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Door-trimming jig
The hinge side of a door must be trimmed to width at 90°. The latch side is usually trimmed at 5° off vertical for a beveled edge. Making these long cuts straight and smooth is easy with this...
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Sill seal
2 commentsI came up with a solution for weatherstripping a door bottom where a thick rug prevents a spring-loaded bottom sweep from retracting. I used a length of vinyl bulb weatherstripping, intended for a...
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Easy door buck
Building a door buck (FHB #8, p.35) is a good idea if you find yourself dealing with a house full of door hanging from scratch, but for a quick setup, the answer is right in your toolbox. I use two...
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Frictionless hinge
1 commentFor me, the most .frustrating part of making and installing a heavy, handmade entry door has been finding the right hinges. Even with a good set of heavy butts, the hinge barrels begin to grind down...
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Hinge-mortising jig
2 commentsI use a router and a jig to mortise hinges in doors and casement windows. By using a 1/2-in. diameter hinge-mortising bit and a standard round-cornered hinge, I achieve a consistently clean fit that...
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Radiused window casings
Recently, while building a half-circle window, I needed a way to make the casing and interior stops. Instead of transferring the curves from templates onto the stock and then joining these pieces, I...
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Offset jig
1 commentWhenever I install door or window casings, I use the jig shown here to make sure that I get an accurate 1/4-in. reveal. It's made of two square pieces of hardwood, 1/4 in. thick, that are glued...
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Installing a new threshold
It's important for a door to fit snugly against its new vinyl-gasket threshold, particularly if the system you're using doesn't include a door-bottom sweep. But fitting an old door with one means...
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Holding a level plumb
1 commentI use a 6-1/2-ft. spirit level to plumb and straighten interior door jambs. In order to leave both hands free to handle the shims and to drive nails, I wedge the level against one of the jambs to...
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Plumb-bob anchor
1 commentWhenever I'm hanging a door with wood jambs, I use a chisel or utility knife to lift a small sliver in the center of the head jamb. Then I use it to anchor the string on my plumb line, as shown...
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Drilling foam-core steel doors
I had to drill holes for deadbolt locks in some steel doors that had foam cores, and I almost destroyed the first couple of doors using a standard hole saw because the 1/4-in. pilot bit would wander...
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Locating latches
1 commentHere's a fast, accurate method that I use for locating the centerpoints for door latch and dead-bolt mortises. First I center a hole for a 6d nail in the end of a short piece of dowel (a 1-in. dia...
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Better backing for doors
1 commentIf you think about how most doors are mounted to most jambs and visualize the relationship of hinge-to-door and hinge-to-jamb, you may see some room for improvement. Standard butt hinges, heavyduty...
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Chiseling hinge mortises
I typically use a router and a template to cut mortises or to enlarge existing mortises for new door hinges. But for small jobs where it doesn't make sense to cart along a lot of gear, I use a...
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Solo window installation
I was recently faced with installing windows in a new house, all by myself. Here's how I did it, First I cut a couple of 2x4s about 8 in. longer than my widest window. Then I measured the distance...
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Installing tall doors
Faced with installing some 60, 3-ft. by 8-ft. prehung doors, I developed the jamb-setting fixture shown in the drawing. Not only did the fixture keep the hinge jamb and the head jamb at 90°, but...
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Putting a new window in an old brownstone
1 commentIn Brooklyn, where turn-of-the-century brownstones and bricks are the norm, window replacement often calls for some ingenuity. I have used both Bonneville and Andersen brick-to-brick replacement...
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Hanging solid-core doors
When I have to muscle a solid-core door into or out of its hinges, I let a drywall lifter (a tool designed for placing drywall on walls) do the heavy lifting. Unlike a flat bar, a drywall lifter...
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Quick, accurate shims
Obtaining the right-size shims for a job can be quick, easy, and precise if you put in about 10 minutes’ preparation. Begin with the shim stock. A proper shim has grain running its entire...
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Shim gauge
1 commentIn home building, square, level, and plumb are admirable goals, but we sometimes fall a little short of the ideal. As a consequence, we turn to shims. They are vital for adjusting the fit of prehung...
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Get a grip on window installations
The last thing I want when struggling with a heavy window during installation is to drop it. Even small falls can fracture the flange, making for a time-consuming repair. After watching my glass guy...
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Fixing warped doors
1 commentA warped cabinet door can be a real pain. When you have spent hours matching panels, colors and grains, the last thing you want to do is remake a door. My approach takes a couple of hours and $5 in...
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Drying rack
2 commentsWe preprime and varnish a lot of the trim we install in houses, and finding a good place to let the material dry without getting in the way used to be difficult. To solve the problem I came up with...
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Routing hinge mortises
1 commentI had a fair number of doors that needed hanging, and I wanted to take advantage of my router and my 3/4-in-dia. straight bit to make quick work of the hinge mortises. I had tried freehanding the...
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How to Paint Fiber-Cement Siding
Painter Jim Lacey shares some tips for caulking and painting fiber-cement siding. read more
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