I am currently in the process of a major remodel on my folks river cottage. After gutting the house I realized that all the doors had been trimmed for paneling. This makes all the jambs to narrow for 1/2 inch sheet rock. Does anybody know of a way to extend these jambs without pulling the doors out and redoing them. I thought about just building them out but have never tried that before and think it my look bad.
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I'm assuming the jambs were ripped down in width to accomodate the paneling.
Buy some 1x clear pine and rip some jamb extensions. You can either set them flush with the jamb face, or set them back from the edge, creating a reveal, which is what I usually do. Sometimes I will even rout a profile to add even more interest, but thats a bit more work. Apply the casings about the same reveal as the jamb extensions. The added shadow lines provide some visual interest. Extensions are often required when replacing windows/doors with stock units in plastered houses.
I have also used this technique of adding ripped pieces to the jambs, and it works well, and looks fine if you leave the reveal. I definitely suggest shooting the extentions on with a brad nailer or gun, as this makes a tedious job go very fast and painlessly.
I forgot to mention that part. I shot a whole house of windows and doors last week using pine and a 16 ga nailer. It took more time to pull the extension dimensions than it did to cut and apply.
I never met a tool I didn't like!
What do you attach the extensions to and how?
Measure the distance from the surface of the wall to the edge of the jamb, that dimension is the thickness that your extension should be to get the jamb coplaner with the wall.
Cut the extensions to length (I make the head and sill extensions long and butt the side jambs to them, unless you want to miter them, which is more work, but a higher quality job) and brad nail it to the jambs. If you shoot the brads too far inside or feel they might show when the casings are applied, putty/fill the holes before putting on the casings; it's easier to do before the casings go on.
Good luck
Edit: forgot what I was gonna edit. Must not have been real important.
I never met a tool I didn't like!
Edited 4/26/2005 5:26 pm ET by NickNuke'em
1/4" thick x 3/4" wide white pine lattice brad nailed to the jambs while holding a reveal of at least 1/8"
buying this off the shelf will save you a lot of ripping
carpenter in transition