Hanging doors is a tricky job, right? It is often held up as an example of something that is always outsourced to a professional, even for long-term renovators. So, installing a door that is pre-hung should be a piece of cake …

(Ouch! )
[Low feminine growling noise]
(Oh, for f***’s sake!)
(Right, where’s the chain saw?)

Hee hee! Here are a few tips to save you the frustration – it is amusing to read, but not so amusing to experience!

If you’ve bought a pre-hung door already, hopefully you have one that is handed the correct way; that is, it swings the way that you want it to. It is not a hard and fast rule which way a door should swing – just keep in mind that if you install a door to swing back into a wall parallel with it, you can end up with a hole in the wall after anyone in the house has a fit of temper! If you haven’t bought it yet, check and recheck that it swings the right way. So many people get home and say ‘Oh, that’s right, I wanted it to swing to the other left’!

When you have your new door, paint the top and bottom before installing it – this will help prevent warping due to moisture in the air. If you don’t have a color scheme yet, at least lacquer or varnish the top and bottom to prevent moisture getting in.

The golden rule for the interesting part following is to measure twice and cut once. You don’t want to be buying a second door! The trickiest part is to make sure the gap between the door and the jamb stays consistent when you are squaring up the jamb within the rough opening in your wall.

Cut the jambs as necessary – cut just a touch long to start with, then you can see how much you need to shave off them to create a perfect fit.

Firstly, check that the opening you are installing the door into is plumb – perfectly vertical. Or close enough to!
Use a spirit level (aka 4-foot level) to check the angle of the opening, and tack wood shims (thin pieces of wood) onto the opening as necessary to make the opening plumb. Tack these on at the height of the door hinges.

Slide the door up against the shims … or just the opening if you got lucky! You are aiming for a consistent 1/8 inch gap between the door and the jamb on both the hinge side and the top side.

You know that saying ‘Dumb as Doornail’? Well, you’re going to need some of those dumb things to install your door :-). Nail the hinge jamb of the door to the rough opening, but leave some of the nails exposed in case you need to shift things around.
Open and close the door a couple of times to check that all is well, and then recess the nail heads with a nail-setter. (Inventive name, isn’t it?!)

Your door is in, but a nail in time can save nine later on – pre-drill a hole for a three inch screw in the rough jamb at the height if the upper hinge. This screw is to help prevent the weight of the door pulling itself out of place. Make sure you include a countersink hole, so the screw doesn’t mess with the door fit. Pop her in, and away you go! Now, all you need is a door knob. We have a suggestion or two for where to get one of those!

Photo credits: Hanging basement door by Tom Harwood

This entry was filed under Do it Yourself. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.