MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Need to buy some internal doors and hang them. I'm thinking Homebase for a simple 4 panel door which should look ok in my quite old (1840) terraced house, although if anyone has any other suggestions??
But what about hanging them? How hard is this? Any good guides about or can anyone give some tips that will make this an easy job? Best tools for the job?
Also I want to do this on my own - is this possible??
Cheers
as long as the frame is straight its pretty easy, you'l need tools of course chisels plane spadebits etc. im sure theres loads of tutorial videos on net...
Like many tasks - remember the amateur either does it quickly or well - it takes a pro to do both.
Especially in old houses the doors are miles off square usually - you need a plane ( preferably an electric plane to make the door fit and a decent chisel to notch for the hinge.
Measure twice cut once - and trim the door in small stages
cheers - might spend tonogt planning this rather than diving straight in!
I got a mate in to help me - he taught me and I did the last few on my own, but then I had 10 doors to swap.
You will need
[list]
[*]a mallet[/*]
[*]a saw[/*]
[*]a set of chisels[/*]
[*]a plane[/*]
[*]a drill[/*]
[*]screwdrivers[/*]
[/list]
Rough steps are
[list]
[*]Remove the old door[/*]
[*]Get the new door to roughly the same size - leave it slight larger than the old door, just in case. Use a saw for this if need be[/*]
[*]check the new door in the frame. Trim to fit, in small stages - use the plane. The frame may not be prefectly square remember. You are aiming for a 5 mm gap at the bottom and 3mm on all other sides[/*]
[*]Check for hinge position and mark on the new door. remember to lift the new door off the floor when you do this![/*]
[*]fit hinges to door - use the mallet and chisels to rebate them[/*]
[*]fit lock block[/*]
[*]fit handles[/*]
[*]hang door[/*]
[/list]
If you;re near me, I've a 4 panel internal door you can have, and for the appropriate recompense (did someone mention beer?!) I could be persuaded to teach you...
Hit man youre doing a tradesman out of work,eg me.
Take old door off and remove handles,support new door on trestles or table, place old door over new door and trace around it, ensure there is an equal gap all round,dont forget that the hollow white doors only have a lock block one side,marked with an L on on the top.
Plane the door down to the lines useing an electric plane,make sure that the door is held secure, as electric planes damage your knee,if the door slips, i know ive got the scar.
Offer the door back up to the frame and remove more material as reqd.
allow a spce all round for the door to swell when painted,as they usually do.
Fitting hinges and the latch is slightly harder.
Wickes are the cheapest for doors and best quality so far.
get a good plane....I struggled with the cheapest Wickes had to offer...then someone lent me a nice, larger plane and it became [almost] a doddle...[make sure you cut the hinges on the correct edge though !!]
Electric plane makes sense as all you have to do is guide it rather than putting effort in to cutting. You'll be more accurate that way.
Graham
Thanks everyone for their help and partcularly nbt - I'll take ou up on the offer if you're close by and definitely get you a few beers. I'm in West Wales BTW.
That is unless "project" is in the area in which case you've got yourself a job - need 6 doors hung and assuming you can do a good job and charge a resonable price then no problem. FWIW, I'm not trying to do tradesmaen out of a job , its just that I can't get anyone to do this, believe it or not. Drop me an email if you're interested.
west wales a bit far sorry.
I'd echo the above sentiments - see if you can borrow an electric plane. And have a [i][b]sharp[/b][/i] chisel - for cutting out the hinge rebates.
If you haven't done this before - really, really take your time with the first one (and do the first one with the door you open and close least often) - they will get easier with each one done.
Use a 1" flat bit for when you put in the latch - and if you get flat bits which have a screwish point on the end, consider pre-drilling the hole before you cut out with the flat bit - otherwise, the flat bit can get drawn in quicker than you can control it. This hole needs to be as square as possible. Also, you don't want to go through the shoulder with the flat bit (normally, you have to go quite close).
Good luck, it's really satisfying, but fiddly as hell - plenty of online help tutorials but they will make it look a million times easier than it is.
Oh, and a last few things - before you use the old door as a template, make sure it actually looks ok in the opening before you take it out. Before doing any cuts, make sure you leave the pencil mark that you've made, offer it up and then make fine adjustments.
Pay someone else to do it and go riding.
Happy to help.
It's quite easy. I did one and and really took my time with it. Managed to do the rest quite quickly then. Hve a gander at this. Will be in carmathen/Lampeter in a few weeks but I'm sure someone else lives locallly and could give you a hand sooner
Easy way if the door that is presently in place is fitted ok.
Take that door off and lay it ontop of your new door
then draw round it and cut it.
Then mark out hinges and then cut them out and fit onto new door
Hang new door and mark out lock/catch and then paint it.
If your new door is thicker or thinner you will have to
re adjust your door linings.
If so take off the linings before you set the catch in the door.
Then offer the linings up and re-attach.
It is easy to tell DIY fit doors. If you can, get a joiner in to do it, he sould get them all done in a day if everything is straight forward and you already have all the materials on site.
Beware of tracing round the old one because if its been fitted properly the latch edge (and often the hinge edge too if the frame has been clagged up with years of paint) should have been led in and will give a false reading for it's actual width.
I can't believe no one has mentioned marking gauges. I wouldn't entertain chopping hinges without a pair of them, and a saw horse with a notch in the end to hold the door upright for planing.
An electric plane is fine for shooting the edges if you need to take a lot off but I would always finish them with a couple of passes by hand.
Sharp tools are a must. Most brand new chisels won't be sharp, often they haven't even had a secondary bevel put on them, same goes for plane irons.
Oh, and 3mm gaps don't cut it in my book.
Good luck.
Check out you tube too. Looked on there and there a re a few good links eg
A certain air of arrogance from some posters...just take your time mate - don't worry about it - take your time.
Sorry mate, I'm in Stockport so it;s a bit far for me to pop over one night, although I've got some time off over Christmas so a road trip is not out of the questions 😉
I would actually say don;t rely on an electric plane. They're great for taking off loads, but a proper hand plane gives you much better fine control. I got a Stanley for about £30 from B&Q, that was great - the £6 cheapo jobbie from the local DIY shop was garbage
the other thing I meant to mention is the weight of the door - I could easily throw around an internal door as there's nothing to them, but fitting fire doors was a right bugger even for two of us - and since we're 2 internals and eight fire doors, I did some sweating I'll tell you!
Only thing I'd add is using rising butt hinges as they make taking the doors on an off for checking a lot easier. My old house was built in 1866 and there wasn't a straight line or square opening to be found so I imagine you'll be facing similar issues.
Also take equal off each side eg if you need 10mil off the width take 5mil off each side.
and another thing....
the 'moulded' 4 (or 6) panel jobbies from wickes & the like have 38mm (at most) timber stiles (vertical edges) & rails (top & bottom edges), the rest is hardboard skin, filler (often hexagonal paper core - think of a wasp's nest) & a lockblock - and a further spine down the middle if you're lucky.
This is not normally a problem, but do buy the closest size you can get to what you actually need. If you have to shave more than about 5mm off each edge, get the next size down if you can
If you can, get fire resistant doors; the added benefit is that they're denser so less sound passes through. The downside is they're heavier.
Have a look at our range here: [url] http://www.premdor.co.uk/ [/url]
Wickes, Jewson, Travis Perkinst etc stock our doors so you shouldn't have a problem sourcing them. FD60 is our best fire rating, but even "Safe 'n' Sound" have some fire protection rating
If you were in a new build I'd recommend our "Speedset Plus" range, where the door is already fitted to the frame; remove the old frame, add the new one (with door), then add the architraves - job done. Not so good for older houses where right angles are just a fancy newfangled idea
John_Drummer you need to add that the Fire resistant door will not be
fire rated unless you put the Intumescent strip with a Smokeseal on the outer edges of the door and you have to also put an Intumescent strip on both sides of the door frame too.
But the density of a fire door core will pass less sound.
But to be honest if your in a new build I wouldnt bother with a fire door
unless for its proper purposs.
depends what the fire door is used for as to the use of intumescent strip.
you only need strip on either the door OR the frame not both.
it also depends on the induvidual fire officer as to what precautions you need to add to the door. yesterday i spoke to the fire office in builth wells and he told me much the same as the bristol officer but bath tells me differently, so it is entirely up to how the fire officer reads the guidelines given to him/her.
as hitman is putting these doors into his own dwelling rather than renting the property out he can fit what he wants. i agree with john-drummer about sound proofing qualities of a fire check door but fitting intumescent strip etc is wholly unessacary.
where are you hitman? i may be able to show you how to with the first door then i can bugger off for a ride!
Back up and don't confuse the man. All this talk about FD60 doors and intumescent strips. He's doing a terraced house so worst it would even be is an FD20 [so FD30]and as it'a single family occupancy he doesn't need intumescent strips.
The fire officer shouldn't add any additional requirements to fire doors other than those already noted in the ADs. The need for intumescent seals on a lot of doors ie Premdor and Jeld-Wen are because in the small print they are not deemed fire resistaive unless with fitted with the approriate seals.
I agree with Flatfish that he should install what he wants. A 35/40mm standard door will do fine. If you want better acoustics then put in a set of batwing seals or something as that will be better and cheaper.
Hitman, remember if you are planning to paint them afterwards, to allow space for the paint.
Also rope a mate in for the day if you can, its easier and quicker if you have two doing the job.
Still took me and a mate a good days work to do his house recently, 9 doors! 😉
If your fitting hardwood doors or doors with hardwood styles, chamfer the edges a tad, particularly if yoou have kids or elderly. It'll save on pinches & cuts.
Also, plane off an additional 10mm to the undercut of the door to allow for ventilation. I presume that the house is solid walls so you will need all the help you can get with ventilation to help reduce condensation.
Otherwise, it's no big deal, just plan out each door at a time & work your way round. You may need to change the door stops if the door thickness is any different.
Have fun
TBH I was only talking about the sound deadening aspect of a fire door being better than a regular 'hollow core' door
FD60 doors are quite thick and heavy and wont fit into a normal interior door frame.
just move the plant on door stop
Just hang beads and be done with it 😉
[i]FD60 doors are quite thick and heavy and wont fit into a normal interior door frame.[/i]
without having one of our catalogues at hand I can't disagree with you about the thickness (although I'm 80% certain an FD60 door can be got in 40mm if not 35mm thickness); but as flatfish says, the only thing stopping a thicker door from fitting in a typical interior frame is the position of the stop. Which can be removed & replaced as necessary.
But if you were to rip out the old door [i]and[/i] frame and [i]then[/i] fit one of our Speedsets, that wouldn't be a problem 😈
But what do I know, I only work in the IT department, I don't fit the damn things 😉
FD60 is 54mm, FD30 is 44mm, standard is 35mm, medium weight standard = 40mm. Others are available at a premium
54mm? that's over two inches! The Normans had castles with thinner doors than that 😯
We having a lot of renovation work done at the minute.
Our builder is quoting us £80 per door for 4 pannel solid pine (non knotty) doors with fittings etc. Is this a good deal? I know the doors are from Howdens and cost £30 or £35...
...and yes I'd do it myself, but I live away from home in the week, and have plenty other DIY stuff to keep me going at home if we are to move in to our house for Xmas!
sounds quite reasonable including the fittings. Does it include the fitting though? If it does I think it's very reasonable
The door may cost (I'm assuming) Jeld-wen £35 to make, but they'll be wanting a profit margin; Howdens will want their profit margin too.
if thats including door, furniture and fitting, yeah it's a good price