We’re remodeling a house and we replaced all the interior doors
I painted the interior of the house last week and it looks great
Doors were painted and pin was removed from hinges and doors were placed in the garage to dry
Today I’m putting the doors back on their respective places and lo and behold one of the new doors is wrong
woops
We used a left hand when we should have used a right hand
It’s an entry door to a bedroom.
Now the light switch is on the wrong side
What would you do to correct this?
Thanks for any suggestions
Edited 9/20/2009 4:49 pm by mrfixitusa
Replies
Motion Sensing Light Switch
Jinx! You owe me a Mellow Yellow
Install an occupancy sensor in the bedroom. You would have to leave the door closed when not in the room so that when you opened the door, the light would come on. Also, you would not have to worry about keeping the light off.
never thought of thatthanks guys
You guys are joking right?
Don't answer that. Let me re-phrase the question: You drop by on your lunch hour to see how your contractor is doing on the renovation and find he hung a bedroom door backwards and the light switch is behind the door, so he installed a motion activated switch instead. Do you fire him immediately or let him finish his sandwich?
Edited 9/20/2009 3:46 pm ET by fingersandtoes
I aint no rookie contractor dude. I am darn sure gonna finish my sammich before I approach the HO to sign the change order for the additional custom light switch that wasn't in the original scope of work!
;)
Oh yeah... <snork> ... go ahead and install a motion sensor ... <snicker> ... in the bedroom! So everytime the HO rolls over at night, the light comes on!!! And what happens if they "get in the mood" one night? Boy will you be popular!"Put your creed in your deed." Emerson
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
spend an hour fixing it.
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"spend an hour fixing it."I agree. Dutchmen our our friends!
John Svenson, builder, remodeler, NE Ohio
Rewire the light switch?
The Clapper?
As Piffin and Svenny suggest, it's not impossible to fix it reasonably well, especially if both door and jamb are painted vs stained.
You'd remove the door and cut new hinge mortises in the opposite jamb. Flip the hinges around on the door, reverse the bolt, and install the door with the other side facing out. Then fill the old mortises with "dutchmen" -- pieces of wood shaped to fit. It's a little tedious, but it's kind of fun, too, to be a "craftsman" and hand-shape things.
Repaint, of course.
Under the right circumstances the swap would be pretty much invisible. The one thing that could mess you up is if you've significantly beveled the door edges to "relieve" them -- after correcting this the fit would be a bit on the loose side.
Thanks Dan and yes you do kind of make it sound like fun.I'm racking my brain trying to think of how to prevent this from happening in the futureHere's my thoughts.I worked with a guy and his method was to take the doors from the garage one by one and he take responsibility for this by making sure each door was correct.We didn't do it this way on our current project.I'm guessing the guys went and grabbed a door from the garage and then just installed it while they were half asleepIs it my fault for not noticing they had done it wrongI'm supposed to be the supervisor
After the house is framed in, and before the electrician does his walk through with the owner, I go around to every door and write with a big black sharpie, the handing and door size on the hinge jamb. I also give each door a number and write this on the jamb and the plans as well.This is double checked with homeowner, and supplier, homeowner signs off, and we're good to go.John Svenson, builder, remodeler, NE Ohio
I like your system of writing it down with a markerWe demo'd a kitchen where years ago someone had drawn out the cabinet locations with corresponding numbers such as 3024, 3014, 3030, etcIt looked like a good way to make sure things were done properly if the helpers were doing the work and no one there to watch over themHere is a picture of what I'm looking atI will probably go buy a new doorI didn't order the doors for this house Someone else didI don't mind donating my time to fix this some evening this next weekBut I don't want to pay $50 to $75 out of my pocket for a new door and trimThe other thing is this is the master bedroom
at risk of sounding like Joe Carola, I'm gonna say, "WHADDAREYOIU? INSANE?!?!Why replace the whole door and all that paint effort wasted, and maybe have to repaint or touch up the wall near the casing, for something this simple. It will take longer to go buy another door than it will to just fix the darn thing!If you don't have a carpenter on that crew that can simply take it off, leaving the jamb and casing in place, and put the hinges on opposite, and redo the striker, then use a little Bondo, then you don't have any carpenters on your crew.
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ditto. It's actually pretty easy if it's a paint job.
That's why I didn't get into details in my first post in this thread. I can't believe this!
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All you need is a screw gun, utility knife, glue and some paint and maybe a half hour?
I'd rather use a drill to make the new striker hole myself, but I suppose you could do it with a utility knife.You forgot sharp chisle too. That is probably what this crew lacks
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Yeah we're probably the worst crew in townBut we're getting a little better with each job we do.I'll throw out a couple more questions and pick you guy's brains if I could.(1) after the carpet is installed we have to cut about an inch off the bottom of each door. It's a pain to take each door off and cut it.I use a level as a straightedge and my skil saw to cut the door (never freehand cut it)Is there a way to avoid having to cut these doors?(2) We install our doors and I check each one and some feel "tight" when I close it. It's like the stop is too close to the door.What are we doing wrong? Or is it just the cheap $45 doors we're using?Thanks again for both the positive and negative feedback.I need a good kick in the seat of the pants when I'm doing it wrong.
If you know they all have to get an inch cut off, then hang them all an inch higher!Either set a one inch shim under the jamb lags or don't cut the legs off so short.
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Yeah, we've raised the doors up as high as we still have to cut them off.We put some shims or something under the jambs to raise them up and then nail them into place.We're not cutting off the jambs and shortening them.Do you remember the article in fine homebuilding about hanging doors?It was a couple of months agoIt said to have the doors clear the carpet by 1/2 inch
are you framing the rough opennings too short then?A 2868 would be a 2'10.5" x 6'10.5" RO
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'Yeah we're probably the worst crew in town
But we're getting a little better with each job we do.
I'll throw out a couple more questions and pick you guy's brains if I could."
I am spellbound by your admission. What a great attitude. Tell the rest of the posters to leave you alone. I think you should be elected King of Breaktime.
Hey I apologize if I came across as arrogant I appreciate the information and assistance.But part of participating in the website is mixing it up a little bit.Agree?
No, no you have got me all wrong. I was serious. Certainly no insult intended.
I wasn't even thinking about the strikes. I guess Id need a fre more tools but I still wouldn't tear the door out to make this change.
"I'm racking my brain trying to think of how to prevent this from happening in the future"Use a set pf plans.Write on the door framing jack stud with heavy sharpie, "Hinge this side" before the drywall even gets hung. even can add an arrow for direction of door swing for the real dummies.
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I've done them one by one just for that reason.
When you get into another room and can't see the opening it can get confusing.
I have taken a pencil to the ends of the door and marked the bevels before I leave the room.
You can do the same thing for the hinge mortises. A crude pencil marking is fine for making sure you do the right side.
One more thing I've seen is to mark the subfloor with the swing before jams are set.
You can use a large marker or spray paint.
"There are three kinds of men: The one that learns by reading, the few who learn by observation and the rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves."Will Rogers
Edited 9/20/2009 9:04 pm by popawheelie
If the guys went and grabbed the wrong door from the garage and then just installed it in the wrong place, you have another wrong door installed someplace else. I'd go take a look. Might have to swap them.If the rest of the doors are correct, the door order must have been incorrect. Maybe your fault, maybe the lumber yard's error. Either way, you're stuck with fixing it.BruceT
If the door had been hung and then the pins pulled to put it in the garage, there's no way that left and right hand doors could have gotten swapped. The swapping would have occurred as the (presumably prehung) doors were originally installed.But it's a good point that it's worth looking for another door that was installed wrong (or at least opposite to plan).
As I stood before the gates I realized that I never want to be as certain about anything as were the people who built this place. --Rabbi Sheila Peltz, on her visit to Auschwitz
I assumed he was talking about the original installation of pre-hung doors. That's when the hinges appeared on the wrong side of the jamb.BruceT
Edited 9/21/2009 9:22 pm by brucet9
Withoug reading all 49 posts...
>> I'm racking my brain trying to think of how to prevent this from happening in the future <<
Industry standard here is to mark the rough door jambs with a heavy magic marker on the hinge side. Look like:
2-8 LH->
I do this and and double check and triple check my door takeoff.
BTW - deinstalling a prehung door isn't that hard provided it hasn't been puttied and painted. Just use a pin punch to drive the nails all the way through the jambs. If there are any screws, remove them.
Edited 9/21/2009 8:28 pm ET by Matt
Thanks I appreciate it.One of the things I didn't explain very well was that a guy I work with has a systemHe goes to the garage where the doors are being stored and he carries them one by one placing them beside the opening where they go.That way he knows the correct door has been received and has been placed in it's proper location.We get our doors from Home DepotOn a side note, Home Depot tells me that they sell prehung doors FOR LESS than what they pay for themI was talking with one of the people at the pro desk and she said HD sells prehung doors for about $10 less than what they pay for them.I'll close by throwing out one more procedure we're using.My understanding is that a prehung door costs about $20 more than a slab.Our method has been to pay the additional cost for prehung doors and just replacing everything as we go through an empty house we're flipping.Saves time and headaches.
"reasonably well"?"pretty much invisible."????What kind of hacks you work around anyways?You are right that the only potential glitch is the edge bevel, but why not make the repair totally disappear? A little filler and sanding , primer and paint and it is gone.
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Call supplier & raise hell for sending wrong door.
Joe H
I am curious why you paint the hinges.
Just wondering...
Our system is to spray the doors and trim firstWe go ahead and paint the hinges as we're going to remove them anyway (cheap gold color hinges) and we will install brushed nickel hinges)We buy the brushed nickel hinges at HD They are 3 1/2 with 5/8 radius cornersIt costs us $100 to $150 to replace all the hinges in a houseThe brushed nickel hinges then match the brushed nickel door stops, brushed nickel door knobs, brushed nickel bath and shower faucets, brush nickel stair railing hardware, towel bars, etc etc etcWe throw away the painted hingesI hate to do itwe're talking 50 or 60 hingesI need to start giving the hinges to the metal scrappersAnyway, that's our system
Edited 9/20/2009 5:00 pm by mrfixitusa
Not wanting to add to your woes, but assuming that you ordered the right number of each swing and have now installed one incorrectly, doesn't that mean somewhere else in the project another door is wrong?
BTW my earlier comments about firing the contractor were directed at the motion sensor solution. Everyone makes mistakes. If you consider this a big one, you must do pretty good work.
Edit: One idiot-proof way of identifying door swings if they are going in before the finished flooring is to draw them on the subfloor with a large marker.
Edited 9/20/2009 5:15 pm ET by fingersandtoes
Thanks for your infoThis is a house we're flipping and so there's no home owner coming by to look at the progressI like your idea of using an arrow to mark the direction of the swingI've gone through the house and found that all the other doors are correctI wanted to make a comment about our supplier home depotWe order materials from HD and they deliver them We don't have time to check the materials and verify with the deliver invoiceThis is hurting us because home depot makes mistakes on every orderWe rec'd $2,100 worth of materials last week and I did take the time to check it a few days laterI found 5-6 mistakes, however, the total cost was only about $100 and so I'll talk to them about itIn closing I'll say that this is not the first time we've had door problems.There have been several times we have just gone ahead and installed whatever door we were provided This has resulted in the door opening outward into the hallway of the basement or the family roomNot a good solution now that I'm thinking about it
Not to over simplify; but is there another door & casing where the reverse would be less a problem that could be switched with this one?
A motion sensing switch in a BEDROOM??!!??
every time you roll over..
and what about those special moments.....
copycat."Put your creed in your deed." Emerson
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
I admit you are fast Eddie, I actually typed mine without seeing yours, I guess I'm "Slowfingers" not "therealpeter"
Sometimes you don't want the lights on!"There are three kinds of men: The one that learns by reading, the few who learn by observation and the rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves."Will Rogers
"We don't have time to check the materials and verify with the deliver invoice"
We have people doing shipping/receiving in our business who never open boxes, they just assume that whatever is on the paperwork is what is in the box.
I cannot tell you how much time and money this has cost us, having to pay for stuff we never received, but was signed for, and the time to chase after items that seem to have vanished.
I talked to the pro desk yesterday about this.We place an order and they deliver it.They typically do not ship everything we orderedWhy?Because they don't have it in stock.BUT IT SAYS ON THE INVOICE THAT IT WAS SHIPPEDShe said "I know, but we get it a few days later and then I give it to you the next time I see you or we put it in will call"I said "I didn't know that"Not a good system
Not only a not a good system, but they're saying they shipped something, and by signing for the shipment, you're saying you received it, and therefore are agreeing to pay for it...what happens when she's sick/fired/quits?
That's a horrible way to manage inventory from the store's point of view, too.
We go to one home depot in particular and there was a guy at the pro desk who was EXCELLENTHe was in his thirties.He died of a heart attack unexpectedly in his sleep a few months agoIt really shook everyone upCouldn't believe itHe had a wife and step daughterBut you're exactly right about record keepingIt's the same thing in reverse when we return itemsA month or so ago I returned 20-30 items. I returned a sliding patio door, two exterior doors, one interior door, 10 sheets of hardi backer, plumbing supplies, 2 X 6 X 8, etc etcSome of this stuff was damaged.Some of this was wrong sizeSome if it was stuff other people had returned and they had taped the package shut and pawned it off on us.Filled up 3-4 gurney cartsI stood in line at Pro Desk for 30 min to an hour and they were busyThey can easily spend 30 minutes with each contractor who comes in.One of the clerks said "just leave your stuff and we'll get to it later"I made a handwritten list of the items and left.I then have to back check this a few days later to see if we got a creditI go in and attempt to pick up a written receipt for the aboveThis takes more timeI then submit the receipt to someone else and again they try to figure out if we got a credit or notIt's not a good system
It's not a good company. They have SERIOUS problems in numerous areas.
<draw them on the subfloor with a large marker>that's it. way easier for the customer to deal with than LH and RH, which seems to be confusing for people. if the doors go in after the finish floor you can put a piece of green painter's tape on floor on the hinge side that shows the swing. i guess you wouldn't want to leave it on for too long, but for a few days it's fine. j
Careful, my Dad laid out his kitchen cabinets on the subfloor with a large Sharpie, then put down WHITE sheet vinyl flooring.
Bled through, of course.
Greg
Oh, okay, I get it.
Not a bad system, but couldn't you order the doors with the nickle hinges?
We used to.
Work for the greatest vital intensity - the greatest solidity and aesthetic reality. Finally, eliminate everything non-essential. Reduce to the absolute essence. ~ F.C. Trucksess
We have a new guy and that's just exactly what he told me a couple of days agoThanks for reminding meWe're paying about $2.50 per hingeI don't know if you can help me with something else but I'll go ahead and ask youSeems like we need an 18" pantry door on these houses.HD doesn't sell a prehung door smaller than 24"HD DOES have an 18" slabBut where do we go to get a six panel pre hung 18"
Pine, oak or hollow core?
we're using the same doors on every househollow core, six panel doors from home depotwe are painting the doors in all of these houses
Lowes advertises them. http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=205594-77999-30151043816&lpage=noneMy 18" door is pine but 3 panels. I think that looks better in a narrow door.
thanks I appreciate itI just looked at the 18 slab door we have here at the job site and it is a three panel door and it looks pretty goodthanks again
an 18" is going to be a three panel to match similar to the six panels.
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If they have an 18" slab that matches, buy the slab and hang it yourself. How long does it take to rabbet the header into the legs on a piece of 1x6? How long does it take to use a router (or a chisel) and cut in three hinges? Bevel the side of the door, if you want it tight. Set the casing, stop, some kind of lock and you are done.
It's not that hard to do. Give it a try. (It's probably cheaper too.)
Don K.
EJG Homes Renovations - New Construction - Rentals
Maybe you spend as much time locating a prehung ... you could make your own jamb in that time or scab one off a damaged larger door and cut the head piece. It's only one door, not the whole house. I'd just buy, make, or scavange the jambs (but I like doing things the hard way ;) ).
"couldn't you order the doors with the nickle hinges?"You forget - he is ordering from HD!;)You think he has messups now?
Wait'll he throws them this curve ball.
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Give them to Restore, or some other charity. Dipped in some stripper, they would be new, benefit somebody, if just in small way.
Mr,
Especially if the prehung hasn't yet been cased, just un-hang it and get the correct door.
As Matt said, you can easily remove any screws, Then cut your finish nails with the sawzall. The biggest hassle is getting the correct door.
And if you are cutting all of your door bottoms, then you need to set all your doors higher (and adjust your rough framing technique, if you need headroom) as Piff said. If you're in a hurry, you can run a Skilsaw right across the subfloor to cut off 1 1/2". But I guess that isn't fine homebuilding.
Regards,
Jim x 3
Edited 9/21/2009 12:52 pm ET by jimjimjim
thanks and I would never have thought about the skil saw on the floor techniquethanks again!
Our code now wants 3/4" clear under doors for ventilation. The door plants have started sending them out with a good two inches of extra jamb. It is a huge pain having to cut down each one.
Getting back to my earlier comment: After all the compulsive tight miter nuts and six layers-of-membrane-behind-any-shower talk around here I really did find your attitude refreshing. You are flipping a house, doing your best. Good for you.
We're flipping starter homes and the people who are buying them are young couples, single people, people with young kids, etc.They're getting a house everything new in the kitchen and bathrooms.About half the houses are getting new windows.They're getting a nice home and the neighbors appreciate what we're doing.On the house I"m working on right now one of the neighbors bought a bed for my dog to sleep in as he sleeps out on the front of the house.If the house has mold in it we've come up with a fantastic system that works!You just remove anything that has mold on it!Moldy sheetrock gets cut out and replaced.Any moldy 2 X 4's in the walls or sole plate - we cut them out and replace them.We completely redo every closet.The home comes with new appliances.We have a licensed electrician check everything electrical.In closing I will say I will probably just go ahead and buy a new door They only cost $45I wanted to also mention that another option (to save me time) would be to buy a slab door with the hole pre-drilled for the knob and latchThey sell them at HDI was talking to a guy at HD and he pointed out that pre hung doors are only $5 more than a slab doorHe also said they reduce the price from $45 to $40 if you buy a pallet of doors which is 5-6 doors.We may go that direction also.Thanks again for your input.
Times must be tough and slow when we go over 50 posts on a wrong-hand door.
But I'll throw in this thought about the hinges. My guess is that satin nickel is a special order deal with his Depot, and if there is a place no one wants to go, it's special order with the big orange box. Fate worse than death.
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"A stripe is just as real as a dadgummed flower."
Gene Davis 1920-1985
" I will say I will probably just go ahead and buy a new doorThey only cost $45"Assuming labor rate of $50/hrpick up new dor - $25
Replace old with new - $50
Paint new door - $25So you have at least $145 in replacement costFix and paint existing door - total fifty bucks
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Aren't these wood-textured Masonite-skinned hollow-cores?
Can you describe the details of the work in re-handing a slab such as one of these, making a RH one a LH?
When I was in the door biz, a lot of our distributors did large volumes in prehung interior doors. Many bought their hollowcore slabs as unhanded square-edged blanks, with a lock block on one side only. Slabs got edge-beveled according to the spec for handing, in the same machine as did all hardware machining.
Such a slab would need to have its hinge mortises patched flush, its latchside edge rebeveled opposite, its crossbore hogged out maybe 1/4" more inboard, then its latchface remortised deeper, and finally the hinge mortises recut at the patches.
Such a reworked door would need to go into a newly-made frame, that being easier to do, time and material expense, than taking apart and reworking the other-handed old frame parts. The new frame, or the reworked one if you insist on using old and not buying new, would need to be rebuilt to be 1/4" to 3/8" narrower than the original, due to the remachined bevel on the latch side.
That is what I have seen. What about you?
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"A stripe is just as real as a dadgummed flower."
Gene Davis 1920-1985
I do this all the time Gene. Remodelors often need to change swing for new layouts. It is not hard. You pretty well described the steps, except that you exaggerated each of them, esp with regards to dimensions. It is an hours worth of work.Now for a crew like this guy has, sounds like they lack the skills so he may be better off just getting another one, and since it sounds like he moves house to house to house, he can probably re-use this one someplace.And since your background is the door industry, you would rather just sell him another door.But trust me, those of us who do it, know it is not as hard as you want to make it sound.
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You probably won't believe me, but I've done it a time or two, also.
Now I'm not as talented a door mechanic as you, but recalling rebeveling, starting with a 3 degree, and wanting to end up with a 3 degree the other way, nice and crisp, I would end up at least a full quarter inch narrower than when starting. I would do most with a power planer, and finish with a big wooden antique jointer plane of mine that I like.
It just takes as many words as I used, because that is what all there is to do. What did I describe that you would leave out? For slab hinge mortise dutchmen all you need is just a 3/8" or so little square-end stick, glued in with 5 minute epoxy, across each. A handheld plunger does all the remachining by eye, and a chisel finishes.
I was not making it out to be a huge piece of work, just describing it is all. Maybe you and I can have a one on one contest some day, see who finishes first.
The door slab work is the easy part, for me. I find all the patching and smoothing and remachining to rework the frame, a little much, when compared to just getting new parts.
When out in the midwest, what I really liked about interior doors and trim supply was the fact that it was all handled by places called door and trim shops that specialized in just that. All had traveling salesmen that would take off and write your order right on site, with or without you being present. Mark all your door ROs for hand and swing, and they take it from there. I found it much easier to mis-order when you were taking either plans or notes from a walkthrough, and then having to write it all down. Better just to make your proper marks in situ on each RO and let the door guy be responsible.
View Image
"A stripe is just as real as a dadgummed flower."
Gene Davis 1920-1985
I don't know what major rer-machining you have to do on the frame. Just use the router to do the hinge sets. Glue in a slice to fill on the old position on opposite jamb leg.drill and set striker hole.
Butter things up with bondo.On the door shrinking 1/4" - no need of that. The reason there was a bevel is so the door closes without hitting the jamb. Don't need a reverse bevel, just bring it back to square, maybe ease the edge a hair.
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Your description a couple posts back brought out the problem of the lock blocking. That one just bit me in the butt this week. We're doing a remodel of a house (a new rental for me) that was last done in 1991, with slab doors and one opened wrong into a bedroom - right over the light switch.
It annoyed me to the point that I switched it and as soon as the drill hit the luan, it was through. Just another annoyance to deal with ... I wish the tenants appreciated it.
Don K.
EJG Homes Renovations - New Construction - Rentals
Tenants do appreciate hollow core doors! They don't hurt as much when they punch their fist through them!John Svenson, builder, remodeler, NE Ohio
If this bedroom is the last one in the hallway, I might be tempted to turn the door around. Although it would open into the hall, if it just opens onto a hallway wall, what's the deal?
I won't be laughing at the lies when I'm gone,
And I can't question how or when or why when I'm gone;
I can't live proud enough to die when I'm gone,
So I guess I'll have to do it while I'm here. (Phil Ochs)
Check fire code. It might still be regarded as blocking the hallway.
As I stood before the gates I realized that I never want to be as certain about anything as were the people who built this place. --Rabbi Sheila Peltz, on her visit to Auschwitz
YES it is the last one at the end of the hall !!!Perfect solution !!!Thanks you
Personally, a door that opens "different" than almost any other door in that situation (bedroom for instance) is not something I'd do. People are habit livers, change that and you ruin a couple minutes of their day. Sure, probably get used to it-but it would be like that lite switch that doesn't make sense-you always turn in on-but nothing happens-it's the switch next to it you wanted.
And then there's the potential of cleaning someones clock eventho it's at the end of the hall.
But that's just me, dumb carpenter....old and set in his ways.A Great Place for Information, Comraderie, and a Sucker Punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
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I'm with you.
Maybe I am more discerning than most people, but if I were the potential buyer, I would see this door openning the wrong way into the hall and ask myself, this suggests somebody didn't know what they were doing - what else did they screw up here?This thread get more entertaining by the hour.
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Before you hyperventilate or have some kind of attach I'll go ahead and admit that YES WE DO MAKE SOME MISTAKESGASP, yes there I admitted it.One of the things I'm trying to change for example is the average guy will nail the closet shelf in place BEFORE WE PAINT ITI want the guys to cut the shelf and just sit it into place and LET ME PAINT THE CLOSETI will go back and nail it after I've painted it.Just an easier way to do it.I'll admit that we do make mistake. But we're learning We had a problem with blowing out one door jamb on every job we're doingSomeone would shoot a nail through the casing and out the jamb and wow it can cause a lot of damageI was talking to a guy about this the other day and he told me I need to look at the nail and the flat side of the nail and I can hold the nail gun at a certain angle and prevent any further blow outs.I think things have changed since I went to carpentry vo tech school in 1976 !!!Anyway, thanks again to you and everyone for your tips and suggestionsI've learned a lot from this threadI will probably just go ahead and replace the entire door jamb some evening and I will pay for the materials out of my own pocketIf that makes me a hack go ahead and poke fun at me all you want
Mistakes happen. What I always say is that is why construction management types have a job - issue resolution... Otherwise it could all just be scheduled from an office by a person who has no clue about construction but can follow a flow chart to sequence the steps. Further the thing that most all of the individual tradesmen on the job don't have is the big picture - how all the different aspects of the job fit together - the cause and effect thing. (I'll probably take some heat for that) Your prepainting of closet shelves is a great example - even though we don't do that. It is only the construction manager who truly has his eye on all aspects of the final product and the most efficient way to get there. BTW construction managers make mistakes too - although their mistakes are sometimes much larger.
Personally, I'd replace the prehung door assembly too.
I once had 7 similar houses going simultaneously all on the same street. I thought that I would save some time by using a "full service" building supply to get the doors and trim. The salesmen did the takeoff and didn't mark the jambs as I described, nor did he bother to look at the plans. What a fiasco!! I had probably 8 doors that were wrong. Trim carps were pi$$ed because they didn't have what they needed. I caught probably 6 of them before they were installed. The other couple had to be deinstalled, and remedied.
On another job, I hired a new trim crew from across the street. My project had ~5k lin ft of trim. I had inspected their work and it looked really, pretty good. OK - I admit it, one of the reasons I hired them was because the guy had his (adult) daughter working for him and she looked and dressed like Ellie May Clapet. It was hot that summer. Let's just say she didn't have that age old problem of her tool belt continually slipping down... and sometimes less really is better :-). Anyway, on the first day I had to leave for a while and when I got back the guy's brother had installed 8 of the prehung doors. I asked him why the packs of shims I had ordered were laying on the floor un-opened. He went thorough this long explanation about how hard it was to get the shims in there and that they really weren't necessary. I was so POed I coulda bit a piece of base in half.... There were other issues too. Next morning the main guy calls me and says they have an important set of cabinets to install (my job is never the important one) and that they won't be back until tomorrow. My response? "Let me free up your schedule for you".... I found a crew of real trim carps and they finished - including R&R all 8 of those doors. IIRC the repairs cost me $600. An expensive lesson.
Edited 9/22/2009 8:19 am ET by Matt
" BTW construction managers make mistakes too - although their mistakes are sometimes much larger."LMAO over that one! I have a full inventory of mistakes all bundled, stacked up and lessons learnt.Just this morning, the granite came to install.They made a mistake in the way they cut holes for one of the two sink/faucet set-ups. Because I was here on site ( always when it is something critical and expensive) I caught it first, and we all three put our heads together and came up with a ten minute fix that made the end result even better than what we had originally laid out.Looks so good that you, me and the two guys installing it are the only ones who will ever know!;)
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
I had a granite mistake one time myself - for me the solution ended up being "Mr customer, you really didn't want that high $$ sink anyway, right?" :-)
I broke a double vanity top a few years ago, and had to glue it for temporary because they were moving in in a few days, then replace it out of my pocket after the summer season. They were fine with that. No way to get it redone in short time period.My big door mistake was to order a pair of french door blanks at 2'4" x 7' when what I needed was 24".
They are still in the shop and I framed a wall in the back of my office here to take them someday when I finish it.
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
I'm sorry, I went overboard on that. I'm jsut aghast that such a simple fix can run for more than 3-4 posts and generate so many goofy 'solutions', not all of them yours.How to paint a closet is a preference, not a mistake. Somebody else ordered the wrong door. Not your mistake. You are just trying to make it right one way or another. Good for you. My apologies.
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Here is what I don't get.... If that door is the worng hand, isn't there another one that is wrong too?
There was a mistake ordering them, or HD sent the wrong one.
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
>> There was a mistake ordering them, or HD sent the wrong one. << Oh. I missed that.
Do you all mark door rough jambs on the hinge side with a magic marker the way I described?
2-8L<-
Edited 9/22/2009 6:54 am ET by Matt
Yes, except that instead of the L or R, I make an arrow point to the side the hinges swing, ie, in this bedroom, pointing into th eroom
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
As DanH mentioned, you should probably check with the AHJ -- my suggestion (turn the door around) might be a fire code violation in some areas.I won't be laughing at the lies when I'm gone,
And I can't question how or when or why when I'm gone;
I can't live proud enough to die when I'm gone,
So I guess I'll have to do it while I'm here. (Phil Ochs)