Just had a new carpet fitted and it seems our floor is not level or flat. The door catches the carpet for the last third of its swing. I reckon it needs about 3mm taken off it.

I don’t have a wood plane or work bench to hold it in. What are the chances of me doing it in a cost effective manner? How much would a joiner charge for such a job?

if youre local i can do it for you. otherwise the door will catch a thread, or the hoover will and a carpet will be ruined.

I had this problem a little while ago. Long story short, cheapest way was to buy myself an electric plane.

Had to do this last week… Electric jig saw across the bottom of the door with a steady hand. Rested 3 doors on the B&Q workbench…

Already had the saw and bench, so cost me nothing…

electric plane is the way to go, though be careful you could rip an inch off in no time at all.

I did it recently on our bedroom door and it was a bit of a pain.

Bought a plane to do it ‘properly’, but found that really difficult having never used one before. Gave up and got the jigsaw out.
Hardest thing with a jigsaw is keeping the blade perpendicular to the door surface. I made a bit of a pig’s ear of it, but managed to rescue it with the electric sander.

You could perhaps use a rasp, put the door down on the long edge and go down from top to halfway, then flip the door and do the same again. Finish with a sander…

Best way to do it is by laying a board (6mm ish) on the floor and marking the door. This gives you a nice straight line that follows the floor. Then choose your method to cut it down. It can be done well with an electric plane but for a beginner it’s easy to mess up. You can end up tearing the end off the outer timber or end up with a wonky line. Best method is a track saw but carefull use of a hand saw is just as good but not as fast and easy.

How much would a joiner charge for such a job?

How much do peeps think is a reasonable charge.

Plane it. Mark either side with a pencil and keep going until you get rid of the lines. Then finish each edge with some abrasive paper.

If you find you need to take off more than 5mm, buy a decent panel saw and mtfu.

If you cant clamp the door to plane it, stand it on edge on some carpet offcuts and sit on it!

Jigsaw is a great solution if you want an edge like the surface of the sea in in middle of a ‘weatherbomb’.

Where are you based onzadog?

Hollow pre-formed doors also have Nasty HUGE staples in each corner, will easily damage a hand saw and sparks from an electric planer.

Carpet fitter should have done it

£10 per door at the time of fitting carpet.

Also did he Vacuum and leave it nice and tidy

You fancy-pants with your ‘carpets’ sicken me. 🙂

carpet fitters that did my friends doors made a right mess of it using a circular saw.

I prefer using my router to shave the doors as I can set up a guide and get it accurate. I could be tempted to use the circular saw but would probably do a half depth cut from each side to avoid tearing and then run the plane over to get the join smooth.

If you take your time with a decent saw you should get okay results after a tidy up with some sand paper.

Check for nails and staples before embarking on any route, especially if it involves power tools.

be careful you could rip an inch off in no time at all.

Indeed, but only an impetuous tit would make such an error. Not the sort of thing I’d do, oh no…

I don’t have a wood plane or work bench to hold it in.

Four dining chairs will hold a door steady enough if you put a bit of weight on it. You can buy a half decent hand plane for about £25.

I’m in Nottingham near M1, J26. They made a tidy job of it otherwise. Much better than the git who did the study but cut it too short and didn’t fit a threshold.

Really don’t fancy going near it with a jigsaw, that would result in “sea surface in a wether bomb” finish.

Really don’t fancy buffering up the carpet. 100% wool and we’ve been warned not to use an upright on it because of the beater bar. Think it would snag pretty easily if we don’t get it sorted.

Before taking anyhing off a door always mark the base where youre going to be removing stock from, a customer accidently took half inch off the top of a front door,instead of the base, i got the job of fitting a new one for him.

If you’re using a plane never plane off the edge or you’ll tear the sides as you’re planing across the grain. Always go in towards the centre of the door. Probably also applies to saws! Biggest pain is not being confident enough to take enough off and having to rehang the door each time to check it! Electric planes are easy if you’re doing it horizontally so the door is upside down and you are standing on a chair, then you can see under the plane as its cutting and keep it level. Good luck!

A slightly leftfield option would be to fit rising hinges if the frame is suitable.

Buy a hand plane or borrow one. Bit of elbow grease (about 3 minutes worth)
Job done.
Or in true ST world, buy a festool track saw, ct mini for the dust and a tool belt so you look the part.
Don’t forget the pencil behind the ear!

Mark the line as andysredmini said, buy an electric plane, set to a very fine depth and plane it from the edges in, never out to the edge (it will tear the edge up).
Keep checking it’s square as you go, and take your time.
If you don’t want to risk it then either take the door off or slip a bit of heavy plastic sheet under the door to ensure it slides over the carpet until until you can get someone in.

once you’ve decided how much you need to remove, make sure to mark the bottom with a pencil, because you’d have to be an idiot to remove the door, take it outside to plane and then remove the excess from the TOP.
I’d never do that, never ever!

Electric plane is a very satisfying man tool, you need one in your life. Cleaning up the ‘trimmings’ took longer than the planing!

Hand plane is cheap enough. I just hold the door on its side between my knees and plane the edge to the centre, turn the door over and repeat for the other half of the edge. 5 minute job at the most. go at it a little at a time.

My electric plane terrified me and excited me at the same time. \

I always wondered what would happen if I slipped and caught the back of my hand.

Electric planes are terrifying. I prefer my Miller’s Falls plane bought for a few quid second hand; it’s an American copy of a Stanley and if kept sharp it does a fine job. Set right and with the right wood you can run it along for several feet and take off a perfect uniform curl of shaving.

Measure twice, cut once.

From many years expereince of electric planes, dont put it down till it stops , especially on a hardwood floor, or a carpet, it will take chunks out.

dont poke your fingers in the dust outlet slot when its running,to clear a blockage, Kevin you do remember that instruction,

Never plane near the cable always keep the cable clear of the panner,

always make sure some daft muppet doesnt walk i with a tray of tea and biscuits, falls over cable launces tea and biscuits at you, while the plane still running is launched accross the room out of your hands,

Only plane half way accross edge of door, tuirn door over and re plane other way to stop door edge spelching out.

and if the door is clamped betweeen your knees and the door suddenly moves backwards, the plane will cut into your knee, it hurts and bleeds a lot, and requires a few hours in hospital, along with a customer teling to please bleed outside , i dont want blood on the carpet.Done that.

Never leave the planer unattended as some teenage muppet with the brain cell of an amobea will pick it up and pull the trigger while looking at the blade and just be about to feed his fingers into it.